Submitted by Guillaume Courcy, President – Preserve Our Wrecks, Kingston
“Words cannot express how I feel. A mix of sadness and anger (borderlining white hot rage).
Someone decided that the port porthole of the Eureka, as well as the seaman’s chest that was in the cabin were ok to grab and steal from this historic wreck.
Going through divers who visited the wreck, we can confirm so far that on Friday, July 2nd 2022, the porthole was still there.
On Tuesday, August 16th 2022, we have the record of the port missing.
This is frankly unacceptable.
Again, I am at lost for words.
The porthole was “surgically” removed. The seaman’s chest was not something that could be just picked up and put into a side pocket. It needed a lift bag.
At a depth of 110 feet, this was not done by a beginner who doesn’t know better. This was a well planned heist. By someone with skills and means. On purpose. Deliberate.
Shame on you.
Your egocentric behavior just pissed off a lot of people.“
Guillaume Courcy
The Eureka is a 130-foot double-masted schooner built before the Civil War. The ship sank on November 1, 1883, while on route from Oswego, New York to Kingston with a cargo of coal. Fortunately, the captain and six crew members escaped without injury.
Piratical acts
Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods.
Every one who, while in or out of Canada,
- (a) steals a Canadian ship,
- (b) steals or without lawful authority throws overboard, damages or destroys anything that is part of the cargo, supplies or fittings in a Canadian ship,
- (c) does or attempts to do a mutinous act on a Canadian ship, or
- (d) counsels a person to do anything mentioned in paragraph (a), (b) or (c),
Is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding fourteen years.
It is highly unlikely that the person/persons responsible for this will come forward due to the fact of imprisonment, but the dive saying::
Scuba diving is very much a black and white world in terms of the laws and rules one must abide by.
Carlos Eyles
Certainly did not apply to this “Piracy Dive”.
