The Mersy Inquiry determined that there were 1,316 passsengers on board: 325 in first-class, 285 in second, and 706 in third-class. At the time of the sinking, the Ship's crew consisted of 885 men and women divided between three departments: Deck Department, 66; Engine Department, 325; Victualling (Passenger Care) Department, 494. Not included in this list are the eight members of the Ship's band who were technically from another company and traveled under second-class tickets.

The Titanic was constructed by the shipbuilding firm of Harland and Wolff at their Queen’s Island Works in Belfast, Ireland. Edward Harland acquired the yard in 1859. A few years later, G. W. Wolff was taken into the partnership and in 1862 the name changed to Harland and Wolff. By the time of the Titanic’s construction, both these men had either died or gone into retirement, and the company placed under the management of Lord Pirrie.

The Titanic was directly owned and operated by the Oceanic Steam Navigation Company – popularly known as the "White Star" line because of the white star appearing on the company’s house flag. The White Star flag was first flown about 1850 in an attempt to capitalize on the gold rush trade to Australia. The line was eventually purchased by Thomas Ismay who reorganized the company in 1869. By 1902, White Star was no longer an independent company. The line was purchased and became a wholly owned subsidiary of the International Navigation Co (Ltd.) of England, which in turn was owned by the International Mercantile Marine Co. of New Jersey – all under the control of industrial giant J. P. Morgan. At the time of Titanic’s loss, White Star had a fleet of ships operating between the United Kingdom and Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the United States.

White Star publicly announced their intention of building the Titanic in 1907 during the maiden voyage of RMS Lusitania, owned by their archrival the Cunard Line. This was done in an attempt to get some of the publicity being lavished on the Cunarder and draw attention to the new, larger Titanic, to follow five years later. In the years that followed 1907, money was raised for construction, plans and specifications drawn up, and negotiations started with New York port authorities for permission to construct lengthened piers to accommodate the new leviathans. Physical construction on Titanic started on 22 March 1909 with the riveting together of the first of the Ship’s steel plates. A little over two years later, the Titanic was launched on 31 May 1911; however, much work still needed to be done. Ships at that time were typically launched as empty hulls to keep the launch weight down to a minimum. It would take almost an additional year to install the Ship’s engines, boilers, interiors, galleys, and navigating equipment. Titanic was delivered to the White Star Line in early April, and on 10 April 1912, the Titanic left Southampton, England, for her first trip to New York City.

White Star began planning Titanic in 1907. The rival Cunard Line was having great success with their new ships Lusitania and Mauretania, which were the largest and fastest ships in the world at the time. Their record breaking crossings, however, came with an enormous price tag in terms of coal, vibration, and manpower, so White Star wisely decided not to compete directly with Cunard in terms of speed. By foregoing speed, the White Star Line committed to a slightly slower design, but one that proved far more spacious, comfortable, and luxurious.

The White Star Line decided to build three identical ships, called "sister ships" from the one set of plans that Harland and Wolff was preparing. These ships were later given the names "Olympic", "Titanic", and "Britannic". It was common for steamship companies to build several ships from the same plans. A great deal of money could be saved this way since engineers only had to draw up one set of blueprints for the whole series of ships. More important, it allows steamship lines to offer "balanced weekly service". If White Star had only built the Titanic, given her speed and the amount of time it takes to get the Ship ready between voyages, the Titanic could only visit New York once a month. This was too long between voyages and passengers on a tight schedule would naturally consider booking passage on another line with a ship ready to leave. By building three similar vessels, White Star was able to offer passage on a luxury liner once every seven days. Since each of the sister ships was supposed to be identical, passengers would not have a strong preference to travel on one ship over the other. Of course, as sister ships were built, the newer ships were modified to improve on the earlier ones. Olympic made her debut in 1911, and by the time of Titanic’s maiden voyage in 1912, several changes were made in the latter ship’s design including the addition of more luxury suites and the enclosing the forward Promenade Deck. The third ship, ultimately named Britannic, was heavily modified in light of the Titanic disaster with additional watertight bulkheads and new lifeboat arrangements.

