NORFOLK, Va. — The federal government has decided to end its legal pursuit against the organization that possesses the salvage rights for the Titanic, indicating that the company no longer has any proposed diving expeditions to the wreck that might contravene federal regulations.
This development does not signify a complete halt to RMS Titanic Inc.’s efforts to access the increasingly fragile shipwreck or recover more historical artifacts. The company recently stated that it is still evaluating the potential consequences of future exploration trips.
On a recent Friday, the government formally retracted its request to intervene in a federal admiralty court in Virginia, which is responsible for managing salvage operations concerning the Titanic wreck. This action concluded the second of two legal confrontations over five years between U.S. authorities and RMST, which is also known for exhibiting artifacts from the ship.
The most recent legal challenge from the United States surfaced in 2023, coinciding with RMST’s plans to capture images of the Titanic’s internal structure and salvage items from the debris field surrounding the wreck. The company had also expressed the possibility of retrieving standing objects from the cabin where the ocean liner sent out its distress signals.
Federal officials contended that entering the ship’s hull or disturbing the site would infringe upon a 2017 federal statute and an accompanying agreement with the United Kingdom. Both recognize the site as a sacred memorial for the over 1,500 victims who perished when the ship sank after hitting an iceberg in 1912.
After reassessing its dive plans, RMST announced that it would limit its operations to capturing only external images of the wreck. This adjustment followed the tragic implosion of the Titan submersible in 2023, which claimed the lives of RMST’s underwater research director, Paul-Henri Nargeolet, and four others.
The Titan submersible was operated by OceanGate, a different entity, for whom Nargeolet had been providing expertise, and he was set to lead the RMST expedition.
With RMST scaling back its plans, the U.S. government opted not to impede that specific expedition, which successfully produced high-resolution images of the Titanic wreck in September. However, the government conveyed to the federal court in Norfolk that it wished to maintain the possibility of contesting any future expeditions.
In December, RMST informed the court that it would not be returning to the wreck site in 2025 and had not finalized any new expedition plans. The company indicated it would continue to carefully examine the strategic, legal, and financial aspects of possible future salvage operations at the Titanic site.
In light of this development, the U.S. government withdrew its motion to intervene. “Should future circumstances warrant, the United States will file a new motion to intervene based on the facts then existing,” indicated the government in its recent filing.
RMST has served as the court-recognized guardian of Titanic artifacts since it obtained salvage rights in 1994. The organization has successfully recovered and preserved thousands of items, including silverware and fragments of the ship’s hull, which have been viewed by millions at various exhibitions.
The company’s last effort to recover artifacts took place in 2010, prior to the enactment of the federal law and international agreement. The first instance of federal enforcement occurred in 2020 when RMST sought to obtain and display the radio used to transmit the Titanic’s distress calls.
U.S. District Judge Rebecca Beach Smith, who oversees salvage proceedings for the Titanic, remarked during a recent court hearing in March that the window for conducting expeditions inside the Titanic could be closing. The ship is deteriorating at an accelerated rate on the seabed of the North Atlantic.
