The law, in its simplest definition, claims that any item of value or significance that has been in Alabama’s soil for 50 years or longer belongs to the state regardless of the location of the item even on private property. Quite simply, it means that the engagement ring your grandmother lost in her backyard in 1954 now belongs to the state of Alabama. If you come along with your metal detector and find it you are legally bound to surrender it to the state or risk a felony charge for theft of cultural resources. I was astonished to hear that relic hunters in Alabama were being arrested and charged with violations of this absurd law. I was informed of a meeting between some 30 law enforcement agency heads, state prosecutors, US Coast Guard representatives, and NPS representatives to discuss and address the enforcement of this particular law. At the meeting, an up-and-coming district attorney likened relic hunters to drug smugglers. An undercover agent for the Alabama Department of Conservation who had infiltrated a monthly meeting of a local relic hunter’s club described the clubs members as looters and thieves. A special deputy sheriff actually stated that metal detecting in the state of Alabama is illegal. In 1999 the Historical Commission of Alabama pushed through a new law affecting artifact recovery in its 77,000 miles of waterways. The new Alabama Underwater Cultural Resources Act was designed primarily to protect historically significant shipwrecks. Few can find fault with such a law, despite the fact that its enactment was redundant. However, the verbiage of this new law is so vague and pervasive that Alabama law-enforcement personnel are confused as to what constitutes a violation. Consequently, they are empowered to arrest relic hunting divers indiscriminately or so it seems. Like a festering boil, the matter is fast coming to a head. Last October 20, prominent Civil War collector and renowned scuba diver Steve Phillips of Birmingham was arrested along with Perry Massie while filming a television segment for California’s “Prospecting America” program. Massie is the CEO of the popular Outdoor Channel.
Both men were charged with felony theft of Alabama’s cultural artifacts. They were not diving on a shipwreck nor were they diving on a registered underwater historical site. The artifacts they were charged with stealing were a Civil War musket, a Confederate ammo box, and several minie balls identified on the site by state archaeologist Thomas Maher. Interestingly, the ammo box proved to be an old Prince Albert tobacco can, and the minie ball were, in fact, fishing weights. But, no matter, the musket was indeed a musket. Maher and his assistant with the Historical Commission were able to accurately identify that along with Phillip’s boat, both of which were duly confiscated.
Phillips, however, is not going to go gently into that good night. He and Massie have mounted an impressive campaign to defend themselves and the rights of fellow recreational scuba divers in Alabama. As Steve told me, “ We aren’t doing anything wrong. We are helping to preserve history. Relic hunters have added more to the published historical record than all the archaeological reports combined. Many of the nation’s top Civil War museum collections were donated by relic hunters and collectors. Even my own extensive artillery collection was slated for loan to Alabama. What are these people thinking?” It is baffling to me that in a time when illegal immigrants can obtain drivers licenses, criminals can flourish on Internet sites, and the English language is no longer essential for US citizenship, long-established American hobbies are under attack and labeled threats to society. Whose society? He can be contacted at www.ssdsupply.com or at ssdsupply@aol.com. Militaria and artifact collectors, relic hunters, treasure hunters, coin shooters, divers, show promoters, and even reenactors are all in the sights of special interest groups who don’t like our hobbies and are trying to curtail our pursuit of happiness. It’s time to unite.
Stephen W. Sylvia is publisher of North South Trader’s Civil War magazine.