Diving for 'treasure'

[auzzie]

If you dive on a wreck and find some items and bring them up, can you keep them if you cant find the name and owner of the ship/boat?

[auzzie]

thank you Ward~ Minter

[jake-the-peg]

In general the answer is no.

A wreck will belong to somebody either the original owners, insurers or the military.

In practice most wrecks are stripped of their portholes ( a popular divers souvenier ) very rapidly.

It's rare that anybody worries about the odd trinket (providing nobody died in the wreck - war grave etc.) but if you salvage a phosphor bronze prop and dump it on the quay-side you're likely to find yourself with questions to answer