The US wants to halt a planned expedition to recover artifacts from the wreckage of the Titanic next year, citing federal law and an international treaty that declares the shipwreck a sacred burial site.
RMS Titanic Inc., the Georgia-based firm that owns the salvage rights to the Titanic wreck, has organized an unmanned cruise and plans to photograph the entire ship and enter its hull.
The government’s challenge to the expedition comes less than three months after five people were killed when a manned submarine from another company exploded while descending to survey the wreckage.
The legal battle is taking place in the US District Court in Norfolk, Virginia, which is overseeing the Titanic salvage.
The government argued that entering the severed hull, as the RMST wanted to do, would violate federal law and an agreement with Great Britain to treat the wreck as a memorial to the more than 1,500 people who died after it crashed into a ship. iceberg and sank while crossing the Atlantic in 1912.
The Titanic sank on its maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York in 1912.Atlantic Productions/Magellan
The government’s main concern is the disturbance of artifacts and human remains that may still exist on board.
“RMST is not free to ignore this validly enacted federal law, but that is its stated intention,” the attorneys said in court documents filed Friday. They added that the shipwreck “would be stripped of the protections granted by Congress.”
The expedition, scheduled for May 2024, will include photographing the entire ship — including the interior.
RMST said in a court filing that the mission will recover artifacts from the debris field and “possibly recover free-standing objects in the wreckage.”
The US says a company’s plans to photograph and enter the ship could damage artefacts and breach an agreement with the UK to treat the site as a grave.Getty Images
That could include “objects from inside Marconi’s room, but only if those objects are not attached to the wreck itself.”
The Marconi Room holds the ship’s radio – Marconi’s wireless telegraph machine – which was the first to broadcast Morse code messages about a ship’s collision with an iceberg.
The message was picked up by a nearby ship, which responded and helped save about 700 people who escaped in lifeboats.
“At this time, the company has no plans to cut the wreck or release any part of the wreck,” RMST said.
The RMST has pledged to “cooperate” with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which represents the public interest in the wreck. It will not continue the permit, however.
Five people were killed earlier this year when the Titan submersible from OceanGate Expeditions exploded while descending to the shipwreck.REUTERS
US government lawyers said the firm could not proceed without one, arguing that RMST would require approval from the commerce secretary, who oversees NOAA.
RMST has in the past challenged the constitutionality of US efforts to “infringe” on its salvage rights to shipwrecks located in international waters.
The firm argued that only courts in Norfolk had jurisdiction, citing centuries of precedent in maritime law.
The government and RMST were embroiled in a similar legal fight in 2020 when the company planned a mission to get radios on board.
RMST hopes to visit the Titanic without a US government permit in May 2024.Atlantic Productions/Magellan
The plan is for an unmanned submarine to slide through a window or hold onto a roof. The “suction dredge” will then remove the loose silt, while the manipulator arm can cut the electrical cord.
The company said it will display the radio along with stories about men who used emergency calls “until the sea water literally licked their feet.”
A District Judge granted RMST permission in May 2020, writing that the radio was historically and culturally significant and could soon be lost forever to decay.
A few weeks later, the US government filed a formal legal challenge against the 2020 expedition, which never happened. The firm postponed its plans in early 2021 because of the pandemic.
By Post wire
Categories: Trending
Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
