The decision could impact a looming court battle between the company and the U.S. government, which has been trying to stop the 2024 mission. U.S. attorneys have said the firm’s original plans to enter the ship’s hull would violate a federal law that treats the wreck as a gravesite.
Paul-Henri Nargeolet was the director of underwater research for RMS Titanic, Inc, the Georgia-based firm that recovers and exhibits Titanic artifacts. Nargeolet was lending his expertise to a separate company, OceanGate, when he and four others died on the Titan’s final dive near the Titanic in June.
Before the tragic dive, RMST planned to take images inside and outside of the wreck. The firm also wanted to retrieve items from the debris field as well as freestanding objects within the sunken ocean liner.
It’s worth pointing out that the Titanic is literally disintegrating. Bacteria is eating away the steel. They even named it after the ship: halomonas titanicae.
The wreck will soon be gone or severely dimished to the point it’s unrecognizable. Certain things will definitely remain, but the structure will not.
And frankly, good. The ocean floor has no obligation to maintain our trash in pristine order for us to gawk at. Let the wreck vanish into history.