Titanic May Be Auctioned Off To The Highest Bidder (James Cameron)

Fears Titanic wreck could be pillaged after salvage company falls into bankruptcy

Archaeologists fear the Titanic wreckage will be pillaged, broken up and even raised from the seabed after the company which owns the salvaging rights sank deeper into financial ruin.

Premier Exhibitions revealed plans to auction off its 5,500-strong collection of artefacts last month in a bid to wipe out debts estimated at up to £9 million.

Academics and relatives of Titanic victims fear for the future of the ship's future after reports also claimed the Atlanta-based firm plans to sell off its future salvaging rights too.

James Cameron is reportedly buying the 'collection' (which is essentially the rights to excavate it) for more than £165 million.

In an added twist, James Cameron, the director of the 1997 Oscar-winning blockbuster, featuring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, is reportedly planning to buy the entire collection for £165 million.

Along with Dr Ballard, the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, and the Royal Geographical Society, the foursome want to return the artefacts to Belfast.

How does one company have the monopoly on excavating the Titanic? It went down in international waters, but at the very least if they tried to divide it up somewhat equally it should include both the US & the UK.

Either way, this single company going bankrupt shouldn't precede the descendants of the victims being the rightful heirs to anything their relatives had lost on the voyage. Also, I can't see any of this being useful outside of a museum or a laboratory. Barnacles and such.

The only mystery that ship has is why it sank.

Knowing that, wont change the fact that its sunk.

I just don't see why we cant leave it alone. Its a grave and should be treated as such.

How can they auction off a gravesite?

a reply to: vonclod

Apparently this one company owns the rights to excavate it.

a reply to: ColdWisdom

Hmm, very distasteful if true.

a reply to: vonclod

I concur.

a reply to: ColdWisdom

I would be surprised if it panned out but stranger things have happened..most shipwrecks/undersea gravesites are protected, I wonder if the fact it's not in any countries territorial waters is a factor?

I keep misreading this as "Theresa May to be auctioned off".

originally posted by: audubon
I keep misreading this as "Theresa May to be auctioned off".

Is that perhaps wishful thinking on your part

a reply to: macpdm

It would certainly be a good thing if she were at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.

a reply to: vonclod

most shipwrecks/undersea gravesites are protected

Not so much. Warships yes. digitalcommons.mainelaw.maine.edu...
and under Sovereign Immunity provisions of International Law foreign flagged warships are likewise protected. But it comes down to a matter of ownership, for commercially owned vessels, after insurance claims are paid the underwriters own the ship.
Under the laws of salvage;

Historically, salvage was promoted as a means to rescue imperiled property in order to return it to the lawful owner and the stream of commerce. Recently, emphasis has also been placed on the elimination of navigational hazards and reduction of potential environmental impacts such as pollution and habitat degradation.
njscuba.net...

That ship went down on purpose.

It's name plates were swapped around last second with its damaged sister ship, then sent to the bottom of the ocean for insurance money.
Many rich and powerful people went down with it, changing the course of history.

a reply to: lordcomac
Got any links to back this up ?

Maritime salvage laws are as complex as the US tax codes. For the most part, its finders keepers, provided the proper paperwork is in order. Disputes over salvage rights typically occur when a exploration team finds a wreck, gains the salvage rights, and starts to make money. Then insurance companies that had paid out upon the sinking of the ship wish to regain their losses file suit, or the country of the ships registry, or the banks who were owed money.
Then its a big legal debacle that takes years to sort out.
Some insurance companies have been in business for HUNDREDS of years, and they STILL have records of payouts from the 1600's. Just take a look at Lloyd's of London. Theyve recouped losses from ships that sunk hundreds of years ago just recently.

Humans suck . strip the clothing off a corps .

a reply to: Wreckclues

Thank you for the clarification/info

a reply to: ColdWisdom

They owe 9 million but will sell their collection for 165 million.....

How are they even remotely in financial trouble.

Also, isnt the thing going to disintegrate anyways?

a reply to: ColdWisdom
If the job is so expensive that it bankrupts a company, who's going to bid?

a reply to: ColdWisdom

It fall's under international salvage law, if it has sank within internationally recognized territorial water's the host nation would be responsible and salvaging such a site would then be an act of theft unless it was with the permission of the host nation.

Since the Titanic sit's in International waters not territorial waters (Sure China would try to lay a claim though along with the rest of the world's ocean) it fall's under international maritime salvage law's which are mostly unwritten rule's of the sea, fairly recently though a huge shipment of bullion was prevented from being salvaged from a Spanish Galleon after the Spanish government took the salvage company to court, the court's ruled in favor of the Spanish whom claimed it was a maritime war wreck and cemetery at sea (but whom probably wanted the gold worth several billion or more for themselves) despite it being hundreds of years old.

This has forced many salvage company's these day's to instead now keep there discovery's secret, permanently OR until after they have auctioned off there salvage and this also therefore impact's the value of the salvage as much of it would have to be sold at scrap value.

The Titanic is an emotional case though, this was not a bullion ship but a ship filled with people, NEW AMERICAN's hoping for a new life, as such I personally feel that while YES there should be memorial at Belfast and Liverpool the site should be regarded as property of the US even though it is outside of US international waters since those whom died, mostly unjustly as the life boat's were nearly empty and they had locked the poorest, the bulk of the passengers below deck's rather than save them they were still going to be American's and in there heart's there future, the one which was robbed from them by this disaster was to begin anew in the United States of America, they are therefore the American's that never made it and victim's on the oldest pilgrim trail, that which crossed the great sea from the old world to the new world.

Only wartime military ship sinking's have ever come close to the number of people whom died in that tragedy, in recent time's it is paled into insignificance though by atrocity of the destruction of the twin towers in New York but like this later tragedy it will remain a part of the collective human experience for many generation's and so should be regarded as a world heritage site also and given according international status and protection.

originally posted by: ThePeaceMaker
a reply to: lordcomac
Got any links to back this up ?

www.express.co.uk...

Many things happened just days before; cancellations by board members, increase in insurance payout. Another ship was carrying enough blankets for all the passengers, but didn't get there in time. At the inquiry, the ship was referre to as
the Olympic. There were subtle differences between the two ships such as locations of windows, suggesting the name
plates were swapped.

The conspiracy is that the Olympic suffered the exact same damage six months before. When the Titanic is viewed by salvagers, letters had dropped off revealing the M and P