Titanic expedition yields lost bronze statue, high-resolution photos and other discoveries

SEPTEMBER 2, 2024:

NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — A bronze statue from the Titanic — not seen in decades and feared to be lost for good — is among the discoveries made by the company with salvage rights to the wreck site on its first expedition there in many years.

RMS Titanic Inc., a Georgia-based company that holds the legal rights to the 112-year-old wreck, has completed its first trip since 2010 and released images from the expedition on Monday (Sept. 2, 2024). The pictures show a site that continues to change more than a century later.

The trip to the remote corner of the North Atlantic Ocean where the Titanic sank happened as the U.S. Coast Guard investigates the June 2023 implosion of the Titan, an experimental submersible owned by a different company. The Titan submersible disaster killed all five people on board, including Paul-Henri Nargeolet, who was director of underwater research for RMS Titanic.

The findings from this summer’s trip “showcase a bittersweet mix of preservation and loss,” RMS Titanic said in a statement. A highlight was the rediscovery of the statue “Diana of Versaille,” last seen in 1986, and the statue now has a clear and updated image, the company said.

On a sadder note, a significant section of the railing that surrounds the ship bow’s forecastle deck has fallen, RMS Titanic said. The railing still stood as recently as 2022, the company said.

“The discovery of the statue of Diana was an exciting moment. But we are saddened by the loss of the iconic Bow railing and other evidence of decay which has only strengthened our commitment to preserving Titanic’s legacy,” said Tomasina Ray, director of collections for RMS Titanic.

The crew spent 20 days at the site and returned to Providence, Rhode Island, on Aug. 9. They captured more than 2 million of the highest resolution pictures of the site ever to exist, the company said.

The team also fully mapped the wreck and its debris field with equipment that should improve understanding of the site, RMS Titanic said. The next step is to process the data so it can be shared with the scientific community, and so “historically significant and at-risk artifacts can be identified for safe recovery in future expeditions,” the company said in a statement.

The company said prior to the expedition that it had an especially important mission in the wake of Nargeolet’s death.

The Coast Guard’s investigation will be the subject of a public hearing later in September.

Nargeolet’s family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the Titan sub’s operator OceanGate, which suspended operations after the implosion. OceanGate has not commented publicly on the lawsuit, which was filed in a Washington state court.

JULY 3, 2024:

NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — The U.S. 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 U.S. 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 Great Britain to treat the wreck as a gravesite.

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 artifacts 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 U.S. 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 artifacts and any human remains that may still exist on the North Atlantic seabed.

In October 2023, RMST said it had significantly pared down its dive plans. That’s 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 Nargeolet was lending expertise. 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 artifact recovery or penetration imaging.”

The U.S. government stated in a June 27, 2024, court filing that it’s ending its legal efforts against the expedition because of the company’s revised dive plans.

But the government said future expeditions could be illegal. It noted that the firm’s longer-term objectives still involve the possible retrieval of objects from inside the wreck and surrounding debris field. For that reason, the U.S. said it wants to leave the door open for future legal battles. Specifically, the government said it may still pursue last year’s motion to intervene as a party in RMST’s salvage case with a federal admiralty court.

RMST has been the court-recognized steward of the Titanic’s artifacts since 1994. Its last expedition was in 2010, before the federal law and international agreement took effect.

The company has recovered and conserved thousands of Titanic artifacts, from silverware to a piece of the ship’s hull, which millions of people have seen through its exhibits.

U. S. District Judge Rebecca Beach Smith is the maritime jurist who presides over Titanic salvage matters in Norfolk, Virginia. She said during a March court hearing that the U.S. government’s case against RMST would raise serious legal questions if it continues, while the consequences could be wide-ranging.

Congress is allowed to modify maritime law, Smith said in reference to the U.S. regulating entry into the sunken Titanic. But the judge questioned whether Congress can strip courts of their own admiralty jurisdiction over a shipwreck, something that has centuries of legal precedent.

In 2020, Smith gave RMST permission to retrieve and exhibit the radio that had broadcast the Titanic’s distress calls. The U.S. government responded by filing an official legal challenge against the expedition.

The court battle never played out. RMST indefinitely delayed those plans because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Smith noted in March that time may be running out for expeditions inside the Titanic. The ship is rapidly deteriorating.

