Who owns the Titanic?

[Andrew Clarkson]

Court rulings have declared RMS Titanic, Inc., salvor-in-possession - meaning the company has exclusive rights to salvage the Titanic - but have explicitly stated it does not own the 5,900 artifacts or the wreck itself. At least not yet.

News reports today have revealed filings in the U.S. District Court in Norfolk, Virginia on behalf of RMS Titanic Inc.. They disclose that the company is planning a possible expedition to the Titanic shipwreck sometime in 2010 and has submitted a claim for salvage rights.

This would be the first expedition since 2004.

Court hearings currently in session this week will have lawyers for the company seeking title to the artifacts found along with a monetary award for the expedition’s salvage costs. More than a dozen experts will be called to support the company's claim, according to a court filing.

U.S. District Judge Rebecca Beach Smith will preside over these hearings. Anticipating this scenario, The Port Clinton News Herald reported earlier this year that,

“U.S. District Judge Rebecca Beach Smith, a maritime jurist, was expected to rule…that the salvaged items must remain together and accessible to the public. At the same time, a cadre of government lawyers is helping Smith shape covenants to strictly monitor future activity at the Titanic wreck 2 1/2 miles beneath the surface of the Atlantic. Amid evidence of the ship’s deterioration, experts and government lawyers say the sanctity of the Titanic must be properly protected as a memorial to the 1,522 people who died when it went down.”

Almost 100 years ago on April 14, the RMS Titanic sank into the history books. Out of approximately 2,227 passengers, plus crew, only 705 people survived.

The story is well known. A glorious passenger ship surpassing the scale of all those built previously. The RMS Titanic was a floating palace that included swimming pools, squash courts, elevators and steam baths.* The First Class lounge was in the Louis IV style while the Smoking Room had mahogany paneling highlighted with inlaid mother-of-pearl. A verandah, complete with flower-packed trellises, allowed for post-prandial relaxation while the formal Reception Area anticipated the evening’s fine dining, although the types of food served certainly differed according to class.*

Life was very good. At least until midnight on April 14, when an iceberg appeared out of nowhere.

While the iceberg remains the principal cause of Titanic’s sinking, hindsight argues a number of other possible causes conspiring to the eventual sinking. These range from the innocuous to the heartbreaking to the cost-cutting.

- Missing binoculars from the crow’s nest restricting a lookout to eyes-only during a very dark night;
- Sixteen lifeboats (and four collapsible rafts) only;
- Lack of action on the six iceberg warnings sent by other ships in the same steamship lanes;
- An unforeseen metallurgical weakness of the ship’s steel hull made brittle by the icy, Arctic water;
- Cost overruns causing the purchase of slag-riddled rivets for the ship’s bow, the area that received the greatest impact from the iceberg;

In uncomplicated terms, the largest loss of life was caused by outdated British Board of Trade regulations which allowed the Titanic to go to sea with insufficient lifeboat accommodation. Regulations required vessels of 10,000 tons or over to carry a minimum of 16 lifeboats with a capacity of 5,500 cubic feet with rafts and floats equal to 75% of the lifeboats' capacity. Titanic could carry a total of 3,511 passengers and crew but regulations meant the Company was required to provide space for only 962. White Star, in fact, provided Titanic with four extra collapsible type boats increasing the capacity to 1,178.*

Finding the ship's wreckage site did not occur until almost 75 years later but even then, discovery yielded its own set of preservation challenges.

When Dr. Robert Ballard's expedition found the wreck on September 1, 1985 he decided to leave the area in peace, [simply] recording the discovery with photographic images. In 1986, he returned and placed a bronze memorial plaque on her stern for the Titanic Historical Society honoring those who died.

He kept his promise, but since then the wreck site, considered by most a mass grave, has been stripped and several exhibitions staged in Europe and the United States have displayed an odd assortment of twisted, torn and broken objects; even personal items and clothing.*

Almost 100 years later, the shipwreck still holds strong grip over our imaginations.

Yet in all fairness, RMS Titanic Inc.'s salvage missions are not to be undertaken lightly. Even after several previously successful dives, the risks are still substantial and include:

“150-foot-high icebergs that can threaten ships plus, the harrowing, claustrophobic voyages 12,000-feet down to the wreck through 33-degree Atlantic waters.”

Source: http://www.examiner.com