THE TITANIC was supposed to be the largest, most luxurious passenger ship of its time and was said to be unsinkable.
The ship is now one of the most famous wreckages in the world and in April 2012 it became a UNESCO cultural heritage site.
HarperCollins France/Handout via ReutersPaul-Henri Nargeolet is the director of underwater research for RMS Titanic, the company that owns the salvage rights to the Titanic wreck[/caption]
Who owns the Titanic wreck?
As per iNews, deciphering who owns the Titanic wreck is “more complicated than when it was afloat as a passenger liner.”
In April 2012, historian Paul Louden-Brown told TheJournal.ie: “Under Admiralty Law which the US, Britain, and other major maritime nations adhere to, a vessel lying in international waters is effectively without ownership and no one can actually stake a claim on it.”
Since the ship was voyaging from the United Kingdom to the United States, the two countries “share management of the ship’s remains,” as reported by iNews.
However, the American company RMS Titanic “now has sole salvage rights to the wreck.”
According to the outlet, it has recovered approximately 5,000 items from the wreck since 1994.
As The New York Times reported, Frenchman Paul-Henri Nargeolet serves as the company’s director of underwater research,
The “maritime expert” has been part of more than 35 dives to the Titanic wreck site.
The outlet reported that according to his literary representative, Mathieu Johann, Nargeolet is one of the five passengers aboard OceanGate’s missing submersible.
Can the Titanic be raised?
The Titanic will likely never be raised.
In April 2012, ABC News spoke with archaeologist James Delgado, chief of the maritime heritage office at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
He said: “Titanic is a wreck that the world cannot leave alone.
“We can’t raise her, and we can’t keep her forever as it is now. But we can celebrate her and let her tell her story to future generations.”
Not known, clear with picture deskThe wreckage was found 73 years after the iconic ship sank[/caption]
The publication also spoke with University of Rhode Island explorer Robert Ballard, “who co-led the team that discovered the ship’s resting place in 1985.”
Ballard said that raising the Titanic “would destroy it.”
Who was the Titanic’s original owner?
The Titanic was originally owned by J Bruce Ismay who was chairman of the White Star Line.
The British businessman was determined to produce a fleet of luxury ships that would blow his biggest competitors out of the water.
First was The Olympic which was completed in 1911 and was a complete success.
Along with Harland and Wolff, who controlled the Belfast shipbuilding company, the Titanic followed in 1912.
Ismay was on the Titanic when it hit the iceberg on its maiden voyage to New York.
Despite the order that only women and children were allowed on the lifeboats – of which there were only enough for about half of the souls onboard – Ismay boarded the collapsible lifeboat.
He would later claim that there were no women and children around when he got on the lifeboat.
Nevertheless, Ismay was branded a coward and was largely shunned.
Where is the Titanic now?
The Titanic wreck lies at the bottom of the North Atlantic Ocean at approximately 12,500 feet below sea level.
It is located about 370 nautical off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada.
The wreckage is split into two main pieces, located approximately 2,000 feet apart.
On June 2023, Titan, a submersible sent out by OceanGate Expeditions took five people to see the iconic wreckage.
The Coast Guard began searching for the sub after it failed to resurface or make contact with the mother ship.
After days of searching, all five passengers onboard deaths were announced after they confirmed a “catastrophic implosion” had taken place.
Experts had previously cautioned this may occur due to the intense pressure at extreme depths and further warned the Titan’s hull could implode.
After five days of searching, “major pieces” of the Titan were found near the Titanic wreck.
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