Nantucket Lightship - Part II The Story of the Lightship Beyond Olympic

The sinking of the Nantucket Lightship 117 by Titanic's older sister, RMS Olympic was relatively obscure over the next 70 years, relegated primarily as a footnote to any study of the White Star Liners. While browsing through the Nantucket Lifesaving Museum (Nautical Research Group has an Andrea Doria exhibit within this wonderful museum) in the late 1980's, I saw a large picture on the wall that I would never forget- a huge ocean liner with a tremendous bow running over a small lightship. Next to this picture was the caption that stated that the White Star Liner - RMS Olympic sank the Nantucket Lightship. I was astounded seeing this picture as this was the first time I had ever heard of this disaster. For the public, many would never know this tragedy had ever existed until a month ago when the media caught wind of a "newsworthy" event.  According to the news, "the federal government is suing a group of deep-sea divers to demand the return of artifacts recovered from the wreck of a US Lighthouse Service ship. The Justice Department said that a group called the Boston Sea Rovers salvaged items last year from the Nantucket Lightship even though they had been warned by the Coast Guard not to disrupt the underwater grave site." The press, the public, former Coast Guard personnel and the dive community were very quick to condemn the actions of these divers. The divers were called everything imaginable from grave-robbers to scavengers (some other words were also used that go beyond the rules of this weblog). I would of been the first to vilify these actions had I not known two of the divers that were part of this operation and the fine reputation of the Boston Sea Rovers. The Sea Rovers are the oldest and most prestigious diving organization in the USA and possibly the world. The two divers that I know, Steve Gatto and Tom Packer, are wonderful, experienced wreck divers of fine character and repute. I knew that there was more to the story than what the press was telling us. Little did I know that this story would take a huge turn in subsequent weeks that we will hear about in the next installment...