At 



it some point, 

 you no longer feel pain. 

 Sensation disappears 

 and reason is dulled, 

 until you lose all grasp 

 of time and place. 

 Face down in the raft, 

 with my arms resting 

 on the gunwale and 

 my beard on my arms, 

 I felt the sun's merciless bite. 

 For hours the air was filled 

 with luminous spots. 

 Finally exhausted, 

 I closed my eyes, 

 but then the sun 

 no longer burned my body. 



I was neither 

 hungry nor thirsty. 

 I felt nothing, other than 

 complete indifference 

 to life or death. 

 I thought I was dying. 

 And that thought filled me 

 with a strange, dim hope. 



Gabriel Garcia Marquez, 

 "The Story of a 

 Shipwrecked Sailor" 



historical exhibit within two years. 

 The project is co-sponsored by the 

 National Park Service and East 

 Carolina University. 



Fort Fisher already claims a one- 

 room exhibit of colorful shipwreck 

 history. The mini-museum is visited 

 by about 80,000 people each year. 



Abandoned Shipwreck Act made 

 individual states responsible for 

 managing shipwrecks that have 

 significance to American history, 

 architecture, archaeology and culture. 

 It also encouraged states to create 

 marine parks where important ecologi- 

 cal and historical resources can be 



Unidentified shipwreck, Hatter as Island 



Some breeze through in a few min- 

 utes; others pore over each photograph 

 and wreck display. They follow North 

 Carolina's underwater history — from 

 prehistoric dugout canoes to the 1973 

 discovery of the USS Monitor. 



"We pack a lot into that little 

 space," Lawrence says. "But at 

 whatever level you're looking at it, 

 you can get something out of it." 



The movement to turn ship- 

 wrecks into protected tourist sites is an 

 international trend, says Kevin Foster 

 of the National Park Service. The 

 three most visited tourist spots in 

 Northern Europe are remains of 

 shipwrecks, he notes. Underwater 

 archaeological sites have become the 

 basis of the economy in some coastal 

 communities. 



While generating tourist dollars, 

 managed sites also put the brakes on 

 looting. 



"The protection of underwater 

 archaeological sites, just like other 

 sites, will get better," he says. "Laws 

 will see to that." 



On a national level, the 1987 



preserved and protected. By law, North 

 Carolina has title to all abandoned 

 shipwrecks within its territorial waters 

 that have lain unclaimed for 10 years 

 or more. 



Divers are free to explore most 

 sites without a permit inside North 

 Carolina's territorial waters, which 

 stretch three miles beyond the coast. 

 The exception is the Monitor National 

 Marine Sanctuary, off Cape Hatteras, 

 where a permit is required. There lie 

 the remains of the most famous Civil 

 War vessel, which sank in a storm 

 December 1 862 near Cape Hatteras. 

 Sixteen men died when the Monitor 

 went down — some trapped inside the 

 vessel and others swept away by the 

 tempest. 



It's illegal to disturb or remove 

 material on any site without a permit. 

 To remove an artifact, divers must 

 convince officials that it will benefit 

 the state in some way. 



The vast majority of diving takes 

 place outside the three-mile limit, 

 primarily on World War II wrecks, 

 where visibility is better. As Stick 



MAY I JUNE 1995 



