RMS Titanic Inc. will hold live-streamed memorial service for Titan passenger Paul-Henri Nargeolet that coincides with the company's new exhibit
Joël SAGET / AFP
- The company that owns salvaging rights to the Titanic is holding a memorial for its former employee.
- Paul-Henri Nargeolet was one of five passengers who died on board the Titan submersible last month.
- RMS Titanic's service for Nargeolet coincides with the opening of its new commercial exhibit.
RMS Titanic Inc., the controversial company that owns the sole salvaging rights to the historic shipwreck, is set to hold a live-streamed memorial service for its former employee and Titan passenger, Paul-Henri Nargeolet — an event that appears to closely coincide with the grand opening of the company's newest Titanic-themed exhibit.
In promoting the new Paris-based exhibition, Titanic - L'exposition, RMS Titanic has invoked Nargeolet's prior work with the company, which is responsible for surfacing thousands of artifacts from the underwater gravesite, many of which are now on display in exhibits around the world.
"Many of the artifacts on display were recovered by or recovered under the supervision of Paul-Henri Nargeolet and his dedicated team," RMS Titanic said of its new exhibit in a Tuesday post. "An intrepid explorer with an indomitable pioneering spirit, PH fearlessly ventured into the depths of the ocean to unravel its mysteries and educate the public."
RMS Titanic included Nargeolet's own words in social media marketing for the exhibit.
"Everyone has a right to dream about TITANIC, to see the wreck if they want, and to see artifacts. It should not be the privilege of a small group of people," a social media post from RMS Titanic promoting the new exhibit said on Tuesday, quoting Nargeolet.
RMS Titanic's memorial service for Nargeolet is scheduled for Wednesday afternoon, one day after the Parisian exhibit held its opening. The memorial service is a private event, the company said in a post last week, but it will be live streamed across the globe on the company's Facebook page, "to provide an outlet for the world-wide Titanic and Oceanographic communities to remember our colleague and friend, and express our grief together."
Nargeolet was one of five people who died on board OceanGate's Titan submersible last month when the vessel presumably imploded during an exploratory dive to the historic shipwreck.
The new Titanic exhibit appears to have the support of Nargeolet's family. His daughter spoke at a panel for the exhibit on Tuesday, thanking RMS Titanic Inc. for allowing her father to pursue his passions.
The French explorer spent two decades working with RMS Titanic Inc., where he helped collect more than 5,000 artifacts from the wreckage during several dives he took to the site.
"He liked to share his passion and introduce people" to his passion, his daughter, Sidonie Nargeolet, said during the Tuesday RMS Titanic panel.
Sidonie Nargeolet did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
David Concannon, a longtime friend of Nargeolet and a former legal advisor to both RMS Titanic Inc. and OceanGate, told Insider he would not be attending the company's memorial service.
"I will be attending another, more appropriate memorial ceremony for PH," Concannon said in a statement to Insider. "The timing of the Paris event, so close to the opening of a commercial artifact exhibit there, is unfortunate."
RMS Titanic did not immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment and the company has not responded to multiple prior interview requests.
As the sole owner of salvage rights, RMS Titanic has long had a vested interest in profiting off the 1912 shipwreck, Insider's Katherine Long reported last month.
The group was responsible for surfacing thousands of artifacts throughout the 1990s, causing controversy among those who believed the gravesite and its inhabitants should be left untouched.
The company filed for bankruptcy in 2016 and put a collection of its recovered artifacts up for auction as a result. The auction never materialized, however, and the company still owns the collection today.