The first full size digital scan of the Titanic. Photo: ATLANTIC PRODUCTIONS/MAGELLAN
The US government is trying to stop a planned expedition to recover objects of historical interest from the sunken Titanic, citing federal law and an international agreement that treats a shipwreck as a sacred burial site.
The expedition is being organized by RMS Titanic Inc., a Georgia company, the company that owns the rights to salvage the most famous shipwreck in the world. The company presents artifacts found at the crash site on the bottom of the North Atlantic, from silverware to a piece of the Titanic's hull.
The government's call comes more than two months after a Titan submersible exploded near a sunken ocean liner, killing five people. But this legal battle has nothing to do with the June tragedy, which involved another company and a vessel of unconventional design.
The battle is in the U.S. District Court in Norfolk, Virginia, which oversees the Titanic's salvage, instead depending on federal law and a pact with the UK to treat the sunken Titanic as a memorial to more than 1,500 dead people. The ship collided with an iceberg and sank in 1912.
The US maintains that entry into the severed hull of the Titanic — and physical alteration or damage to the wreck — is governed by federal law and its agreement with the UK. Among the government's concerns is possible damage to artifacts and any human remains that may still exist.
Digital Scans Created Using Deep Sea Mapping Credit: ATLANTIC PRODUCTIONS/MAGELLAN
«RMST has no right to override this legally enacted federal law, but that is precisely its stated intent,» U.S. lawyers said in court documents filed on Friday. They added that the wreck «will not be protected by Congress.»
The RMST expedition is tentatively scheduled for May 2024, according to a report filed with the court in June.
The company said it plans to photograph the entire crash site. This includes «inside the crash site where the collapse created gaps large enough for a remotely controlled vehicle to penetrate the hull without disturbing the existing structure.»
RMST said they would recover artifacts from the debris field and «may recover free-standing objects inside the crash site.» This may include «items from Marconi's room, but only if such items are not attached to the wreck itself.»
The Marconi room contains the ship's radio — Marconi's wireless telegraph machine — which broadcast messages » Titanic. increasingly frantic distress calls after an ocean liner collides with an iceberg.
Messages written in Morse code were received by other ships and shore receiving stations, helping to save the lives of about 700 lifeboat survivors.
Titanic's maiden voyage from Southampton, England to New York carried 2,208 passengers and crew.
“At this time, the company does not intend to interfere with the destruction or separation of any part of a sunken ship,” said RMST.
Stern detached from the bow, a chaotic tangle of steel. Photo: ATLANTIC PRODUCTIONS/MAGELLAN
The company said it would «work in concert» with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the US agency that represents the public's interest in the wreck. But RMST has said it has no intention of seeking permission.
U.S. government lawyers have said the firm cannot proceed without it, arguing that RMST needs approval from the US Secretary of Commerce, which oversees NOAA.
The company has not filed a lawsuit, but it has previously challenged the constitutionality of US attempts to «violate» its rights to salvage a sunken ship in international waters. The firm claims that only the Norfolk court has jurisdiction and points to centuries of precedent in maritime law.
In 2020, the US government and RMST entered into a nearly identical legal battle over a proposed expedition that could crash into the wreck . However, the trial was interrupted by the coronavirus pandemic and was never completed.
Then the company's plan was to return the radio, which is located in the wheelhouse next to the main staircase. The unmanned underwater vehicle had to slip through a skylight or cut through a heavily corroded roof. The dredge will remove loose silt, and manipulators can cut electrical cords.
The company said it would put up a radio along with stories of people listening to distress calls «before the sea water was literally splashing.» at their feet.”
In May 2020, U.S. District Judge Rebecca Beach Smith gave permission to RMST, writing that radio has historical and cultural significance and may soon disappear due to disintegration.
Ms Smith wrote that the return of the telegraph «will contribute to the legacy left by the indelible loss of the Titanic, those who survived and those who lost their lives in the sinking.»
>A few weeks later, the US government filed a formal lawsuit against the 2020 expedition, but this never happened.
The firm postponed its plans indefinitely in early 2021 due to complications caused by the pandemic.
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