I was wondering if you could give me a estimated cost for recoverying a sunken ship that sits 1,900ft below sea level and weighs 500ton and the length is 180ft long. If the diminsion sound familiar its because I am talking about the Ehime Maru shipwreck off the coast of Hawaii.

Dr. dig responds:
Nothing short of several million is my guess, if you do it properly according to stringent archaeological standards of recovery and conservation.

1,900 ft is a bit deep for most divers, so you will need to acquire a deep sea submarine. Your budget will still depend on the number of divers, navigators, profesional archaeologists, and ship hands you hire, the purchase of equipment (a major expense that would include everything from underwater pens to highly specialized computers and diving gear), the number of weeks or months it will take to undertake such an operation, food and lodging, insurance, laboratory analysis, and the employment of professional draftsmen, pottery specialists, numismatists (coin specialists), naval engineers, etc.