The Georgia-based company, R.M.S. Titanic, Inc. (RMST9, has been given permission to launch an expedition to the wreckage of the Titanic on the Atlantic Ocean's seabed in mid-July.
The US government has ended its legal fight against an expedition to the Titanic shipwreck. RMST, in Georgia, owns the ship's salvage rights.
In 2023, the US government filed a petition against RMST and their plans to carry out a salvage expedition to the Titanic wreck to retrieve artifacts left on the seabed.
Over 1,500 people lost their lives in the 1912 Titanic tragedy when the White Star Liner sank having struck an iceberg in the North Atlantic Ocean. In 2017 a federal US law and pact with Britain resolved that the Titanic wreck be treated as a grave site.
The Titanic made a stop in Queenstown (now Cobh), Ireland, on April 11, 1912, to pick up passengers before heading across the Atlantic. Many of the third-class passengers who boarded in Queenstown were Irish emigrants seeking a new life in America. Tragically, a significant number of these Irish passengers perished when the Titanic sank. This event left a lasting impact on Irish communities
The US government on June 27 2024 stated that they will end the current legal dispute due to the scaled-back dive plans submitted by RMST.
This scaled-back expedition plan was revealed following the death of the company's director, Paul-Henri Nargeolet, in the implosion of the Titan OceanGate submersible near the Titanic shipwreck in June 2023. Nargeolet was to lead the 2024 RMST expedition.
The Associate Press reports that in February RMST gave details of the scaled-back dive including that it will send an uncrewed submersible to the Titanic and will only take external images.
"The company will not come into contact with the wreck," RMST stated.
They added that it "will not attempt any artifact recovery or penetration imaging".
RMST's original plans included taking images inside the Titanic and retrieving artifacts. They reported that it would be possible to recover free-standing objects, including items from the radio room.
While the US government has ended this court battle they also state that they will leave the door open to future legal battles if they feel future plans are illegal. The US government notes that the company's longer-term plans may still involve the retrieval of objects from the Titanic.
RMST has been the steward of the Titanic artifacts since 1994. Their last expedition took place in 2010 before the 2017 US Federal Law took effect. The company has retrieved thousands of Titanic artifacts including silverware and a piece of the ship's hull.
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