The Titanic, once known as the largest and most luxurious passenger ship of its time, now rests at the bottom of the North Atlantic Ocean as one of the most famous wreckages in the world. The ship, which was thought to be unsinkable, met its tragic fate on its maiden voyage to New York in 1912 after hitting an iceberg. The ownership of the Titanic wreck is a complex matter, as it lies in international waters, making it essentially ownerless under Admiralty Law.
According to iNews, the salvage rights to the Titanic wreck are held by the American company RMS Titanic. Since the ship was traveling from the United Kingdom to the United States, both countries have a shared management of the ship’s remains. The company has been conducting underwater research on the wreck since 1994 and has recovered approximately 5,000 items. Frenchman Paul-Henri Nargeolet is the director of underwater research for RMS Titanic and has been part of more than 35 dives to the wreck site.
Despite efforts to explore and salvage items from the wreckage, experts believe that the Titanic will never be raised from its current resting place. James Delgado, an archaeologist, stated that the world cannot leave the Titanic alone, but raising it would ultimately destroy it. University of Rhode Island explorer Robert Ballard, who co-led the team that discovered the wreck in 1985, echoed this sentiment, emphasizing the importance of letting the ship tell its story to future generations.
The Titanic wreck, located approximately 370 nautical miles off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada, lies in two main pieces about 2,000 feet apart at a depth of 12,500 feet below sea level. In June 2023, a submersible named Titan went on an expedition to explore the wreckage but tragically experienced a catastrophic implosion, resulting in the deaths of all five passengers onboard. The search for the wreckage and its passengers was carried out by the Coast Guard, and major pieces of the submersible were eventually found near the Titanic wreck site.
