Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Plan to Retrieve Titanic's Radio Spurs Debate on Human Remains
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 4 years ago on
October 19, 2020

Share

NORFOLK, Va. — People have been diving to the Titanic’s wreck for 35 years. No one has found human remains, according to the company that owns the salvage rights.

But the company’s plan to retrieve the ship’s iconic radio equipment has sparked a debate: Could the world’s most famous shipwreck still hold remains of passengers and crew who died a century ago?

Lawyers for the U.S. government have raised that question in an ongoing court battle to block the planned expedition. They cite archaeologists who say remains could still be there. And they say the company fails to consider the prospect in its dive plan.

“Fifteen hundred people died in that wreck,” said Paul Johnston, curator of maritime history at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. “You can’t possibly tell me that some human remains aren’t buried deep somewhere where there are no currents.”

The company, RMS Titanic Inc., wants to exhibit the ship’s Marconi wireless telegraph machine. It broadcast the sinking ocean liner’s distress calls and helped save about 700 people in lifeboats.

Retrieving the equipment would require an unmanned submersible to slip through a skylight or cut into a heavily corroded roof on the ship’s deck. A suction dredge would remove loose silt, while manipulator arms could cut electrical cords.

RMS Titanic Inc. says human remains likely would’ve been noticed after roughly 200 dives.

“It’s not like taking a shovel to Gettysburg,” said David Gallo, an oceanographer and company adviser. “And there’s an unwritten rule that, should we see human remains, we turn off the cameras and decide what to do next.”

The Titanic Was Traveling From England to New York in 1912 When It Struck an Iceberg and Sank

The dispute stems from a larger debate over how the Titanic’s victims should be honored, and whether an expedition should be allowed to enter its hull.

In May, a federal judge in Norfolk, Virginia, approved the expedition.

U.S. District Judge Rebecca Beach Smith wrote that recovering the radio “will contribute to the legacy left by the indelible loss of the Titanic, those who survived, and those who gave their lives.”

But the U.S. government filed a legal challenge in June, claiming the undertaking would violate federal law and a pact with Britain recognizing the wreck as a memorial site. U.S. attorneys argue the agreement regulates entry into the wreck to ensure its hull, artifacts and “any human remains” are undisturbed.

The case is pending before the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond.

The Titanic was traveling from England to New York in 1912 when it struck an iceberg and sank in the North Atlantic. The wreck was discovered in 1985.

Over the years, explorers have sent remotely operated vehicles into parts of the ship. During his 2001 expedition, film director James Cameron surveyed the area in a deckhouse that holds the telegraph equipment, according to court documents filed by the company.

People on both sides of the human-remains debate claim the issue is being played down — or up — to support an argument.

This 2004 image provided by the University of Rhode Island’s Institute for Exploration and Center for Archaeological Oceanography and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Office of Ocean Exploration shows the shoes of one of the possible victims of the Titanic disaster. A company’s plan to retrieve the Titanic’s radio has sparked a debate over whether the famous shipwreck still holds human remains.(Institute for Exploration and Center for Archaeological Oceanography/University of Rhode Island/NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration via AP)

Remnants of Those Who Died Likely Disappeared Decades Ago

RMS Titanic Inc. President Bretton Hunchak told The Associated Press the government’s position is based on emotion rather than science.

“Issues like this are used simply to raise public support,” Hunchak said. “It creates a visceral reaction for everybody.”

The firm is the court-recognized steward of Titanic artifacts, overseeing thousands of items including silverware, china and gold coins.

“This company has always treated the wreck as both an archaeological site and a grave site with reverence and respect,” Hunchak said. “And that doesn’t change whether in fact human remains could possibly exist.”

Gallo said remnants of those who died likely disappeared decades ago.

Sea creatures would’ve eaten away flesh because protein is scarce in the deep ocean, and bones dissolve at great ocean depths because of seawater’s chemistry, Gallo said. The Titanic sits about 2.4 miles (3.8 kilometers) below the surface.

Yet whale bones have been discovered at similar depths, as were human remains on a 2009 Air France plane that crashed into the Atlantic.

“But generally that doesn’t happen,” said Gallo, who previously worked at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and has been involved in several Titanic expeditions.

Eight Sailors’ Remains Were Discovered on the H.L. Hunley, a Confederate Submarine That Sank in 1864

Archaeologists who filed court statements supporting the government’s case said there must be human remains, and questioned the motives of those casting doubts.

Johnston wrote to the court that remains could be “within the confines of the wreck or outside in the debris field” in areas lacking oxygen.

In an interview, Johnston said the company doesn’t want “anyone to be thinking about human remains. They want people to think, ‘Oh cool. I have new artifacts to show the public.’”

David Conlin, chief of the National Park Service’s Submerged Resources Center, also filed a statement against the expedition.

Conlin told AP “it would be scientifically astounding if there were not human remains still onboard that ship.”

He said wrecks older than the Titanic have contained remnants of crew or passengers.

