So what if we're able to get a camera-equipped remotely operated vehicle
(ROV) down on the anomaly imaged in side-scan sonar on the Nikumaroro reef (See
http://tighar.org/Projects/Earhart/Archives/Research/Bulletins/66_NikuVIIUpdate/66_NikuVIIUpdate.html)
and find that it does indeed look like the remains of an airplane? What
then?
Well, we definitely do not go grapple it up to the surface, for at
least three reasons:
1. The reef is a fragile environment, protected under the laws of Kiribati
and international law, so any recovery will have to be done in accordance with a
carefully thought out and vetted plan, with full environmental controls.
2. An airplane is a complex, multi-metal artifact, whose chemistry is
strongly affected by long immersion in sea water. Bringing it up into an
oxygen-rich environment may cause it virtually to explode, and will at the very
least cause its rapid (probably very rapid) deterioration. Whatever is
brought up will have to go instantly into a laboratory setting for detailed,
planned, conservation treatment.
3. We want to understand how the plane (sic) got where it is; what's its
story? To gain that understanding -- as in any archaeological study or crime
scene investigation -- we need to understand the thing's physical context.
So we'll want to take a good hard look at the thing and its surroundings --
image it in all kinds of ways, from all kinds of angles, and prepare a map.
We'll want to look at how it's interacting with the reef: is it partly buried?
Grown over in coral? Home to a colony of fish? What kinds of fish? How firmly
attached is it to the reef? What kind of shape is it in? (Probably not
good)
Once we've done this, we can, if it makes sense, develop a recovery plan
for all or part of the wreckage. This will need to be done in consultation with
a variety of specialists and with the administration of the Phoenix Islands
Protected Area (PIPA) and other Kiribati government offices. Once that plan has
been developed and approved, then and only then can we send down an ROV to very
carefully try to pick up the pieces.
There are only two exceptions I can think of to the above sequence. One
would be if the initial inspection reveals a piece or two of easily recoverable
wreckage -- just lying there, relatively unencumbered by coral -- and the
inspection ship is equipped with a conservation lab that's able to take care of
it. In such a case it might be justifiable to plot the exact location of the
wreckage and then bring it up. Another exception might be if the wreckage were
in some kind of imminent danger -- about to fall off a ledge or be crushed by a
falling slab of coral. Then some kind of rescue operation might be in order,
but even that would take a good deal of planning.
As TIGHAR's senior archaeologist, my greatest fear is that some dufus with
more money than brains will get excited by the current media frenzy and go try
to snag the thing (whatever it is) with a net or trawl or something. That could
be a disaster both environmentally and archaeologically. It would also be
illegal, but the Pacific is too much like the wild west for that to be much of
an impediment. I only hope that everyone will be responsible and cool their jets while we figure out how to handle the thing (if it's really a thing) with the care and respect it -- and the environment -- deserve.
