New Titanic expedition planned just months after sub tragedy
A new expedition to the Titanic is already being planned despite five people being killed just months ago.
The US government is trying to stop the trip to recover historical items organised by RMS Titanic Inc (RMST), which owns the salvage rights to the wreckage.
It comes just two months after the Titan submersible imploded, killing all five people on board.
British billionaire explorer Hamish Harding, French diver Paul-Henri Nargeolet, Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood, his 19-year-old son Suleman and OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush were all killed.
Debris from the vessel was found on the ocean floor, close to the Titanic’s bow, five days after they set off on June 18.
But now the US is concerned the wreckage of the Titanic is not being treated as a memorial to the more than 1,500 who died, according to a pact with the UK.
The planned expedition aims to recover artefacts from the site, including pieces of the ship’s hull.
The US argues that entering the Titanic’s severed hull – or physically altering or disturbing the wreck – is regulated by federal law and its agreement with the UK.
They are also concerned any human remains which may still exist could be disturbed.
‘RMST is not free to disregard this validly enacted federal law, yet that is its stated intent,’ US lawyers argued in court documents filed on Friday.
They added that the shipwreck ‘will be deprived of the protections Congress granted it’.
RMST’s expedition is tentatively planned for May 2024, according to a report it filed with the court in June.
The company said it plans to take images of the entire wreck. This includes ‘inside the wreck where deterioration has opened chasms sufficient to permit a remotely operated vehicle to penetrate the hull without interfering with the current structure’.
RMST said it would recover artefacts from the debris field and ‘may recover free-standing objects inside the wreck’.
Those could include ‘objects from inside the Marconi room, but only if such objects are not affixed to the wreck itself’.
‘At this time, the company does not intend to cut into the wreck or detach any part of the wreck,’ RMST stated.
The company said it would ‘work collaboratively’ with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the US agency that represents the public’s interest in the wreck. But RMST said it does not intend to seek a permit.
US government lawyers said the firm cannot proceed without one, arguing that RMST needs approval from the US Secretary of Commerce, who oversees NOAA.
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