| Summary: | Includes bibliographical references. === This dissertation addresses the value of shipwrecks, the reasons why persons have an interest in shipwrecks, the nature of competing claims for the shipwrecks by different persons and how different national laws and international law, treaties and conventions attempts to resolve such competing claims and the difficulties arising therefrom and possible solutions to eliminate such difficulties. The ocean covers 71 per cent of the Earth's surface and contains 97 per cent of the planet's water, yet more than 95 per cent of the underwater world remains unexplored. These waters have separated but also connected civilizations over thousands of years and have been the carrier of many human adventures. As civilizations grew more advanced humans began to explore the vast oceans. In 1488 Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias rounded the Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of Africa, establishing the possibility of a sea route to the Far East. In 1492, Columbus's voyage to the New World is regarded as the moment of birth for westward exploration. Bristol merchants first probed the Atlantic in 1480 in search of an island they called Brasile and they continued to send two or three ships west every year. During such expeditions, over centuries, with population explosions, and the use of the sea for the transportation of both goods and people, not to mention wars and sea battles, ships have sunk all around the world. The United Nations estimates that there are over 3 million shipwrecks on the sea floor.
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