Undersea war graves

SIR – In 1986 the Protection of Military Remains Act was passed, allowing the wrecks of vessels to be designated as war graves. The subject was widely debated by international representatives in the United Nations whose countrymen had died in both world wars.

In 1975 my late father had highlighted the cases of HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse, sunk off Singapore in 1941. Having been approached by the Repulse and Prince of Wales Association, following reports that divers were looting personal items from the cabins of the sunken warships and selling them in Japan, I raised the matter again in 1995, and the government acknowledged that the underwater cemeteries in international waters should be recognised and respected.

In 2014, you reported that the ships, the last resting places of more than 830 Royal Navy sailors, were found to have been damaged by scavengers. Now you report (August 20) fresh looting from ships lying off the Malaysian and Indonesian coasts.

It is 100 years since the end of the First World War, and respect and gratitude are rightly being shown even to “the unknown warriors” of both world wars who assured us the freedom we enjoy today. Is it too much to ask our politicians to exert pressure in the United Nations for the meaning of respect to be recognised?

Lord Clifford of Chudleigh Chudleigh, Devon