Thousands of historic artefacts raised from Bermuda's seabed in the late 1960s will be transferred from Washington D.C.'s Smithsonian Institute to the Bermuda Maritime Museum in the next few months.

The news was announced by Premier Jennifer Smith during Friday's debate on the Historic Wrecks Act which is also being hailed as a major victory in Bermuda's efforts to preserve and display its cultural heritage.

"We are honoured that the Smithsonian considers the Maritime Museum as a bona fide institution to which to entrust the care of this collection for the future," said Dr. Ed Harris, director of the Maritime Museum.

"The artefacts will now rejoin others at the museum from some of the shipwrecks worked by the Smithsonian 40 years ago."

After years of negotiations between the Smithsonian and the Maritime Museum, the path is now clear for the return of the objects, which were recovered from shipwrecks dating back as far as the late 1500s by the Smithsonian's curator Dr. Mendel Petersen and local diver Teddy Tucker.

Dr. Harris told The Royal Gazette that some of the collection will feature in a major exhibition in 2003 to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the discovery of Bermuda.

When asked, he said the return of the objects could not be regarded as a repatriation.

"Repatriation has a legalistic kind of tone - they are a collection that came off Bermuda shipwrecks and presumably were allowed to go to the Smithsonian by the Government," he said.

Repatriation, he said, would be more appropriate if the objects had been taken from Bermuda as the spoils of war and returned as a result of a legal challenge.

The objects had come off exhibit at the Smithsonian and had been in storage for some years, Dr. Harris explained.

He said it was now commonplace for very large museums to return such objects to their place of origin or farm them out to regional museums, so more people could see them, rather than keep them in storage.

"It's a very good thing for Bermuda," continued Dr. Harris. "I think we can also say that if the Maritime Museum hadn't been there it would have been difficult to return it to Bermuda because they're not going to return it except to a bona fide institution."

Dr. Harris is also pleased with the passage of the Historic Wrecks Act at Friday's Parliament sitting.

He sat through every minute of debate of the legislation which creates a new regime for the proper conservation of Bermuda's underwater heritage.

"It's a landmark piece of legislation and the Government should be commended for bringing it. It's 30 years overdue."

The law, which imposes heavy fines for people who recover historic artefacts without a licence, is believed to be the first which conforms to the UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage which was agreed just last month.

Dr. Harris said that the recent destruction of statues of the Buddha by the Taliban regime in Afghanistan is "no more different from raiding a shipwreck - you're erasing history."

Further, he said, it was particularly important for small states to take such measures because their cultural heritage could be of long term economic benefit, if properly preserved.

"The trail of devastation in the West Indies - particularly by American treasure hunters - is appalling," he said. "These shipwrecks represent a major part of our cultural heritage for which people would travel to see."

He pointed to the English town of Portsmouth which became a major tourist attraction when the Mary Rose, King Henry the Eighth's flagship, was excavated and displayed.

"Before that excavation, Bermuda had the finest collection of 16th century ships and artefacts in the world. Most of it decayed because divers didn't have the funds for proper conservation. We've probably lost 85 to 95 percent of what's on the bottom," Dr. Harris said.