some one selling old ship wreck stuff on craigs list

[jleech]

Here's what may be relevent:

If the artifacts were retrieved prior to 1987, I don't know what laws might govern them, but this law basically puts the wrecks under state management.

Extracted from a page on the Minnesota Historical Society web site:

Minnesota's Submerged Cultural Resource Preservation Plan
State Historic Preservation Office
Minnesota Historical Society
June 1997



There are many laws that govern the management, preservation and interpretation of historic properties in the United States. The most recent law written specifically for submerged cultural resources, the Abandoned Shipwreck Act of 1987 (Public Law 100-298), effectively gives control to individual states for the management of sites on their bottomlands (see Appendix C). In the Act the federal government asserts ownership to all abandoned shipwrecks in U.S. waters, but then transfers title to the individual states. In order to come under the jurisdiction of the Abandoned Shipwrecks Act a vessel must truly be abandoned and it must be embedded in submerged lands or eligible for the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). The definition of "abandoned" has caused the most legal difficulty. The Act also directs states to develop policies that: 1) protect natural resources and habitat areas, 2) guarantee recreational access to shipwrecks, and 3) allow for appropriate recovery of shipwrecks consistent with historical values. States are encouraged to establish underwater parks and develop management plans.


Michigan has used this to set up many shipwreck preserves.

Jeff