Leading diver hits out over desecration of war graves

One of the country’s leading divers has blasted the “desecration” of naval war graves.

Aberdeenshire diver Rod Macdonald

– a former member of Stonehaven lifeboat and one of the world’s top shipwreck explorers – said the scale of the “unscrupulous” practice was “shocking” and “staggering” which left him with a “deep revulsion and horror”.

Among the sites highlighted in his new book, Deeper Into The Darkness, are the war graves of British sailors who died in the Battle of Jutland – the biggest naval action of the First World War – which have been plundered in breach of international law.

The shocking revelation comes just a week after disclosures of how Chinese pirates have looted at least 10 British warships sunk in the Far East during the Second World War.

The latest reports of looting involve wrecks of Royal Navy warships sunk in 1916 in the North Sea battle in which more than 6,000 British sailors died.

Former First Sea Lord Admiral Lord West has condemned the salvage of the wreck as “reprehensible”.

Stonehaven-based Mr Macdonald, in his new book, says: “To me, the last resting places of our fallen servicemen at sea, often called war graves, are sacred, special places.

“Sadly, for some commercial salvage operators, the fact that there are human remains on these sunken warships is of little or no relevance.

The military wrecks are simply seen as holding large amounts of best quality metals that are ripe for salvage. It’s all about the money.