U.S. challenges Titanic radio salvage mission

NORFOLK, Virginia — The U.S. government will try to stop a company’s planned salvage mission to retrieve the Titanic’s wireless telegraph machine, arguing the expedition would break federal law and a pact with Britain to leave the iconic shipwreck undisturbed.

U.S. attorneys filed a legal challenge before a federal judge in Norfolk, Virginia, late Monday. The expedition is expected to begin by the end of August.

The Atlanta-based salvage firm RMS Titanic Inc., said it would exhibit the telegraph while telling the stories of the operators who broadcast the sinking ship’s distress calls.

The company plans to recover the radio equipment from a deck house near the Titanic’s grand staircase.

NOAA’s legal challenge escalates a simmering debate over who can approve salvage missions to the world’s most famous shipwreck.

The federal agency argues that federal laws and international agreements should apply to the wreckage. The salvage firm disagrees, claiming that hundreds of years of maritime law give authority to the court in Norfolk.

“NOAA seeks to jettison the law of the sea, developed over centuries,” the company argued in legal filings earlier this year.

George Rutherglen, a law professor who teaches admiralty law at the University of Virginia, said the case is likely far from over.

Depending on how Judge Smith rules on NOAA’s status as a party to the case, Rutherglen said the U.S. government could still try bringing its case to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The appeals court in Richmond has taken an interest in cases involving the nation’s agreements with foreign countries as well as cases concerning the disturbance of grave sites, he said.

“I would be surprised if the 4th Circuit doesn’t pay some attention to what the United States says,” Rutherglen said.

Rutherglen also said that granting the firm’s current request could open the door to further requests to salvage inside the hull.