ABSTRACT
The promise of early work by Dr. Mendel Peterson of the Smithsonian Institution, in cooperation with salvage divers at Bermuda, did not result in a conversion of the divers into archaeologists, as now professionally defined, though some claim such a status. In 1974, the Bermuda Maritime Museum was established in a six-acre fort at the old Royal Naval Dockyard at the western end of the island. From that time, the advocacy for preservation of shipwreck heritage as an archaeological resource may be said to have begun in earnest. Bureaucratic inertia prevented results, and the government advisory committee responsible for underwater heritage coalesced into a somewhat pro-treasure hunting body. The Progressive Labour Party (PLP), which had won government for the first time in November 1998, produced a new shipwreck bill. The PLP, the Bermuda Maritime Museum, and the Bermuda National Trust were vilified by treasure hunters and their fellow travelers, which included, one must say with dismay, some archaeologists.
