The decision could impact a looming court battle between the company and the U.S. government, which has been trying to stop the 2024 mission. U.S. attorneys have said the firm’s original plans to enter the ship’s hull would violate a federal law that treats the wreck as a gravesite.
Paul-Henri Nargeolet was the director of underwater research for RMS Titanic, Inc, the Georgia-based firm that recovers and exhibits Titanic artifacts. Nargeolet was lending his expertise to a separate company, OceanGate, when he and four others died on the Titan’s final dive near the Titanic in June.
Before the tragic dive, RMST planned to take images inside and outside of the wreck. The firm also wanted to retrieve items from the debris field as well as freestanding objects within the sunken ocean liner.
On the one hand, I feel like it should all just be left there as a memorial to those who died. On the other hand, this is not like it’s a sacred indigenous burial ground or anything. If you’re going to recover artifacts from somewhere, at least you’re getting them from a place where it’s not just basic theft.
You have to be indigenous to have respect for the dead? This is like someone stealing the flowers off the telephone poles marking the scene of an accident as a business plan. Gross enough a guy was selling guided tours.
No, you have to be indigenous to have ancient sacred grounds which have been used to honor the dead for hundreds or thousands of years.
But the guided tour, I agree, that’s crass.
Plus in keeping with the metaphor of “stealing flowers left at scenes of wrecks”, it’s more like a towing company coming in to remove the vehicles that crashed, but waiting a long time to do it.
If this were a recent wreck, and not 110 years old, this discussion wouldn’t even be taking place.
The wreck is owned by the insurance company who has rights to raise it. They lost a lot of money when the ship went down and would like to get it back . It’s isn’t cost effective to raise the wreck, but if you do anyway you are steeling from the owners.
It’s worth pointing out that the Titanic is literally disintegrating. Bacteria is eating away the steel. They even named it after the ship: halomonas titanicae.
The wreck will soon be gone or severely dimished to the point it’s unrecognizable. Certain things will definitely remain, but the structure will not.
And frankly, good. The ocean floor has no obligation to maintain our trash in pristine order for us to gawk at. Let the wreck vanish into history.