Two months after the OceanGate disaster resulted in five deaths following a submersible implosion, attempts are being made to stop a new expedition down to the Titanic wreckage.
The US government is attempting to prevent another company from diving down to the sunken ship, though this one is aiming for an expedition to recover 'items of historical interest' from the site.
Citing an international agreement to treat the wreckage of the Titanic as a 'hallowed gravesite', the government is trying to stop Georgia-based company RMS Titanic Inc (RMST).
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While the company has salvage rights to the world-famous shipwreck and display a number of items from the sunken ship, including silverware and a part of the vessel's hull, court documents show they are facing a challenge from the US government itself.
At present the new expedition is planned for May 2024 and plans to take images of the entire Titanic wreckage, including inside the ship where it has broken apart enough for a remotely operated vehicle to get inside without damaging the structure.
RMST have said they intend to recover artifacts from the Titanic's debris field and if possible, 'may recover free-standing objects inside the wreck'.
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These may include 'objects from inside the Marconi room' where the ship's radio, a Marconi wireless telegraph machine, was located as long as they are not fixed to the wreckage.
RMST said they currently have no intentions of cutting into the Titanic wreckage, though the US government is concerned that the expedition would be against federal law, and an agreement with the British government to treat the shipwreck as a memorial to the over 1,500 people who died when it sunk.
The US government is arguing in a district court in Norfolk, Virginia - where matters of Titanic salvage are decided - that attempting to enter the ship's hull or disturb the wreckage would be against the law and the agreement that the Titanic's final resting place is a 'hallowed gravesite'.
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According to court documents, the government is arguing that 'RMST is not free to disregard this validly enacted federal law, yet that is its stated intent', and they claim this new expedition will leave the shipwreck 'deprived of the protections Congress granted it'.
This is not the first time RMST has attempted to retrieve the Titanic's radio, nor is it the first time they've become locked in a legal battle with the US government over the matter.
Back in 2020, they were aiming to pilot a submersible through a skylight or cut into the corroded roof of the Titanic before moving loose silt and cutting through electrical cords.
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RMST were granted permission by a judge in May 2020 on the grounds that the ship's radio, which broadcast distress signals and brought rescue for the Titanic survivors, carries historical and cultural importance.
Judge Rebecca Beach Smith said recovering the radio would 'contribute to the legacy left by the indelible loss of the Titanic, those who survived, and those who gave their lives in the sinking'.
However, a few weeks after being granted permission, they faced a legal challenge over this planned expedition from the US government.
The matter was never resolved as RMST put their expedition plans on hold in 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Joe Harker