The Olympic made her maiden voyage in June of 1911 and served on the Southampton – New York run until the outbreak of the First World War in August of 1914. During the war, the Olympic served principally as a troop transport, carrying American and Australian men to the front lines in Europe. At the end of the war in 1918, the process was reversed and Olympic returned the troops to their country of origin. In 1919, the Olympic resumed her transatlantic passenger crossings but by the 1930s, the ship’s age and changing economic conditions were catching up with her. In 1934 the great British rivals, the Cunard and the White Star Lines, merged in an attempt to survive the world depression. The new company, now called Cunard White Star, carefully reviewed its ships for "superannuated and redundant tonnage". A decision was then made to sell off all the older ships in the fleet, eight in all, and among them was the venerable, old Olympic. The fate of obsolete British ships at this time was to be taken to northern England or Scotland to be scrapped. On October 11, 1935, the Olympic left Southampton for Inverkeithing in Scotland for systematic demolition by the Thomas Ward Company. First, a public auction was held offering the Olympic’s furniture, spare parts, rugs, and souvenirs for sale to the public. The auction was conducted deck-by-deck and lasted ten days. At the end of the sale, the Olympic’s hull was broken apart and the steel melted down and recycled. The Britannic was launched on February 26, 1914 but was not finished in time for passenger service. The ship was taken over by the British government as a hospital ship and was sunk off the Greek island of Kea in the Aegean Sea on November 21, 1915 with the loss of 30 lives.

"RMS" means "Royal Mail Ship". (Some say "steamer.") This title shows that the Titanic had a charter from the British government to carry British (i.e., the royal) Mail. Occasionally the prefix HMS (His Majesty’s Ship) is seen in print, but that usage is incorrect since H.M.S. is reserved for British war ships. The names "Olympic", "Titanic", and "Gigantic" come from Greek mythology. The ancient Greeks believed that the universe created the gods, not the other way around. The earliest generation of gods created by mother earth was the Titans. They were attacked and defeated by their children, and the new ruling circle of gods made their home on Mount Olympus. During this war, the race of Giants came to the defense of the Titans, but was killed off in the course of battle.

After the sinking of the Titanic, White Star chairman Bruce Ismay denied ever considering the name "Gigantic" for the new ship; however, the name "Gigantic" does appear in the technical press in the months before the loss of Titanic. Although there is no direct documentation for it, it is reasonable that the name "Gigantic" was felt to be too arrogant after the loss of the Titanic, and the more conventional and patriotic name "Britannic" substituted in its place.

The Titanic was described in the popular press as "practically unsinkable". This was not unusual – for decades, ships had watertight compartments to limit flooding in case of an accident, and the press used this phrase as a matter of routine for many years. After the Titanic sank, the story of her loss was turned into a modern fable and the original description "practically unsinkable" became just "unsinkable" in order to sharpen the moral of the story. No educated person in 1912 believed that the Titanic was truly unsinkable, but it was difficult to imagine an accident severe enough to send her to the bottom.

The Titanic’s lifeboat capacity was governed by the British Board of Trade’s rules, which were drafted in 1894. By 1912, these lifeboat regulations were badly out of date. The Titanic was four times larger than the largest legal classification considered under the eighteen year old rules and so by law was not required to carry more than sixteen lifeboats, regardless of the actual number of people onboard. When she left Southampton, the Titanic actually carried more than the law required: the sixteen rigid lifeboats were supplemented by four additional collapsible boats. The shipping industry was aware that the lifeboat regulations were going to be changed soon and Titanic’s deck space and davits were designed for the anticipated "boats for all" policy, but until the law actually changed, White Star was not going to install them. The decision seems difficult to understand today, but in 1912, the attitude towards accident prevention was much different. At the turn of the century, ship owners were reluctant to exceed the legal minimum because lifeboats took up most of the space on first- and second-class decks. Boats were expensive to purchase, maintain, and affected a ship’s stability. Finally, in the years before the Titanic Disaster, it was felt that the very presence of large numbers of lifeboats suggested that somehow the vessel was unsafe. Oddly, the same reluctance showed up as late as the 1950s for automobile seatbelts. Car makers at that time were also reluctant to install seatbelts because the belts seemed to imply there was something unsafe about the car.

The Titanic departed Southampton in southern England at noon, April 10, 1912 and was due to arrive in New York City on April 15. Along the way, stops were made in Cherbourg, France to collect continental passengers and Queenstown, (now Cobh) Ireland to pick up mail and additional passengers, mostly emigrants to the US.

