Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether his Department has been told that the Maritime Heritage Foundation has a commercial salvage contract with American treasure hunting company Odyssey Marine Exploration which would allow Odyssey and the Maritime Heritage Foundation to sell artefacts from the wreck of HMS Victory 1744, including the personal property of the crew; and whether such sales under such a contract are contrary to Government policy for historic shipwrecks under the Annex to the UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage.

DCMS is aware that a contract exists between the Marine Heritage Foundation (MHF) and Odyssey Marine Exploration and that MHF ​has also confirmed that there is no contractual arrangement with OME concerning any artefacts which may be recovered from the wreck of HMS Victory, which were not passed to MHF pursuant to a Deed of Gift dated 12 January 2012 between the Ministry of Defence and MHF. If any such artefacts are found, they will be notified to the Receiver of Wrecks to be dealt with according to law. MHF have also confirmed that the contract with OME does not require at any time in the future the de-accession or sale by MHF of artefacts from the wreck which, with their associated archive, will remain together as a single assemblage wherever possible.

The UK Government has adopted the Key Management Principles in the Annex to the UNESCO Convention as best practice in the management of underwater archaeological and historic sites and this includes provisions regarding the incompatibility of commercial exploitation of cultural heritage for trade or speculation.