NORFOLK, Va. — The US government has rejected it the case against him The company that owns the Titanic’s salvage rights says the company no longer has any plans to ship the wreck that could violate federal law.
The crackdown on the government’s latest legal battle is not necessarily the end of RMS Titanic Inc.’s attempts to access the rapidly deteriorating ship or obtain more historic objects. The company said last month it was still considering the implications of future expeditions.
But the US on Friday dropped a motion to intervene in a federal admiralty court in Virginia, which is overseeing the salvage of the world’s most famous shipwreck. The withdrawal ended the second of two US legal battles in five years against RMS Titanic Inc, the company that has recovered and displayed the ship’s artifacts.
The U.S. filed its latest lawsuit in 2023, when the RMST planned to take pictures inside the ship’s hull and retrieve items from the nearby debris field. RMST also said it might recover objects in the room where the ocean liner was broadcast his distress calls.
The US argued that entering the helmet — or disturbing the wreck — would violate a 2017 federal law and a related agreement with Britain. Both consider the site a sacred memorial More than 1,500 people died when the ship hit an iceberg in 1912.
RMST after all scaled back diving plansindicating that he would only take external images. The change happened after 2023 The implosion of the submarine TitanHe killed the underwater research director of the RMST Paul-Henri Nargeolet and four others on board.
Experimental vessel Titan a separate companyOceanGate, to which Nargeolet provided his expertise. He was to lead the RMST expedition.
After the RMST revised its diving plans, the US stopped trying to block that particular expedition, captured detailed images of the wreck in September. But the government told the federal court in Norfolk last year that it wanted to leave the door open to the next expedition challenge.
The RMST, however, told the court in December that it would not visit the sand in 2025 and had not finalized plans for future expeditions. The company said it will “continue to carefully consider the strategic, legal and financial implications of conducting future salvage operations at the site.”
In response, the United States withdrew its motion to intervene.
“If future circumstances warrant, the United States will file a new motion to intervene based on the facts then existing,” the government wrote Friday.
RMST has been responsible for the Titanic artefacts since winning salvage rights to the ship in 1994. The company has recovered and preserved thousands of items, from silverware to a part of a ship’s hull, which have been seen by millions at exhibitions. .
The company’s last expedition to recover artifacts was in 2010, before federal law and an international agreement went into effect.
The first federal enforcement was in 2020, then RMST he wanted to recover it and show it The radio that broadcast the Titanic’s distress calls.
US District Judge Rebecca Beach SmithThe head of Titanic salvage affairs, gave permission to the RMST. But the US government he quickly questioned the plan. The legal battle was never fought because RMST postponed the expedition indefinitely due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Smith In a court hearing in March, he stated that time was running out for expeditions inside the Titanic. The the ship is deteriorating rapidly On the sea floor of the North Atlantic.