Eight sailors’ remains were discovered on the H.L. Hunley, a Confederate submarine that sank in 1864. And human bones were found at a first-century B.C. freighter wreck near the Greek island of Antikythera.

“Very deep, cold, low-oxygen water is an incredible preservative,” Conlin said. “The human remains that we would expect to find are going to be in the interior spaces that are more difficult to access, where the preservation will be both tragic and spectacular.”

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

Newsom Wants to Bypass Trump Tariffs With Direct CA Trade Deals

DON'T MISS

Markets Plunge With S&P 500 Down 6% and Dow Down 2,200 After China Retaliates

DON'T MISS

Fresno Police Searching for Missing 12-Year-Old Girl

DON'T MISS

Madera Community College Unveils New Multicultural and Veterans Center

DON'T MISS

Fusion Energy Race Is On. Two Local Lawmakers Want California to Lead the Way

DON'T MISS

Saturday’s Spring Fest to Showcase Free, Low-Cost Activities for Fresno Kids

DON'T MISS

LA County Reaches $4 Billion Agreement to Settle Sexual Abuse Claims at Juvenile Facilities

DON'T MISS

Fresno Man Sentenced to 14 Years in Prison for Deadly Marijuana DUI Crash

DON'T MISS

Judge Says US Must Return Maryland Man Who Was Mistakenly Deported to El Salvador Prison

DON'T MISS

These Fresno First-Graders Are Topping Their Peers in Reading

UP NEXT

USC’s JuJu Watkins Named AP Player of the Year After Historic Sophomore Season

UP NEXT

Dodgers’ Freddie Freeman Lands on Injured List Following Fall in His Shower at Home

UP NEXT

How Trump’s Latest Tariffs Could Affect Your Wallet

UP NEXT

Curry Scores 37 Points and Warriors Beat Lakers in a Potential First-Round Playoff Preview

UP NEXT

Measles Spreads to Central Texas; 5 States Have Active Outbreaks

UP NEXT

Startup Offers Controversial Microplastic Blood Cleansing Treatment

UP NEXT

Pence Will Receive the Profile in Courage Award From the JFK Library for His Actions on Jan. 6

UP NEXT

Flores Homers, Matos and Wade Also Go Deep to Help Giants Cap Sweep of Astros

UP NEXT

Trump Proposes Tax Deduction for Auto Loan Interest on US-Made Cars

UP NEXT

Western US Sees Sharp Increase in Extreme Weather Impact

Madera Community College Unveils New Multicultural and Veterans Center

5 hours ago

Fusion Energy Race Is On. Two Local Lawmakers Want California to Lead the Way

6 hours ago

Saturday’s Spring Fest to Showcase Free, Low-Cost Activities for Fresno Kids

6 hours ago

LA County Reaches $4 Billion Agreement to Settle Sexual Abuse Claims at Juvenile Facilities

7 hours ago

Fresno Man Sentenced to 14 Years in Prison for Deadly Marijuana DUI Crash

7 hours ago

Judge Says US Must Return Maryland Man Who Was Mistakenly Deported to El Salvador Prison

7 hours ago

These Fresno First-Graders Are Topping Their Peers in Reading

8 hours ago

Fresno Burial Ceremony to Honor Five Abandoned Babies Set for Saturday

8 hours ago

Visalia Man Arrested for Soliciting Sex From Minor in Kingsburg

9 hours ago

Camalah Saleh Cruises to Win in Stormy Fresno State Student Elections

10 hours ago

Newsom Wants to Bypass Trump Tariffs With Direct CA Trade Deals

Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday asked exporting countries worldwide to spare California their retaliatory tariffs, saying he plans to pursue dir...

5 hours ago

5 hours ago

Newsom Wants to Bypass Trump Tariffs With Direct CA Trade Deals

Specialist Anthony Matesic works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Friday, April 4, 2025. (AP/Richard Drew)
5 hours ago

Markets Plunge With S&P 500 Down 6% and Dow Down 2,200 After China Retaliates

Fresno police are searching for Unique Hernandez, 12, last seen on Friday, April 4, 2025, near Inyo Street and Maple Avenue, wearing all black clothing and carrying a black backpack. (Fresno PD)
5 hours ago

Fresno Police Searching for Missing 12-Year-Old Girl

5 hours ago

Madera Community College Unveils New Multicultural and Veterans Center

6 hours ago

Fusion Energy Race Is On. Two Local Lawmakers Want California to Lead the Way

6 hours ago

Saturday’s Spring Fest to Showcase Free, Low-Cost Activities for Fresno Kids

7 hours ago

LA County Reaches $4 Billion Agreement to Settle Sexual Abuse Claims at Juvenile Facilities

Antonio de Jesus Orozco Montes Deoca, 30, was sentenced on Friday, March 4, 2025, to 14 years and 8 months in prison for a deadly marijuana DUI crash in 2022 that killed one woman and injured four others. (GV Wire Composite)
7 hours ago

Fresno Man Sentenced to 14 Years in Prison for Deadly Marijuana DUI Crash

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend