[quote] NORFOLK, Va. (AP) -- The company that has exclusive rights to salvage the Titanic is planning a possible expedition to the world's most famous shipwreck in 2010.
The first expedition to the North Atlantic wreck site since 2004 is revealed in a filing by RMS Titanic Inc. in U.S. District Court, where four days of hearings are scheduled to begin Monday on the company's claim for a salvage award.
Lawyers for RMS Titanic Inc. confirmed the expedition plans but declined to discuss them in detail.
"That is something that is being looked at right now but it's not in any way a done deal," attorney Robert W. McFarland said in an interview. He said the company would have more to say at this week's hearing.
U.S. District Judge Rebecca Beach Smith, a maritime jurist who considers the wreck an "international treasure," will preside over the hearings. They are intended to determine a salvage award and establish legal guarantees that thousands of Titanic artifacts remain intact as a collection and forever accessible to the public. Some pieces have ended up in London auction houses.
The 5,900 pieces of china, ship fittings and personal belongings are valued in excess of $110 million and are displayed around the world by Premier Exhibitions Inc., an Atlanta company. RMS Titanic is a subsidiary of Premier.
The Titanic sank on its maiden voyage in international waters on April 15, 1912, and has been subject to competing legal claims since an international team led by oceanographer Robert Ballard found it in 1985. Since then, RMS Titanic has retrieved artifacts during six dives.
Courts have declared it salvor-in-possession - meaning it has exclusive rights to salvage the Titanic - but have explicitly stated it does not own the 5,900 artifacts or the wreck itself.
At the hearings this week in Norfolk, lawyers for RMS Titanic will essentially seek title to the artifacts and a monetary award for its salvage costs. More than a dozen experts will be called to support the company's claim, according to a court filing.
In seeking a salvage award, RMS Titanic will have to document the labor it devoted to its previous expeditions, the risks incurred during the 2 1/2-mile trips beneath the Atlantic to the Titanic wreck site, and the preservation efforts and archaeological value of the wreck and its contents, among other factors.
Smith, the judge, has drawn upon the government to help craft covenants to keep the artifacts preserved, intact as a collection and available to the public. She is mindful of the Titanic's place in history and the 1,522 people who died when it went down after it struck ice nearly a century ago, based on her previous statements from the bench.
"I am concerned that the Titanic is not only a national treasure, but in its own way an international treasure, and it needs protection and it needs to be monitored," the judge told lawyers in the case nearly one year ago.
If the court agrees to RMS Titanic's request, the company could sell the entire collection to a museum with court approval. The company has said it has no plans to do so.
The judge will also consider a competing claim.
Douglas Faulkner Woolley, a British citizen, challenges RMS Titanic's legal claim to the wreck site and plans his own salvage operation.
Lawyers for RMS Titanic declined to discuss the competing challenge.
International protections have been sought for the Titanic almost since the wreck was discovered.[/quote]
Source: [url]http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_TITANIC_SALVAGE?SITE=TXDAM&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=HOME.html&CTIME=2009-10-26-09-26-50[/url]
TLDR: Group wants rights to explore the Titanic in 2010, says they need to keep others from looting her, and to preserve her.
Why preserve a shipwreck? Why preserve something as much out of reach as Titanic is?
Just my opinion.
[QUOTE=Benie;18025647]
TLDR: Group wants rights to explore the Titanic in 2010, says they need to keep others from looting her, and to preserve her.[/QUOTE]
Oh yeah, I'll loot her alright :madmax:
[QUOTE=Within;18025675]Why preserve a shipwreck? Why preserve something as much out of reach as Titanic is?
Just my opinion.[/QUOTE]
Why did we go to the moon?
Why do we build high towers and biggest hamburgers?
[B]SINCE WE CAN[/B]
[QUOTE=Within;18025675]Why preserve a shipwreck? Why preserve something as much out of reach as Titanic is?
Just my opinion.[/QUOTE]
Because it's a prime example of how badly things can go wrong, so it serves as a reminder to make sure stuff like that never happens again.
[QUOTE=evilking1;18025709]Why did we go to the moon?
Why do we build high towers and biggest hamburgers?
[B]SINCE WE CAN[/B][/QUOTE]
Going to the moon is more meaningful.
Height is the least used space, therefore it's appropriate to build higher.
Regarding the hamburgers, the most sensible argument I can figure right now is that America, after all, still is a part of the world.
[editline]05:12PM[/editline]
[QUOTE=Wiggles;18025714]Because it's a prime example of how badly things can go wrong, so it serves as a reminder to make sure stuff like that never happens again.[/QUOTE]
I see your point.
Here's hoping that in the future, exploring the deepest depths of the ocean won't be such a bitch to do.
[QUOTE=evilking1;18025709]Why did we go to the moon?
Why do we build high towers and biggest hamburgers?
[B]SINCE WE CAN[/B][/QUOTE]
We can also donate alot of money into charity and help fight poverty.
But you don't see people doing THAT, now, do you?
[QUOTE=Within;18025675]Why preserve a shipwreck? Why preserve something as much out of reach as Titanic is?
Just my opinion.[/QUOTE]
Good practice for development of our ocean exploration technology which I hope will become a big thing in this century since we know fuck-all about the ocean floor
[QUOTE=evilking1;18025709]Why did we go to the moon?
Why do we build high towers and biggest hamburgers?
[B]SINCE WE CAN[/B][/QUOTE]
Going to the moon is an achievement for the human race. Building towers saves room so more people can live on Earth. Keeping a shipwreck at the bottom of the ocean doesn't really help anyone.
As for the hamburgers, it's because I asked them to. :smug:
Everyone will be eaten by a Leonardo Dicaprio shark. Fact.
I hope they're serious about preventing looting, the rampant gathering and selling of artifacts is one of the sadder things about the discovery of the wreck. When Ballard first dove on it, he made a point of not taking anything back, because that would basically amount to grave robbing. Unfortunately, the Russians renting out subs to anyone with money had no such reservations.
[QUOTE=evilking1;18025709]Why did we go to the moon?
Why do we build high towers and biggest hamburgers?
[B]SINCE WE CAN[/B][/QUOTE]
But actually moon is something new and unexplored.
Titanic is just a massive 45k ton pile of rusting fail.
[QUOTE=Awesomecaek;18026361]But actually moon is something new and unexplored.
Titanic is just a massive 45k ton pile of rusting fail.[/QUOTE]
The moon is just a massive 7.36x10^22 KG sphere of airless fail, what's your point.
I hope I live to see the day someone figures out a way to raise the entire wreck. That would be an incredible sight.
[QUOTE=DainBramageStudios;18026390]The moon is just a massive 7.36x10^22 KG sphere of airless fail, what's your point.[/QUOTE]
Moon has incredible scientific value. Having colony on it would bring great amounts of scientific opportunities.
And because if we get on moon, we can later get somewhere useful.
There isn't anything much more useful under sea.
[editline]06:16PM[/editline]
And Titanic is now also airless, while weighting much less than moon, so my pile of fail is better than yours.
[QUOTE=M_u_d;18026415]I hope I live to see the day someone figures out a way to raise the entire wreck. That would be an incredible sight.[/QUOTE]
Exceedingly unlikely, since the ship broke in two when she was sinking. Raising just one half would be hard enough.
On an unrelated note, I'm curious to know how an American company has exclusive rights over a British ship (RMS = Royal Mail Ship).
If someone was to raise it, they would earn a lot of money if they set it up as a tourist attraction.
[QUOTE=M_u_d;18026415]I hope I live to see the day someone figures out a way to raise the entire wreck. That would be an incredible sight.[/QUOTE]
Not really possible. The stern section is a shredded mess, and the bow section is buried so deep in the mud that the raised anchors are almost resting on the bottom. On top of that, the structure has deteriorated so much that it couldn't withstand even a fraction of the force necessary to raise it without crumbling. We're not talking about the Kursk, here, this thing has been rusting for close to a century.
I'd be so fucking creeped out if I went down there.
Just seeing footage of it is creepy.
They should build another one
So they want to go treasure hunting on Titanic.
I'm giving them clocks.
[QUOTE=The Epidemic;18025784]We can also donate alot of money into charity and help fight poverty.
But you don't see people doing THAT, now, do you?[/QUOTE]
yeah but that's boring
[QUOTE=The Epidemic;18025694]Oh yeah, I'll loot her alright :madmax:[/QUOTE]
I'll loot her all night
Late.
I already looted her :smugdog::respek::smug:
this just in: millions of dollars of gold and shit looted from the titanic
[QUOTE=evilking1;18025709]Why did we go to the moon?
Why do we build high towers and biggest hamburgers?
[B]SINCE WE CAN[/B][/QUOTE]
No.
[I]Because they were there...[/I]
Learn your Kennedy... :ninja:
[QUOTE=M_u_d;18026415]I hope I live to see the day someone figures out a way to raise the entire wreck. That would be an incredible sight.[/QUOTE]
The ship is in such bad shape that it would crumble on contact. Not to mension the long lift it would have to go through. The only feasible way they could do this would be piece by piece.
[editline]05:29PM[/editline]
[QUOTE=angelangel;18025763]Here's hoping that in the future, exploring the deepest depths of the ocean won't be such a bitch to do.[/QUOTE]
We hit the bottom of the challenger deep, the deepest known place on earth, in the 60s. Since then no one has gone back. Only unmanned subs have. It's not as hard to do these days with all our advancements in strength and integrity. The Trieste which went to the challenger deep in the 60s was like... 15 inches of solid steel. We could probably match this with todays technology, why no one has is beyond me.
[QUOTE=Awesomecaek;18026361]But actually moon is something new and unexplored.[/QUOTE]
It's a huge rock floating around us.
[b][i]"This ship is unsinkable!"[/b][/i]
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