The removal of the bell from the British war grave HMS Repulse by an Australian diver has provoked an angry response from the Force Z survivors' association.

HMS Repulse is designated as Protected - 'look but don't touch' - under the wreck protection legislation. The survivors' association allege that diver Vidar Skogli and charter boat MV Empress are responsible for the interference, but as neither are British, wreck protection legislation is unenforceable. "We have it on good authority that a number of artefacts have been removed over the last few years" Alan Matthews of the survivors' association told Divernet.
Matthews phoned Skogli over the removal of the bell and Skogli apparently offered to report the matter to the Malaysian authorities, though quite what this entails remains to be seen.
Last year a joint expedition between UK technical divers and the British Navy recovered the bell of HMS Prince of Wales, after Gavin Haywood discovered and reported the position. HMS Repulse and HMS Prince of Wales were the capital ships of Force Z, and are considered to be at great risk of interference. It was after a prolonged campaign by the survivors' association that the issue of wreck protection was addressed by the Ministry of Defence.
Unfortunately, the MoD chose to blame 'rogue' British divers and focus their legislation on those wrecks where accusations of pilfering had been received from survivors' and relatives associations and wrecks with a 'symbolic' significance - even where these are undiveable. Despite the designation of several wrecks and the active follow-up of leads by the MoD police, no British diver or charter boat has been prosecuted under the designations.
See related DIVER article here.

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