Why does the USA own the wreck of TITANIC?

Question

British companies fought to own the wreck yet a 'US COURT' gave it to an American company, i mean excuse me? The ship was built by a british company, in ENGLAND and NEVER saw the shores of America, what gives them the right to try and own it?

Answer 1

Please read link below, it is the laws re; salvaging of ships that is why a US court was able to make a decision, international waters plays a big part.. These are international laws. By the way, the USA does not own the Titanic a private US company claimed salvage rights called Titanic Inc. That is why the claim was filed in a US court. Harland & Wolff - Belfast, Ireland....They were paid to built it they did not own it and I visited those old shipyards, that entire shipyard is long since gone before the Titanic was discovered.

White Star Line - Owned the Titanic-But White Star went out of business when Titanics sister the Britanic sunk as a hospital ship in less time then the Titanic with modification that caused the sinking of the Titanic, so White Star was no longer in existence when the Titanic was found.

International Mercantile Marine - owned White Star Line, JP Morgan was the President. Well also know as the IMM. They never actually owned a piece of the liner. IMM was a holding company that controlled subsidiary corporations that had their own subsidiaries. Morgan hoped to dominate transatlantic shipping through interlocking directorates and contractual arrangements with the railroads, but that proved impossible because of the nature of sea transport, American antitrust legislation, and an agreement with the British government. One of IMM's subsidiaries was the White Star Line, which owned the "Titanic." That ship's famous sinking in 1912, the year before Morgan's death, was a financial disaster for IMM, which was forced to apply for bankruptcy protection in 1915. Analysis of financial records shows that IMM was overleveraged and suffered from inadequate cash flow that caused it to default on bond interest payments.

No one seems to know the only company who is still hear today that could of but did not take possecion of the Titanic becuase under salvage laws they could and that is Lloyds of London the Insurance Company who insured the entire ship and all things aboard. But long before the ship was found and before the Technology was their to find it, Lloyds gave up there right and wrote off the entire ship think it would never be found and too deep to salvage. When wrote off the ship as a total loss there were no more owners left. So When Robert Ballard found it. He made the big mistake of sharing the coordinates with idiots because as he put it personally, he made a mistake of having faith in people. Which is why all the ships he fond since he makes everyone sign confidentiality agreements. So like he found the Bismark, if anyone gave out those coordinates they could go to jail. Yes, I the reason why I know this is I met Robert Ballard at a speaking engagement at University of Hawaii at Manoa's Distinguished Lecture Series. Dr. Ballard presented a free public lecture on Friday, February 9, 2001 our the our main conversation is why Lloyds of London never claimed the wreck. You can see the engagement where we spoke below. Ronald Reagan tried to put a stop at Ballards request to declare it a historical grave site, but congress never passed the law. So now the grave of over 1500 soles is being stripped for profit. Commander Ballard (he still holds the rank of a navel commander)

could of claimed the wreck and to this day is sorry he did not. But has claimed every wreck he has found since.

I am also a wreck diver, deap sea, nitrox, helium, and re-breather certified. There are over 1500 wrecks around shallow waters in US seas off Florida, the Keys, southern east coast, Texas, and the gulf states.

But the companies who owned the Titanic were long gone by the time she was found and the insruance compnay who owned her who is still around. Wrote her off a long time ago, not foreseeing in the future the technology to find her. So when Ballard did not claim her, it left the door open for the next guy, it is that simple. Under international salvage laws it was perfectly legal.

Answer 2

They do own it & every right to own it! SALVOR-IN POSSESION - A Maritime Law of the seas.



Because the Titanic sank in international waters on April 15, 1912, and the ship's owners are long gone, the wreck site and its artifacts have been subject to competing legal claims since an international team led by oceanographer Robert Ballard found it 24 years ago. The courtroom survivor is RMS Titanic Inc., also known as RMST, which gathered the artifacts during six dives. Courts have declared it salvor-in-possession — meaning it has exclusive rights to salvage the Titanic — but have explicitly stated it does not own the 5,900 artifacts or the wreck itself.



Robert Duane Ballard (born June 30, 1942 in Wichita, Kansas) is an oceanographer most noted for his work in underwater archaeology. He is most famous for the discoveries of the wrecks of the RMS Titanic in 1985, the battleship Bismarck in 1989, and the wreck of the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown in 1998. Most recently he discovered the wreck of John F. Kennedy's PT-109 in 2003 and visited the Solomon Islander natives who saved its crew. Ballard is also great-grandson of American Old West lawman Bat Masterson.

Ballard's team made a general search of the vessel's exterior, noting its condition; most significantly they confirmed that Titanic had in fact split in two, and that the stern was in far worse shape than the rest of the ship. Ballard's team did not have much time to explore, as others were waiting to take Knorr on other scientific pursuits, but his fame was now assured. Ballard originally planned to keep the exact location a secret to prevent anyone from claiming prizes from the wreck. Ballard considered the site a cemetery, and refused to desecrate it by removing artifacts from the wreck. However, in an address to Congress shortly after he returned to the United States, Ballard implored future explorers to devote time to retrieving artifacts to create a museum.

On July 12, 1986, Ballard and his team returned to make the first detailed study of the wreck. This time, Ballard brought Alvin, a deep diving submersible which could hold a small crew. Alvin was accompanied by Jason Junior, a small remotely operated vehicle which could fit through small openings to see into the ship's interior. While the first dive (taking over two hours to dive down) saw technical problems, subsequent dives were far more successful, and produced a detailed photographic record of the wreck's condition.

In June 2003, NOAA's Office of Ocean Exploration sponsored an 11-day research cruise to the wreck site aboard the Russian Research Vessel Akademik Mstislav Keldysh. The vessel was equipped with two three-person submersibles (Mir I and Mir II) capable of diving to depths of 6,000 meters; the depth of the Titanic is 3,800 m (12,467 feet).



It's like if you are British & you found a penny on the street in the U.S. it's yours! or bluntly put "finders keeper's , loser's weepers ".

Answer 3

Harland & Wolff - Belfast, Ireland....Built the Titanic

White Star Line - Owned the Titanic

International Mercantile Marine - owned White Star Line, JP Morgan was the President.



In reference to the wreck, its in international waters, and closer to the U.S.

Answer 4

"Shipwreck law determines important legal questions regarding wrecks, perhaps the most important question being the question of ownership...."

"...many legal systems allow the rights of salvors to override the rights of the original owners of a wreck or its cargo. As a general rule, non-historic civilian shipwrecks are considered fair game for salvage. Under international maritime law, for shipwrecks of a certain age, the original owner may have lost all claim to the cargo. Anyone who finds the wreck can then file a salvage claim on it and place a lien on the vessel, and subsequently mount a salvage operation..."

Answer 5

Well, actually, it was built in Belfast, and ehm, Belfast is in Northern Ireland, not England.



However, Northern Ireland........technically..... is part of Britain, and I think it was built by an English company..

Answer 6

I would have thought it would have gone to an International court in The Hague as the wreck is in international waters.

Answer 7

maybe america bought it. maybe its closer to american soil than british soil.

Answer 8

Its america what do you expect? but i do agree with you. but i don't think anyone should own it. we should all be able to study it.