DATELINE: 9th July 2002

OH POLLUX! DIVERS IN TROUBLE AFTER ITALIAN JOB
Four British divers were forced to give up their haul of gold and jewels, and received a police caution after salvaging treasure from the wreck Pollux, near Elba, Italy.
The four friends, David Dixon, Kerr Sinclair, Jerry Sullivan and Nicolas Pearson; mostly come from a commercial diving background and live in the Suffolk and Norfolk area. They obtained permission from the Italian authorities to salvage the Glenlogan, a British merchant steamer sunk in 1916 by U-21 10 miles south-east of Stromboli Island. The wreck they actually salvaged was the Pollux, which lies some 390 miles away from the position of the Glenlogan.
The divers had spent £120,000 chartering a specialist vessel with a mechanical grab for the three weeks of their trip.
The Receiver of Wreck became involved after the find, which included 311 gold coins, 2,000 silver coins several diamonds and some gold jewellery, was reported to them prior to auction. It was clear that these items could not have come from the Glenlogan, so the ROW contacted the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, who informed the Italian authorities about the find.
Officers from the Metropolitan Police Arts and Antiquities Unit seized the items, and the divers accepted a caution for 'Supplying the Receiver of Wreck with incorrect information about a salvage'. The salvaged items have been returned to the Italian authorities, and are destined for a museum in Elba. Further criminal proceedings against the divers are being pursued by the Italian authorities.
"The lesson for divers is this: do not recover anything from another country's territorial waters unless you are clear about the legal situation." commented a spokesperson for the Receiver of Wreck.

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