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Where are Great Lakes shipwrecks with copper, gold etc. too deep to be practical to salvage by divers?

When I retire from my 'real' job I'd like to build underwater robots / ROVs and search for valuable salvage. Another question: The state (MI, etc) claims all wrecks but how willing are they to negotiate over salvage?

1 Answer

Hi Mark,
Why wait until you retire. Start now by getting into building some simple UW robots. Our local museum has a remote operated vehicle that was built using a couple of bilge pump motors and is used in a small tank operated by the visitors to the museum.. Regarding salvage, that is something that will depend on the individual state. Typically, anything over 50 years old is considered historic and if not still owned by someone or company, would come under state ownership. In certain situations they may allow removal of artifacts for display in a local museum. To my knowledge, there is no great "treasure" waiting to be found and salvaged in the Great Lakes. The real treasure is the maritime history that is to be discovered in the details of these old shipwrecks. You will need to go much much further south to find actual monetary treasure, and that has its own set of problems with the state, feds, and various countries. Cheers, Jim

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