It’s a legal case that’s making headlines. An American company (RMS Titanic Inc.) is planning to explore the hull of the wreck of the Titanic (a first in the history of wreck exploration), in order to recover a rare Marconi wireless telegraph. The idea? Then propose an exhibition of the famous telegraph, and any other relics found on site.
The project immediately caused a scandal in Ireland, with many describing the expedition as “grave desecration” in the name of speculative ambitions.
This reaction, which sparked off a veritable court case, will be presented this Friday, February 20 in the United States.
Ireland’s reaction is based primarily on the fact that the country has a special relationship with the liner, from the time it was built, through its sinking, right up to the present day. Indeed, the Titanic was built in Belfast at the Harland and Wolff shipyards, and also set sail from Cobh in the Republic of Ireland before setting sail for America. Added to this was the fact that many Irish people were on board the liner at the time of the tragedy.
Many circumstances that caused a veritable outcry on the Emerald Isle.
So it was Michael Kingston (an Irishman, expert in international maritime law, and vice-president of London’s Irish Cultural Centre) who decided to take the case to the American courts. For him, the Titanic remains a tomb, where many Irish people died. It therefore seems inconceivable to him that an American company would disturb their rest, for purely speculative, not scientific, purposes.
At the same time, he hopes that the United States will give the Titanic the same consideration that Ireland gave to the Lusitania, a liner that sank 3 years after the Titanic in Irish waters, with many American victims on board. At the time, the United States asked Ireland to respect the wreck and avoid any incursion into the ship, out of respect for their American dead. A request that Ireland has always respected.
Ireland also wants the same for the Titanic.
The Titanic disaster has left an indelible mark on the Irish consciousness for over a century since the ship was launched in Belfast and completed her ill-fated maiden voyage across the North Atlantic on April 14, 1912. explains Kingston. It is extremely worrying that the hull of the wreck, which above all became the tomb of over 1,500 passengers, should be desecrated to facilitate the removal of relics.
This proposal contrasts sharply with the Irish government’s ongoing commitment to preserving the wreck of the Lusitania, which sank three years later with its many American victims.
The opening of a grave to recover objects should be vigorously prohibited in the absence of scientific motivation or clear investigation, as opposed to the macabre recovery of artifacts for commercial purposes.
Kingston also highlighted the particularly worrying state of the wreck of the Titanic. Advanced corrosion makes the wreck increasingly fragile. Scientists already agree that the liner could disappear completely by 2050. All the more reason for the Irishman to leave the Titanic alone, and let the wreck rest in peace.
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