From shipwreck, a treasure now beckons

3 Feb 2012, 8:07 am   -   Source: AAP
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A veritable treasure lies under water where the Italian cruise ship ran aground, which will tempt treasure hunters like countless shipwrecks have before.

In the chaotic evacuation of the Costa Concordia, passengers and crew abandoned almost everything on board: jewels, cash, champagne, antiques, 19th century Bohemian crystal glassware, thousands of art objects including 300-year-old woodblock prints by a Japanese master.

In other words, a veritable treasure now lies beneath the pristine Italian waters where the massive luxury liner ran aground last month.

Though some objects are bound to disintegrate, there is still hoard enough to tempt treasure seekers - just as the Titanic and countless shipwrecks before have lured seekers of gold, armaments and other riches for as far back as mankind can remember.

It may be just a matter of time before treasure hunters set their sights on the sunken spoils of the Costa Concordia, which had more than 4200 people on board.

"As long as there are bodies in there, it's considered off base to everybody because it's a grave," said Robert Marx, a veteran diver and the author of numerous books on maritime history and underwater archaeology and treasure hunting. "But when all the bodies are out, there will be a mad dash for the valuables."

The Mafia, he said, even has underwater teams that specialise in going after sunken booty.

The Costa Concordia was essentially a floating luxury hotel, and many of the passengers embarked on the ill-fated cruise with their finest clothes and jewels so they could parade them in casinos and at gala dinners beneath towering chandeliered ceilings.

On top of that was massive wealth belonging to the ship itself: shops stocked with jewellery, more than 6000 works of art decorating walls and a wellness spa containing a collection of 300-year-old woodblock prints by Katsushika Hokusai, a Japanese artist most famous for his work of a giant wave framing Mt Fuji in the distance.

"It's now a paradise for divers," said Hans Reinhardt, a German lawyer who represents 19 German passengers seeking compensation for their loss. He said some of his clients travelled with diamond-studded jewels and other heirlooms that had been in their families for generations.

"They lost lots of jewellery - watches, necklaces, whatever women wear when they want to get well dressed," Reinhardt said. "They wanted to show off what they have."

The massive cruise liner itself is worth 450 million euros ($A555 million), but that's just the cost of the ship and engine and doesn't take into account the value of all other objects on board, said Davide Barbano, the spokesman for Costa Crociere, the Italian company that operated the Costa Concordia.

Barbano confirmed that among the sunken objects are furniture, the vast art collection, computers, wine, champagne, as well as whatever valuables were locked away in safes in private cabins. Costa Crociere still legally owns the ship and the passengers own their sunken objects.

The ship ran aground off the Tuscan island of Giglio after the captain, Francesco Schettino, veered from his approved course, apparently to move closer to entertain passengers with a closer view of the island - a common cruise ship practice. Schettino is now under house arrest, facing accusations of manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning ship before all passengers were evacuated. Seventeen people are confirmed killed in the January 13 shipwreck, with 15 more still missing.

For now, the ship's wreckage has been impounded by authorities and is surrounded by rescue workers, clean-up crews and scientists monitoring its stability on the rocky perch where it ran aground.

Civil Protection, the agency that is running the rescue effort, says there is so much activity surrounding it now that authorities don't see a risk of looting yet. It also says it plans to remove the wreckage before looters can reach it.

But Marx says divers inevitably make a dash for sunken loot, even at great risk, and they treat shipwrecks as a free for all.

He estimates that it will take about four to six months before a real treasure hunt will start - in part because divers will want to avoid the rough winter sea. He said some divers will be put off because the ship is still shifting on the reef it collided into and is considered unstable.

But soon, treasure hunters will go.

Even now, there are those trying to make a profit off the disaster. On eBay, all sorts of trinkets related to the shipwreck have already come up for sale, from coat hangers and medallions embossed with the cruise liner's name to a Costa Concordia desk plan.

Marx said everything that is pulled up from this now-famous ship will have value.

"Even the dishes, the crockery inside that ship - that's going to be worth an absolute fortune," Marx said.

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