Such is the case with the on-again, off-again notions of raising the Titanic, which prompted a great deal of discussion shortly after the release of director James Cameron's Oscar-winning epic Titanic.
Reclaiming the famed White Star Line shipwreck was even tackled in the motion picture Raise The Titanic , which suffered the same fate as the vessel, mercilessly sinking at the box office. And there's been no shortage of geniuses out there who had their own solutions on how to bring the ship back to the surface.
After several trips back to the drawing board, it turns out that raising the Titanic would be about as futile as rearranging the deck chairs on the doomed vessel. After a century on the ocean floor, Titanic is apparently in such bad shape it couldn't withstand such an endeavor for a variety of reasons. And then there are those arguing that regardless of how ship-shape Titanic is today, committing to such a task would be highly unethical.
Titanic was a big deal when it launched April 10, , on its maiden voyage from Southhampton, England to New York. Boasting a length of feet, a height of 25 stories and weighing 46, tons, it was the largest mobile vessel ever built at the time. Four days later, Titanic struck an iceberg resulting in more than 1, dead with scarcely more than survivors. The wreckage on the ocean bed lay undetected for decades until That's when a team of scientists led by oceanographer Robert Ballard was able to locate the shipwreck some 13, feet below the surface of the Atlantic, about miles southeast of Newfoundland.
Subsequent undersea ventures discovered that not only was Titanic in a heavy state of decomposition, it also had split into two pieces. A heavily damaged part of the hull on the starboard side of the bow provided evidence that the collision with an iceberg was quite severe.
The Titanic carried only enough lifeboats to accommodate half the people on board, and those she had were never filled to capacity. Consequently, only passengers and crew survived the sinking; more than 1, people lost their lives.
Now exploration of the Titanic is making legal history. Titanic, Inc. Deep Ocean Expeditions , 1 resolved a number of significant legal issues that directly affect the exploration and recovery of historic shipwrecks around the world, including whether U. On September 1, , a joint American-French expedition led by Dr.
Navy research vessel Knorr. The wreck was discovered lying in two sections, separated by a large debris field, at a depth of 12, feet. As news of the Titanic 's discovery spread around the world, a deep rift quickly developed between members of the expedition. The French believed that the Americans had stolen the credit for discovering the Titanic and they became increasingly bitter at the attention Ballard received from media.
This animosity would deepen, stoking the flames of controversy over whether to salvage the Titanic or leave it undisturbed as a monument to the victims of its tragic sinking. Ballard returned to the Titanic in to photograph the wreck using the deep diving submersible Alvin and the remotely operated vehicle Jason Junior. Particularly arresting was the ghostly image of a chandelier hanging forlornly from the ceiling inside the wreck. Ballard never permanently recovered any artifacts from the Titanic , nor asserted a claim to the wreck in court.
Instead, he worked to promote an international agreement to protect the Titanic from commercial salvage and to obtain passage of the R. Titanic Maritime Memorial Act of Titanic should continue for the purpose of enhancing public knowledge of its scientific, cultural, and historical significance.
To the members of the expedition, the recovery of artifacts symbolized their effort to share the tragedy of the Titanic 's sinking with the world. To many others, it symbolized a desecration of the grave of 1, souls. The expedition shot 40, feet of 70 mm IMAX film, documented twenty-eight species of animals and fish and collected hundreds of samples of fish, rock, bacteria, specialized coral and core samples from the deep ocean floor.
The lawyers were about to be engaged. In , a would-be salvor, Marex Titanic, Inc. Marex , filed a complaint in the U. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Norfolk Division, seeking the exclusive right to salvage artifacts from the Titanic. Marshal to take possession of any artifacts recovered from the Titanic until the court made a determination of ownership. On August 26, , R. RMST , the successor in interest to Titanic Ventures, filed a complaint in Norfolk asking the court to declare it to be the sole and exclusive owner of any items salvaged from the Titanic.
District Judge J. Calvitt Clarke Jr. Marshal to arrest the Titanic and the artifacts already recovered pursuant to Supplemental Admiralty Rule C 2 , and RMST was appointed substitute custodian of the wreck, wreck site and artifacts recovered, in lieu of the U. The salvors recovered thousands of artifacts from the Titanic that were immediately transported to France for restoration. Petersburg, Florida. Cameron filmed the Titanic anyway, without seeking permission or a license.
His underwater photographic team captured the Titanic in its advanced state of decay and later won an Oscar for cinematography. RMST never fulfilled its threat to pursue litigation. The court explained that it made this unprecedented expansion of traditional salvage rights because RMST was unable to recoup its salvage expenses through the sale of artifacts and, therefore, it was entitled to the exclusive right to market images of the Titanic as a means of making a profit.
In she co-discovered a new species of bacteria — Halomonas titanicae — found in rusticle samples taken from the wreck. This process results in rusticles, fragile rust formations which resemble icicles.
Rusticles can be seen all over the wreck, in a constant state of disintegration and regrowth. She also cites the weight of the wreck as a supplementary factor in its deterioration. In essence, it is working against itself. Damage is done layer after layer. Her best estimation is that there remain approximately 30 years until the wreck has disintegrated entirely. Even then, its condition is likely to grow increasingly worse over time, she says.
Expedition team leader Vescovo tells TIME that the shipwreck was actually in better condition than he expected.
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