Bring treasures of Titanic home!
As shipwreck’s ‘owners’ declare bankruptcy, Oscar-winning director James Cameron launches secret rescue bid to...
TITANIC director James Cameron has launched a secret €190m ‘rescue mission’ to bring the ship’s treasures back to Belfast.
The 62-year-old – whose Oscarwinning 1997 film is the second highest-grossing box-office hit of all time – has teamed up with Dr Robert Ballard, who discovered the wreck, along with the UK’s National Maritime Museum and the Royal Geographical Society, to return 5,500 artefacts to the city where the Titanic was built.
Dr Ballard revealed the rescue plan at a court hearing in Virginia in the US last Wednesday.
It came after the announcement that the parent company of RMS Titanic Inc, which owns all salvage rights to the wreck, has filed for bankruptcy.
RMS Titanic is solely owned by US-based Premier Exhibitions, which last week revealed that it was putting its treasures and future salvaging rights up for sale. The company is $10m in debt.
Since it was awarded exclusive salvage rights in 1987, RMS Titanic Inc has arranged numerous dives to recover the wreck’s various treasures 12,500ft beneath the surface. The ship sank in the North Atlantic about 400 miles off the coast of Newfoundland after striking an iceberg in April 1912.
More than 1,500 of the 2,224 passengers on board died in the disaster, which occurred during the ship’s maiden voyage from Southampton to New York.
Although some artefacts have gone on public display over the years, most have been hidden from view in a secret warehouse complex in America.
Oceanographer Dr David Gallo, who led a 2010 expedition to map the wreck site, visited the artefacts last week: ‘Every artefact, every letter and photo, they all tell a story,’ he said. ‘It is time these objects go on display for the world to see and the most fitting place for that is the UK, where the Titanic was “born”.’
Dr Robert Ballard, who found the wreckage in 1985, told last week’s hearing in Norfolk, Virginia, that he had been in discussions with Cameron and other organisations to bring the Titanic’s treasures to Northern Ireland. He said the group plans to exhibit the artefacts at a museum on the site of the old Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast where the Titanic was built.
Last night, a source close to Mr Cameron said he was ‘committed’ to preserving the relics. ‘Jim dived to the site multiple times to film footage for the movie,’ they added. ‘He has an emotional connection to the ship and he has the money and power to make this happen.’
Dave Vermillion, spokesman for RMS Titanic Inc, said the company was ‘100% committed’ to safeguarding the artefacts and the wreck site for future generations.
‘It was 30 years ago this July that we recovered the first artefacts from the seabed,’ he said.
‘This is a global search to find a suitable buyer. We are looking for someone to honour and celebrate the legacy of the Titanic. The most important thing is to find someone with the resources to preserve and honour the legacy of those who perished on the ship.’
‘He has an emotional connection to the ship’