UK and US in licence treaty over Titanic

THE wreck of the Titanic will be treated with “sensitivity and respect” following a “momentous” international agreement, Maritime Minister Nusrat Ghani said.

A treaty between the UK and the US gives the countries the power to grant or deny licences to enter sections of the sunken ship’s hull and remove artefacts. The passenger liner has been under water for more than a century, lying in international waters around 350 nautical miles off the coast of Canada.

Although the wreck has previously been given a “basic level of protection” by Unesco, the cultural organisation of the United Nations, this is the first time it is covered by explicit legislation, the Department for Transport said.

The UK signed the treaty in 2003, but it has only come into force following its ratification by US Secretary Of State Mike Pompeo in November last year.

Canada and France were involved in the negotiations but have still not signed the agreement.

Ms Ghani said: “Lying two-and-a-half miles below the ocean surface, the RMS Titanic is the subject of the most documented maritime tragedy in history.

“This momentous agreement with the United States to preserve the wreck means it will be treated with the sensitivity and respect owed to the final resting place of more than 1,500 lives.

“The UK will now work closely with other North Atlantic states to bring even more protection to the wreck of the Titanic.”

The liner was built in Belfast and set off on its maiden voyage from Southampton on April 10, 1912.

Five days later it struck an iceberg, and sank to the bottom of the North Atlantic.