White house loot?

[Technomancer]

Some goings on out east. It should be interesting to see how this get resolved:
http://www.hamiltonspectator.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=hamilton/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1158875420674&call_pageid=1020420665036&col=1112101662670

[Doubleshadow]

Wow, my patriotism is at odds with my sense of fairplay. The law the American side is using sounds an awful lot like 'Finders-Keepers!'. On the other hand, it sounds like the British are insisting they 'stole it fair and square'. How about we are returned our priceless artifacts of American Heritage and they can renew their claim on the rotten hunk of worm eaten wood at the bottom sea? Of course, any sunken ship is a potential grave site. If there are human remains there, they should leave it alone altogether.

[mitsuki lover]

First have historians and other experts look over the findings and see if any of them were in fact looted from the White House during the War of 1812.If in fact this
proves to be correct then and only then should the Canadian and British governments hand over any in their possession back to the United States government.The rest that is not proven to be American should be split between
Canada and Britian.

[Technomancer]

Wow, my patriotism is at odds with my sense of fairplay. The law the American side is using sounds an awful lot like 'Finders-Keepers!'. On the other hand, it sounds like the British are insisting they 'stole it fair and square'. How about we are returned our priceless artifacts of American Heritage and they can renew their claim on the rotten hunk of worm eaten wood at the bottom sea? Of course, any sunken ship is a potential grave site. If there are human remains there, they should leave it alone altogether.

Keep in mind the wreck is in Canadian waters, and as such the laws of Nova Scotia and Canada apply in addition to whatever international maritime law states. Unfortunately, I'm not very familiar with how such situations have been resolved here in Ontario, which is where most of the fighting took place during that war. Ultimately, aside from the private company, Canada the US and Great Britain all have reasonable claims to the wrecks. We certainly do, and not merely because the wreck is in our waters, but also because of the critical role the war played in our history (and the Americans were the agressors anyways ). As Doubleshadow noted, the wreck could also be classified as a war grave, and would thus be inviolate. Given the archaeological value of the find I'm not certain that that will happen though.

[Cap'n Nick]

I think the American company that laid claim to the wreck should be allowed to continue under the provincial regulations, paying royalties and handing over any artifacts to Nova Scotia. This is all within current law, as opposed to the British claim, which essentially resurrects the Revolutionary War.