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Shipwreck Diving is a complete how to book about the sport of wreck diving. This book is packed with information and heavily illustrated with over 80 sensational color photographs. Daniel Berg, a noted wreck diver, instructor and author of ten shipwrecks related books, describes all the basics of wreck diving. Topics include everything from equipment modifications, communication, and wreck penetration to artifact preservation. Dan also tells how to navigate on a wreck and be able to return to the anchor line after the dive. Why some divers find more artifacts and explains how to catch lobsters. Shipwreck Diving also covers such diverse topics as shipwreck research, photography, spear fishing and how to use an underwater metal detector. This exciting book tells all the tricks of the trade that untill now have only been learned through years of experience. Shipwreck divers of all caliber will find Shipwreck Diving informative, rewarding and entertaining.

The legislation relating to the recovery of cargoes from sunken ships is examined. The role of the UK 1894 Merchant Shipping Act (Part IX) is discussed. Revisions to this are addressed. The 1894 Act causes salvors in Britain considerable problems because of the procedure to be followed by the Receiver of Wreck when no wreck owner is known. The Receiver's duty to retain unclaimed wreck for one year still remains. However cargo recovery has become a huge commercial activity. Retention by the Receiver of cargo for one year would seriously disrupt a salvage company's cash flow. A brief history of commercial cargo recovery is provided. Major advances in salvage recovery operations occurred due to world wars and also because a range of commercial agreements was secured. Now the salvor needs a similar stimulus to allow him to undertake work on wrecks where the owner is unknown. New working practices are suggested.

Two agreements "WRECKCON" and "WRECKHIRE" were published by The Baltic International Maritime Council (BIMCO) and the International Salvage Union (ISU) in September 1993. Historically there had been no industry wide standard wreck removal contract. Agreements for wreck removal have often been based on a fixed price lump sum no-cure-no-pay contract. The ISU sought to undertake wreck removals on a structured staged payment basis. They do not replace Lloyd's Open Form (LOF) but are intended for wrecks where LOF terms are uneconomical. The "WRECKCON" agreement is examined in detail because it is likely to be used in most cases. A case study follows and the two agreements are appended in full.

The Wreck Amnesty has several objectives, including to encourage finders who were previously ignorant of the law to come forward and report past finds; to identify objects that were capable of being returned to their legal owner; to identify wreck finds which may be of historic importance; to bring to light munitions and other hazardous material which should be made safe, etc.

The investigation of wreck sites is of great interest to archaeologists. However this often needs to be carried out within a limited budget. Often the task is time-consuming as a result of the wreck being poorly defined or buried in the sediment with little surface location indication. The relative value of magnetometers sidescan sonar sub-bottom profilers and swathe bathymetric systems in offering assistance to the diver within their initial searches and with an appraisal of the extent of the heritage site is examined. The activities over two wreck sites are examined. Conclusions are drawn on the effectiveness of the sensors used the benefits of an integrated approach and the potential offered by alternatives such as the emerging technologies offered by swathe bathymetry systems is reviewed.

A summary of the survey of the Prestige oil tanker wreck and the challenges of integrating an underwater-navigation system with an ROV-mounted multibeam are discussed. The main idea of the system was to take the navigation and multibeam systems used on the Hugin AUV and transfer it to an ROV. The process from initial method statement to final survey of the two sections of the wreck are examined.

The Western Scheldt is being deepened to give larger ships better access to the port of Antwerp. Therefore about 60 wrecks and other obstacles will have to be removed from the main channel. This wreck removal project started with the removal of 8 smaller wrecks and will take about 6 years. The challenging task of surveying for wrecks in the Western Scheldt is discussed in this paper.

An exploration of an old shipwreck investigated at a depth of 16000 feet is described. The wreck was first located on side scan sonar and a search of the seabed was made by the Russian submersibles MIR l and MIR ll. The recovery of artefacts is described and the date and history of the wreck speculated. The participation of the private sector is crucial to deepwater investigations and archaeologists are urged to participate in future projects.

Evidence from the Alderney wreck was first recovered in the 1970s. The diver recovered a few artefacts but did not consider the site held much more. Upon revisitation in 1991 the diver found more artefacts and these were subsequently dated between 1587 and 1620. This period saw great advances in ship construction naval organisation and military technology yet few of its shipwrecks have been discovered. Because of this the site was designated an historical wreck and an archaeological team was put together to survey the site and record and analyse the finds already recovered. Firstly documentary research is described. Then artefacts that provide information about the vessel's size are considered. Finally some discussion is presented.

Manuscript sources for information on losses of all causes including shipwreck, war losses and demolitions from which the Casualty Returns were compiled. Between 1940 and 1945 a system of reference codes links the posted editions of Lloyd's Register of Ships to the Wreck Books, wherever a ship was lost and whatever the cause.

Examples from significant British Formal Investigations (Wreck Enquiries) illustrate the working of the Merchant Shipping Act 1894 and promote discusssion into the changes to be made by the Merchant Shipping Act 1970

The Wreck and Salvage Act No 94/1996 brings South Africa into line with current international law. The origins of the law of salvage and its development in South Africa is summarised together with the background to the new Act. The principal features of the new Act are outlined.

In this paper a wreck observation system using an AUV (Autonomous underwater vehicle) is proposed and an AUV being developed for this system is introduced. Furthermore a terrain based localization method is proposed for the positioning of the AUV which does not depend on external and costly help such as transponder based positioning systems. The proposed method is robust against altitude offset compared to conventional terrain based methods. The results of the simulation performed using the data collected during a sea experiment demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed method.

Schiffer's (1987) approach to the study of formation processes is applied to consider the effects of burrowing activity on submerged archaeology. Formation processes can be identified because they leave regular physical traces. Simple and complex properties of artefacts are identified and considered to be useful in this respect. Other attributes of deposits which may have value in the practical identification of formation processes are listed. It is pointed out that an ideal strategy would result in complete preservation of all material and spatial relationships equally but that this is unlikely to be achieved although the rate and severity of changes brought on by anthropogenic processes may be reduced. Secondly the strategy adopted to achieve preservation may itself change the deposit. Thirdly there may be clear limits to the ability to manage certain processes. The influence of burrowing fauna within terrestrial sites is now considered. This is followed by some examination of the Studland Bay wreck. The results of investigations into burrowing activity are listed.

A complex pattern of ditches and sea defences characterise the landscape of the Gwent Levels a low-lying area of alluvium bordering the northern shore of the Severn Estuary. Documentary and systematic cartographic analysis point to widespread land loss during the 13th and 14th centuries. The present line of the sea bank often truncates mediaeval strip fields. In some cases remnants of the mediaeval landscape survive on today's foreshore where silted former river channels which ran into the Severn through this lost landscape have not been completely eroded away. Continuing erosion by the sea of these deposits expose and threaten structures and artefacts buried within them. One such complex of relict channels on the foreshore is to be found in the inter-tidal zone at Magor Pill. A 13th century clinker-built vessel was found in 1994 and was protected against further erosion. Limited excavation was undertaken in 1995. Interim observations on the vessel are presented together with some provisional analysis of this mediaeval wreck.