US Government Blocks 2024 Titanic Artifact Expedition, Calling Wreckage a Grave Site
The US wants to halt an expected expedition to retrieve Titanic wreckage relics in 2019, citing a federal statute and a treaty that designate the shipwreck as a sacred burial ground.
The unmanned expedition was planned and will be conducted by RMS Titanic Inc., a Georgia-based company that owns the salvage rights to the Titanic disaster.
Less than three months have passed since five people were killed when a manned submersible from a separate business imploded as it descended to inspect the wreckage, prompting the authorities to dispute the trip.
The US District Court in Norfolk, Virginia, which is in charge of Titanic salvage cases, is where the legal conflict is currently taking place.
The disturbing of any artifacts or human remains that might still be on the ship is the government’s principal worry.
The voyage includes collecting pictures of the entire ship, including interior, and is tentatively slated for May 2024.
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Expedition Aims to Retrieve Titanic Artifacts, Legal and Technical Hurdles Persist
The expedition would gather artifacts from the debris field and maybe free-standing objects inside the disaster, according to RMST in a court filing.
Items from the Marconi room may be among those, but only if they are not fixed to the wreck itself.
The ship’s radio and the Marconi wireless telegraph device, which was the first to transmit Morse code messages about the ship’s collision with the iceberg, are both located in the Marconi room.
Nearby ships responded to the alert and assisted in saving roughly 700 individuals who fled in lifeboats.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which speaks for the public’s interest in the wreck, and RMST have agreed to cooperate. But it won’t go for a permit.
The firm cannot move further without one, according to US government lawyers, who claimed that RMST needed approval from the secretary of commerce, who is in charge of NOAA.
RMST has in the past contested the legality of American attempts to interfere with its salvage rights to a wreck that is situated in international waters.
In support of its claim, the firm has cited centuries of maritime law tradition and claimed that only the Norfolk court has jurisdiction.
In 2020, when RMST proposed a mission to recover a radio onboard, the government and the firm were involved in a related legal dispute.
An unmanned submersible was supposed to squeeze through a window or grab onto the roof. Next, loose silt would be removed using a suction dredge, and electrical cables may be cut using manipulator arms.
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Source: New York Post, Independent
