but I don't think anywhere with the 

 frequency that we have here." 



Lawrence and others are working 

 to showcase North Carolina's spectacu- 

 lar untapped shipwreck graveyard while 

 striving to keep it unspoiled. 



The potentially destructive mix of 

 technology and tourism has fueled 



fears the few ''ship strippers" will pluck 

 away the remains of important vessels. 



"They'll all be found eventually," 

 he says. "Ships can't run and hide." 



The challenge, however, is to 

 balance regulation with education to 

 save the invaluable aquatic time 

 capsules. 



Richard Lawrence (bottom right) and staff of the Underwater Archaeology Unit remove steam machinery from the late 19th 

 century steamer H.G. Wright on the Cape Fear River. The restored machinery is now on display at the Cape Fear Museum. 



debate about how to protect shipwrecks. 

 Scientists worry that tourists, armed 

 with modern exploration devices, will 

 destroy invaluable sources of historical 

 data. Even if scientists locate lost 

 shipwrecks before hard-core treasure 

 hunters do, museums and universities 

 don't have the resources to remove the 

 remains of every lost vessel. 



John Halsey. a Michigan archae- 

 ologist who has headed efforts to 

 preserve wrecks in the Great Lakes, 

 laments the past destruction of wrecks, 

 sometimes unintentional. 



Most divers respect regulation, and 

 many have spearheaded efforts to 

 protect shipwrecks. Halsey says. But he 



"People think. 'If I don't take it, 

 somebody else will,"' Halsey says. 

 "That's the most pernicious thing we 

 have to deal with. But we can't take up 

 everything that might be stolen. We 

 don't have the money, and we don't 

 have room." 



The answer, he says, is simple: 

 Leave it where it is. 



Shipwreck protection has become a 

 big issue in Michigan, where 40 percent 

 of the state's territory is actually 

 bottomlands. 



At Fort Fisher, Lawrence is 

 working on a project to study seven 

 nearby shipwrecks and create a public 



Continued 



COASTWATCH 1 3 



