Dispute over Titanic shipwreck dive settled as company scales back plans
The US government has officially ended its legal fight against an upcoming expedition to the Titanic shipwreck after the company that owns the ship’s salvage rights scaled back its dive plans.
But the US said in court filings last week that it may wage court battles over future expeditions if they break a federal law and an agreement with the UK to treat the wreck as a grave site.
The litigation began last year after RMS Titanic Inc announced the expedition, which is now scheduled for mid-July.
The Georgia-based company originally planned to take images inside the ocean liner’s severed hull and to retrieve artefacts from the debris field.
RMST also said it would possibly recover free-standing objects inside the Titanic, including from the room where the sinking ship broadcast its distress signals.
The US filed its legal challenge in August, arguing that entering the Titanic – or physically altering or disturbing the wreck – is regulated by the 2017 federal law and pact with Britain.
Both regard the site as a memorial to the more than 1,500 people who died when the Titanic struck an iceberg and sank in 1912.
Among the government’s concerns is the possible disturbance of artefacts and any human remains that may still exist on the North Atlantic seabed.
In October, RMST said it had significantly pared down its dive plans. That is because its director of underwater research, Paul-Henri Nargeolet, died in the implosion of the Titan submersible near the Titanic shipwreck in June.
The Titan was operated by a separate company, OceanGate, to which Mr Nargeolet was lending expertise. Mr Nargeolet was supposed to lead this year’s RMST expedition.
RMST stated in a February court filing that it will send an uncrewed submersible to the site and only take external images.
“The company will not come into contact with the wreck,” RMST stated, adding that it “will not attempt any artefact recovery or penetration imaging”.
The US government stated in a June 27 court filing that it is ending its legal efforts against the expedition because of the company’s revised dive plans.
But the government said future expeditions could be illegal.