The decision could impact a looming court battle between the company and the U.S. government, which has been trying to stop the 2024 mission. U.S. attorneys have said the firm’s original plans to enter the ship’s hull would violate a federal law that treats the wreck as a gravesite.
Paul-Henri Nargeolet was the director of underwater research for RMS Titanic, Inc, the Georgia-based firm that recovers and exhibits Titanic artifacts. Nargeolet was lending his expertise to a separate company, OceanGate, when he and four others died on the Titan’s final dive near the Titanic in June.
Before the tragic dive, RMST planned to take images inside and outside of the wreck. The firm also wanted to retrieve items from the debris field as well as freestanding objects within the sunken ocean liner.
Plus in keeping with the metaphor of “stealing flowers left at scenes of wrecks”, it’s more like a towing company coming in to remove the vehicles that crashed, but waiting a long time to do it.
If this were a recent wreck, and not 110 years old, this discussion wouldn’t even be taking place.
The wreck is owned by the insurance company who has rights to raise it. They lost a lot of money when the ship went down and would like to get it back . It’s isn’t cost effective to raise the wreck, but if you do anyway you are steeling from the owners.