Museums Under the Sea

摘要

People who value historic shipwrecks have often wanted to raise them for preservation and display in museums. Charlie Beeker has a better idea: bring the museum to the wreck. Beeker, director of Indiana University's Office of Underwater Science in Bloomington, started diving in 1963, a time when historic shipwrecks had no value beyond exploration and salvage. The dive magazines of that time, replete with tales of treasure hunting, glamorized the looting of shipwrecks. When Beeker took a diving instructor course in Key Largo, Fla., in the 1970s, divers had damaged most of the Florida Keys' historic wrecks. Artifacts such as cannons and anchors became ornaments at marinas, hotels and restaurants along U.S. Highway 1.