undersea treasure troves.

And Parliament must pass laws to stop them, says an expert in maritime history.

Mr. Mark Newell, a Bermuda journalist who became an archaeologist with South Carolina University, returned to the Island last week to work with the Maritime Museum.

He wants to use local waters to train divers, from Bermuda and South Carolina, on how to respect wrecks and the historical information they hold.

He said that in deeper waters off the Island, there were "almost certainly'' wrecks that had not been touched by divers.

"But the technology is becoming available so they can be raped by looters,'' he said.

Underwater robots and new submarines could make such sites vulnerable to the treasure hunters.

When they took objects from a wreck it was like people trampling over the scene of a crime and taking away vital clues, he said.

"Legislation can stop that happening. Elsewhere in the world there are laws that claim these resources for all of the people of the nation.

"Government can say that the material is the property of everybody in Bermuda, not just a few.

"But there is nothing in the law right now that can protects these resources.

"The unique thing about Bermuda is that you have under your control not just archaeological resources that are important to Bermudians, but resources that are important to the whole world.'' This was because of the Island's position in the history of trade between the nations of the Atlantic, he said.

"The material on the bottom of your seas can benefit people in terms of their cultural identity and their economic future. Everyone should share in those benefits, but the only way that can happen is for these resources to be protected and scientifically studied.

"It would be wrong to give a few individuals the right to take this material for personal profit, in an unscientific manner.'' Mr. Newell was a Royal Gazette court reporter in the early 1960s. He then travelled around the Caribbean and South America, eventually settling in South Carolina and becoming an archaeologist.

He has been training scuba divers in the state to act as amateur archaeologists -- making their dives more interesting and helping scientists get the information they need.

Now, working with Dr. Ed Harris of the Maritime Museum, he is hoping to bring South Carolina divers to Bermuda to take part in training dives. Local divers would be welcome too.

He may also be setting up cultural diving tours.

"Bermuda is one of the most attractive locations I can think of,'' he said.

"It's one of the undiscovered diving areas off the east coast of America.''