He added that a friend who had been to the Titanic wreckage on a tourist cruise ship, which is organized every summer, had said the main mast had been damaged as if it had been rammed to get into the cargo hold.
"These are unique historical artifacts that belong in a museum," Willard told ABC News. "If they are recovered, they should be put on display for the whole world to see, rather than end up in a private collection or be sold on the black market, which is a travesty."
But there doesn't seem to be a way of stopping the bandits.
"As long as there is greed, as long as there's a chance for people to make a tremendous profit off this," Willard said to the BBC, "there will be an opportunity for someone to go out there and steal artifacts. It is tough to police the North Atlantic."
Additional reporting by Laura Westmacott and Roger Kaplinsky-Dwarika
