Posted on 05/20/2020 8:13:02 AM PDT by NRx
An underwater salvage company was granted approval this week to cut into the wreckage of the Titanic to try to recover a Marconi telegraph, rekindling a complex debate over access to the ship and maritime law.
The company, R.M.S. Titanic, persuaded a federal judge on Monday to allow it to conduct a salvage operation this summer in the wreckage of the ship, which sank during its maiden voyage across the Atlantic in 1912 after hitting an iceberg. More than 1,500 of the ships passengers died, and about 700 survived.
The ruling, by Judge Rebecca Beach Smith of the U.S. District Court in Norfolk, Va., made changes to a 2000 court order that prohibited the company from cutting into the ships hull to search for diamonds.
The company sought to loosen the restrictions so it could recover the Titanics telegraph machine, which it contends could be lost forever because of the degradation of the ship. The radio transmitter could unlock some of the secrets about a missed warning message and distress calls sent from the ship, said the company, which obtained the salvage rights to the wreckage in the 1980s. The site is about 370 miles off the coast of Newfoundland.
The Marconi device has significant historical, educational, scientific and cultural value as the device used to make distress calls while the Titanic was sinking, Judge Smith wrote in her ruling. The company will be permitted to minimally to cut into the wreck so it can reach the telegraph room, Judge Smith wrote.
David Concannon, a lawyer for R.M.S. Titanic, said in an interview on Tuesday that the company would try to avoid cutting into the ship and that the ships telegraph room could be reached through a skylight that was already open.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
“It seems to me that the corrosive effects of the ocean would have destroyed all hardware long ago”
Cold seawater lacking oxygen is not corrosive.
I'd really like to see them articulate exactly what recovering the equipment is going to tell them one way or the other. We know that the messages went out and were received. What's the mystery?
I’m surprised it took 18 post until Trump is mentioned.(sic) On the other hand, my humbled position is to leave it be.
It’s a cemetery. This is grave robbing, just like pilfering the china and other “artifacts” was.
My opinion
Mine also.
The justification for this action makes no sense.
There are certainly bits and pieces of the equipment that survived, as much of the metal was brass and copper. Most of those pieces were mounted on wood bases or inside wood housings. Any insulators were almost certainly hard rubber. That would survive. But the wood is gone forever, leaving a pile of loose pieces.
The chance of analyzing what’s left to determine if there was anything wrong with the equipment that led to transmission problems is virtually nil.
Whatever is recovered, particularly the transmitting key, is guaranteed to be extremely valuable to the right person or to a museum.
The “historical research” argument is BS. It’s all about money.
“If they own the salvage rights why do they need a court to say they can salvage anything?”
That’s what I was wondering. If it’s theirs legally, get the Marconi — and the diamonds, too.
“...There is a great book by a salvage diver at Pearl Harbor....”
“Descent Into Darkness”. One of THE best books I have ever read.
I have a hardcover copy of it. It is amazing. Salvaging operations on the USS Oklahoma.
If enough time has passed, it isn't grave robbing, it's archeology.
My opinion is the court’s opinion is the same as saying “that’s a historical piece of granite in the cemetery so ok to salvage that”
They also have the huge exhibition in Pigeon Forge they have to stock.
The "black box." You know, that records the last 3 minutes of the trip. Or something.
....GIGGLES....
Exactly. The hull is not technically rusting away, it is being eaten by microbes. The equipment and artifacts inside are in remarkably good condition for the most part.
If there's anything left of that Marconi set but a pile of rusticles, I'd be surprised. I can't believe anyone would waste money on such an idiotic venture, let alone rob a gravesite to do it.
What do they hope to gain?
Money. Much of the metal in that equipment was brass and copper. That has survived.
” The hull is not technically rusting away, it is being eaten by microbes.”
Dang microbes will eat anything!
“We know that the messages went out and were received.”
We only know the messages that went out from the Titanic AND were received.
Only the operator had knowledge of which messages the Titanic received.
Your joke isn't that funny either.
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