A bronze cherub, a necklace of gold nuggets and a heart-shaped pendant — these are among the items from the Titanic that the U.S government doesn’t want sold.
RMS Titanic Inc., the company that owns the rights to salvage the famous wreck in the North Atlantic, has plans to auction more than 100 artifacts from the ship. Now, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, representing U.S. interests and overseeing the wreck site, is trying to stop it.
Why? Because it wants, and claims to have the right, to keep the collection together.
Download the SAN app today to stay up-to-date with Unbiased. Straight Facts™.
Point phone camera here
Fighting auction plans
In court documents, RMS Titanic said it plans to auction off the artifacts and display them on a global tour in four cities. The company has yet to announce tour stops.
Now, NOAA is saying that auctioning the items should be prohibited, arguing that the sale would violate RMS Titanic’s legal obligations to the site, according to The Associated Press.
They say that the roughly 5,000 artifacts recovered from the ship, regardless of whether they were claimed by the U.S. or France, must remain in a single collection. But the dispute is coming down to some of the first artifacts recovered — artifacts that were taken to France and claimed.
RMS Titanic argues that the U.S. has no rights to the items claimed in France. Meanwhile, NOAA says French courts also require that all the artifacts be kept together and not sold.
France’s 1987 expedition to recover artifacts from the sunken ship gives it a strong legal claim to what was recovered, according to the Chicago Tribune.
What rights does each party have?
When it comes to the legalities of it all, NOAA has significant rights to the Titanic wreckage site and the artifacts found within.
Under Section 113 of the Consolidated Appropriations Act and the RMS Titanic Maritime Memorial Act, no one can conduct research, exploration or recovery efforts that physically alter or disturb the site without NOAA approvals.
The law also requires that artifacts remain together in a single collection, not sold or separated.
RMS Titanic, on the other hand, has exclusive rights to explore the wreck site, granted by NOAA. No one else can conduct research, recover artifacts or legally remove, touch or disturb items at the site.
It also has sole rights to exhibits. Only RMS Titanic can lease, exhibit and display the thousands of recovered artifacts to museums and exhibits worldwide.
All these rights were granted to RMS by the U.S. government.
Why does RMS want to sell artifacts anyway?
Now, some may be wondering why RMS Titanic would want to auction off artifacts in the first place. It likely comes down to money.
The AP reports RMS Titanic has tried to sell artifacts for decades, hoping to fund future explorations. Those efforts, however, have been largely unsuccessful due to U.S. court actions and preventive measures by victims’ families and preservation groups.
Round out your reading
- With more prison space than prisoners, correctional facilities are shutting down.
- ‘Game changer’: New cancer treatment turns major surgery into an outpatient procedure.
- Viewers overwhelmingly support ‘The View’s’ fight against the FCC. Will that matter?
- Why an ICE shooting in Houston isn’t leading to mass protests.
- Milwaukee detective is the latest officer charged with misusing Flock cameras.
![[your]NEWS logo](https://groundnews.b-cdn.net/interests/fb6dc495f74049f513563c33352175eaa0ecd509.jpg)
