Written question asked by Andrew Smith (Labour) on Wednesday, 10 April 2013, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 16 April 2013. It was answered by Mark Francois (Conservative) on Monday, 22 April 2013 on behalf of the Ministry of Defence.
HMS Victory
- Question
-
(2) whether his Department gave permission for excavation of HMS Victory 1744; and what assessment he has made of whether there has been any breach of the Deed of Gift of the wreck.
[151550]
Mr Andrew Smith:
- Answer
-
The Deed of Gift signed on 12 January 2012 forms the current agreement between the Ministry of Defence (MOD) and the Maritime Heritage Foundation (MHF) for management of the site of the wreck of HMS Victory 1744.
Odyssey Marine Exploration (OME) has conducted regular site surveys since it discovered the wreck in 2008. No specific permission was sought from the MOD before OME revisited the site in summer 2012.
On 13 March 2013 the expert panel discussed the television images of the skull in advance of OME's report of last summer's activity, which the Government expects to receive shortly as part of MHFs revised management plan and response to the key management principles.
No determination has been made on whether there has been any breach of the Deed of Gift. The expert panel will review the MHF submission and provide its advice to the Government through the advisory group.
Secondary information
- Type
- Written question
- Reference
- 151550; 561 cc625-6W
- Session
- 2012-13
- Subjects
- Wrecks HMS Victory (wreck)
- Link
- View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk
Librarians' tools
- Timestamp
- 2015-04-15 22:20:28 +0100
- URI
- http://hansard.intranet.data.parliament.uk/Commons/2013-04-22/13042252000482
- In Indexing
- http://indexing.parliament.uk/Content/Edit/1?uri=http://hansard.intranet.data.parliament.uk/Commons/2013-04-22/13042252000482
- In Solr
- https://search.parliament.uk/claw/solr/?id=http://hansard.intranet.data.parliament.uk/Commons/2013-04-22/13042252000482