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‘Titanic’ Salvage Missions Placed on Indefinite Hold Thanks to Legal Issues

Rather than face a potential legal battle, RMS Titanic, Inc. is choosing to pause recovery expeditions to the wreckage site for the time being.

ByJake Rossen|
Artifacts at the ‘Titanic’ wreck may never see the light of day.
Artifacts at the ‘Titanic’ wreck may never see the light of day. | Spencer Platt/GettyImages

The cultural fascination with the ill-fated passenger ship Titanic has never waned. Still, it may need to continue without any additional artifacts being retrieved from the wreckage. A combination of federal red tape and saltwater damage could soon mark the end of salvage operations.

According to the Associated Press, RMS Titanic, Inc., the salvage company that maintains the exclusive rights to retrieve objects from the shipwreck, is putting future missions on an indefinite hold pending further planning and due diligence. That’s because doing so invites scrutiny from the United States government, which passed a law in 2017 prohibiting salvagers from disturbing the site owing to its status as a memorial for the roughly 1500 lives lost when the ship sank in 1912.

RMST had planned on diving to the site in 2023 to take photos and bring back objects found near the hull or in what was once a communications area. A district judge signed off on the plan, but the government dragged them into court, citing a possible violation of the 2017 law. (They also intervened in 2020 when RMST wanted to retrieve a radio from the site. The COVID-19 pandemic delayed the expedition, making a legal battle irrelevant.) In order to pursue the plans, the government argued that RMST would need to obtain permission from the Secretary of Commerce.

RMST wound up scuttling the 2023 mission to retrieve artifacts, instead relegating their dive to taking photos. The government then withdrew its legal challenge.  

The issue, however, is far from settled. In its motion to withdraw, the government asserted its ability to challenge any future expeditions. RMST has indicated they have no salvage plans for 2025 and that any future voyages would need to be carefully considered for “strategic, legal, and financial implications.” In short, any expeditions to the wreckage seem likely to invite a legal challenge, putting future retrievals in doubt.

Complicating matters is the continuing degradation of the wreckage site, which may disintegrate beyond recognition within the coming decades. Depending on the condition of the ship, future salvage efforts may not only be legally difficult but logistically dangerous.

RMST has made a total of nine treks to the Titanic since being granted sole salvor-in-possession rights in 1994, bringing back everything from silverware to clothes to a piece of the hull itself. However, the company hasn’t fetched any objects from the site since 2010. A joint American and French expedition led by Dr. Robert Ballard first discovered the resting place of the ship in 1985.

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