Treasure hunt or modern-day pirates?
globalnational.com
Monday, August 21, 2006
PROSPECT, Nova Scotia -- Somewhere along the rocky coastline of Prospect, near Halifax, is an enduring mystery.
The wreck of HMS Fantome -- a British naval ship that ran aground in 1814 -- is said to hold within its watery grave a treasure believed to be worth a billion dollars: artifacts stolen from the White House after the British burning of Washington during the War of 1812.
Nearly 200 years later, a team of U.S. treasure hunters is intensifying a search that's been going on for years -- a hunt that's drawing as much controversy as it is intrigue, as critics raises concerns over potential damage to Nova Scotia's marine history.
"It's an American company who is in the business of extracting artifacts from shipwrecks for profit, " said John W. Chisholm, a documentary film-maker who is lobbying the Nova Scotia government to ban for-profit treasure hunting. "I don't think it's the way to go."
Others wonder if a billion-dollar treasure really exists.
"Personally, I've never seen anything that tells me there's a billion dollars worth of treasure out there," said Greg Cochkanoff, a shipwreck diver who several trips to the Fantome's debris field.
He doubts that a big pay-day is at the bottom of the sea-bed, waiting to be discovered -- but at the same time -- defends the right of treasure hunters to explore.
The investment company that is bank-rolling the treasure hunt says its team is currently surveying the ocean floor, and notes that "the site contains ships predating 1814, and will contribute to responsible, high-quality archeology and the eventual recovery of this historically significant project."
globalnational.com
Monday, August 21, 2006
PROSPECT, Nova Scotia -- Somewhere along the rocky coastline of Prospect, near Halifax, is an enduring mystery.
The wreck of HMS Fantome -- a British naval ship that ran aground in 1814 -- is said to hold within its watery grave a treasure believed to be worth a billion dollars: artifacts stolen from the White House after the British burning of Washington during the War of 1812.
Nearly 200 years later, a team of U.S. treasure hunters is intensifying a search that's been going on for years -- a hunt that's drawing as much controversy as it is intrigue, as critics raises concerns over potential damage to Nova Scotia's marine history.
"It's an American company who is in the business of extracting artifacts from shipwrecks for profit, " said John W. Chisholm, a documentary film-maker who is lobbying the Nova Scotia government to ban for-profit treasure hunting. "I don't think it's the way to go."
Others wonder if a billion-dollar treasure really exists.
"Personally, I've never seen anything that tells me there's a billion dollars worth of treasure out there," said Greg Cochkanoff, a shipwreck diver who several trips to the Fantome's debris field.
He doubts that a big pay-day is at the bottom of the sea-bed, waiting to be discovered -- but at the same time -- defends the right of treasure hunters to explore.
The investment company that is bank-rolling the treasure hunt says its team is currently surveying the ocean floor, and notes that "the site contains ships predating 1814, and will contribute to responsible, high-quality archeology and the eventual recovery of this historically significant project."
