Click here for a special offer. Click here for our free newsletter. Gold may be reused and recycled, but we will never again recover the details of a wreck like the HMS DeBraak.
Treasure hunters are after gold and adventure, and little else.
For balance, though, you might have noted that not all archaeologists equate treasure salvagers with original sin. Archaeologists are supposed to be concerned about information, not artifacts. Arrangements could be made to ensure long-term research access to privately owned artifacts with significant information content, as well. There are certainly wrecks that should never be disturbed, but there are others whose excavation is appropriate, even urgent, and there is no reason that commercial interests and archaeologists can't cooperate to undertake such excavation. My heart and my sympathy go out to Jesse Gelsinger's family and friends.