AUGUST 30, 2023:

NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — The U.S. government is trying to stop a planned expedition to the sunken Titanic shipwreck that could recover items of historic interest. The expedition is being organized by RMS Titanic Inc. The Georgia-based firm owns the salvage rights to the wreck and exhibits recovered artifacts. The government’s legal challenge to the expedition has nothing to do with the fatal implosion of the Titan submersible in June 2023. It hinges instead on a federal law and a pact with Great Britain to treat the wreck as a memorial to those who died and to prevent entry into its hull.

Extended version:

NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — The U.S. government is trying to stop a planned expedition to recover items of historical interest from the sunken Titanic, citing a federal law and an international agreement that treat the shipwreck as a hallowed gravesite.

The expedition is being organized by RMS Titanic Inc., the Georgia-based firm that owns the salvage rights to the world’s most famous shipwreck. The company exhibits artifacts that have been recovered from the wreck site at the bottom of the North Atlantic, from silverware to a piece of the Titanic’s hull.

The government’s challenge comes more than two months after the Titan submersible imploded near the sunken ocean liner, killing five people. But this legal fight has nothing to do with the June 2023 tragedy, which involved a different company and an unconventionally designed vessel.

The battle in the U.S. District Court in Norfolk, Virginia, which oversees Titanic salvage matters, hinges instead on federal law and a pact with Great Britain to treat the sunken Titanic as a memorial to the more than 1,500 people who died. The ship hit an iceberg and sank in 1912.

The U.S. argues that entering the Titanic’s severed hull — or physically altering or disturbing the wreck — is regulated by federal law and its agreement with Britain. Among the government’s concerns is the possible disturbance of artifacts and any human remains that may still exist.

“RMST is not free to disregard this validly enacted federal law, yet that is its stated intent,” U.S. lawyers argued in court documents filed 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. That 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 artifacts 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.”

The Marconi room holds the ship’s radio — a Marconi wireless telegraph machine — which broadcast the Titanic’s increasingly frantic distress signals after the ocean liner hit an iceberg. The messages in Morse code were picked up by other ships and onshore receiving stations, helping to save the lives of about 700 people who fled in life boats. There had been 2,208 passengers and crew on the Titanic’s maiden voyage, from Southampton, England, to New York.

“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 U.S. agency that represents the public’s interest in the wreck. But RMST said it does not intend to seek a permit.

U.S. government lawyers said the firm can’t proceed without one, arguing that RMST needs approval from the U.S. Secretary of Commerce, who oversees NOAA.

The company has not filed a response in court. But in previous cases, it has challenged the constitutionality of U.S. efforts to “infringe” on its salvage rights to a wreck in international waters. The firm has argued that only the court in Norfolk has jurisdiction, and points to centuries of precedent in maritime law.

RMST reiterated that stance in a statement to The Associated Press on Tuesday, noting that the court granted its salvage rights three decades ago. Since then, the firm said it has recovered and conserved thousands of Titanic artifacts, which millions of people have seen.

“The company will continue its work, respectfully preserving the memory and legacy of Titanic, her passengers and crew for the future generations,” RMST said.

In 2020, the U.S. government and RMST engaged in a nearly identical legal battle over a proposed expedition that could have cut into the wreck. But the proceedings were cut short by the coronavirus pandemic and never fully played out.

The company’s plan then was to retrieve the radio, which sits in a deck house near the grand staircase. An uncrewed submersible was to slip through a skylight or cut the heavily corroded roof. A “suction dredge” would remove loose silt, while manipulator arms could cut electrical cords.

The company said it would exhibit the radio along with stories of the men who tapped out distress calls “until seawater was literally lapping at their feet.”

In May 2020, U.S. District Judge Rebecca Beach Smith gave RMST permission, writing that the radio is historically and culturally important and could soon be lost to decay. Smith wrote that recovering the telegraph would “contribute to the legacy left by the indelible loss of the Titanic, those who survived, and those who gave their lives in the sinking.”

A few weeks later, the U.S. government filed an official legal challenge against the 2020 expedition, which never happened. The firm indefinitely delayed its plans in early 2021 because of complications wrought by the pandemic.

Titanic expedition yields lost bronze statue, high-resolution photos and other discoveries

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