Company with rights to salvage Titanic sinking has canceled Plans to retrieve more artifacts Since the leader of the upcoming expedition is Titan submersible implodesaccording to documents filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court.
The decision could impact a looming court battle between the company and the U.S. government. keep trying to stop Mission 2024. U.S. attorneys said the company’s initial plan to enter the hull would violate federal laws that treat sunken ships as burial grounds.
Paul-Henri Nageolette Former director of underwater research for RMS Titanic, a Georgia-based company dedicated to recovering and displaying Titanic artifacts. Nargeolet imparts his expertise to an independent companythe gate of the ocean, when He and four others In June, the Titanic died during its final dive near the Titanic.
Before the tragic dive, RMST program captures images The interior and exterior of the wreck. The company also hopes to recover items from the wreckage site as well as individual objects inside the sunken ocean liner.
Nageole should have been responsible.former french naval officer Completed 37 dives and oversaw the salvage of approximately 5,000 Titanic artifacts. Exhibits at the RMST feature everything from silverware to fragments of ship hulls.
The company’s initial 2024 expedition plans also include possible retrieval of items from the ship’s famous Marconi Room. After the Titanic hit an iceberg, the radio here broadcast increasingly frantic distress calls.
Morse code messages were picked up by other ships and shore receiving stations, helping to save the lives of some 700 people who escaped in lifeboats. The Titanic carried 2,208 passengers and crew on its only voyage from Southampton, England to New York.
The company said in court documents Wednesday that its plans currently only include imaging at the wreck site and refining investigations for “future artifact recovery.”
“Out of respect for PH Nargeolet and his family, as well as the four other people and their families who recently lost their lives at this site, the company has decided that artifact recovery is not appropriate at this time,” the company wrote.
RMST also said it would not send another manned submersible to the Titanic “pending further investigation into the cause of the (OceanGate) tragedy.”United States Coast Guard Guiding probe Enter Titan’s implosion.
At the same time, it is unclear how the planned change will affect RMST The nascent legal battle with the U.S. government. The company’s documents appear to indicate it no longer plans to access the ship’s hull, which the government says would violate the law.
A hearing is still scheduled for Friday afternoon in U.S. District Court in Norfolk, Virginia, which oversees the Titanic’s salvage.
“Today’s document underscores how seriously we take our responsibilities,” RMST CEO Jessica Sanders said in a statement.
“In light of the OceanGate tragedy, the death of our dear colleague Paul-Henri ‘PH’ Nargeolet, and the ongoing investigation, we have chosen to modify our previous documentation and currently conduct only unmanned imaging and investigation work,” she said.
Lawyers for the U.S. government did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
The court case hinges on federal law and an agreement between the United States and Britain that sees the sinking of the Titanic as a memorial to the more than 1,500 people who perished.
In August, the United States argued in court papers that access to the Titanic’s severed hull – or physical alteration or disturbance of the wreckage – was governed by the law and its agreement with Britain.One of the government’s concerns is that cultural relics may be disturbed and any human remains This may still exist.
The company has yet to directly respond to the government’s allegations in court. But in previous cases, RMST has questioned the constitutionality of the United States’ “violation” of its rights to salvage shipwrecks in international waters.The company argued that only the courts in Norfolk had jurisdiction and pointing to centuries of precedent In maritime law.
RMST said in a court filing earlier this year that it did not plan to seek government permission for its original expedition plans. But those plans have changed.
The company said it “will not be salvaging artifacts at this time or conducting other activities that would physically alter or disturb the wreck,” the company wrote on Wednesday.
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