The Titanic was designed to be spacious and luxurious, not a speed record breaker. The Titanic had been designed for a speed of 21 knots (24 miles per hour) and could not compete with the Cunard Line’s Mauretania, which held the speed record in 1912 of 26 knots (30 miles per hour).

The different classes of passengers on the Titanic ate in their own dining rooms. The cost of meals was included in the ticket price, except for those first-class passengers who chose the option of dining in a deluxe, pay-as-you-go restaurant. In first-class, meals were seen as social events, as well as culinary tours des forces. The Titanic’s first-class menus show a special effort to tempt the jaded palates of the very rich, long accustomed to the best of the best. Dinner in first-class was served in eight or nine courses, typically starting with hors d’œuvres variés and oysters. Afterwards, each course would be presented separately, requiring a constant parade of table service and waiters. The last meal in the first-class dining room included Consommé Olga (a veal stock soup garnished with sturgeon spinal marrow); Salmon garnished with Cucumber and Mousseline Sauce (a Hollandaise variation); Filets Mignons Lili (prepared with foie gras, artichoke hearts, and truffle); Lamb with Mint Sauce; Creamed Carrots, Roasted Squab on Cress, Cold Asparagus Vinaigrette, and Pâté de Foie Gras. Desserts the final day a sea included Peaches in Chartreuse Jelly and Waldorf Pudding. The recipe for the last item has been lost over the years. Perhaps it was a "house specialty" of the White Star Line and never committed to paper. The second-class luncheon menu was far more straight forward and included pea soup, spaghetti au gratin, corned beef, vegetable dumplings, roast mutton, baked jacket potatoes, ox tongue, pickles, tapioca pudding, and apple tart. Third-class menus typically featured simple to prepare soups and stews: vegetable soup, roast pork, sage and onions, green peas, boiled potatoes, cabin biscuits, fresh bread, plum pudding in sweet sauce, and oranges were options at a typical mid day meal.

Titanic offered first-class passengers the widest number of diversions imaginable in 1912. Amateur athletes were offered the use of the Ship's swimming pool, gymnasium, squash racquet court, massage parlors, and Turkish Baths. Deck games such as shuffleboard and ring toss were available if the weather permitted, and if not, a fully stocked library with hundreds of books were available free for use by the passengers. Board games like chess and backgammon were also kept on hand for the asking. Many passengers kept diaries of the voyage. Photography was also a popular hobby and at least one passenger (Father Browne) made a photographic record of his short trip from Southampton to Queenstown, Ireland. The Titanic carried a Ship’s orchestra, which provided background music and played in various public rooms during the day. Meals were an important social event and frequently went on for hours. During the day, cigars, cigarettes, candy, light meals, and drinks were available in many of the lounges. After dinner, gentlemen traditionally retired to the Smoke Room, which was reserved for men only to pursue games of chance or conversation. White Star discouraged betting on card games since "confidence men" made a living traveling on steamships as cardsharps. Ladies gathered after dinner for tea in the Reading and Writing Room or the Ship’s Lounge. One form of betting that was encouraged was "the ship’s pool". Passengers placed bets on the number of miles that the Titanic was going to travel in the next 24 hours: the winner would get the proceeds of the money collected, less 10 percent reserved for seamen’s charities. During the crossing, a Ship’s concert was held and talented passengers who could sing or tell jokes were invited to perform. As with the Ship’s pool, a collection was taken up to benefit charity. Passengers could keep in touch with family, friends, and business through the newly-invented radio (then called wireless). Because radio had only recently been developed, there was no direct voice communication at the time. Instead, passengers wrote their messages down on a slip of paper, which was passed along to the wireless operator. The operator then sent the message by Morse code over the air. The operator at the receiving station wrote the code down on a telegraph form to have it hand delivered by courier. Sending wireless telegrams (Marconigrams) was very expensive, so most messages were sent by first-class passengers.

Although the Ship was carrying cargo of considerable monetary value (general merchandise, food stuffs, etc.), the Titanic, according to the manifest, had nothing in her cargo holds that might be described as precious; i.e. gold bullion.

The lowest fare for third-class passage was approximately $36.25 one way for a single person willing to share a cabin. In second-class, the starting price for similar travel terms was $66. First-class started at $125, but could escalate quickly depending on the size and décor of the room. The highest priced deluxe suite was priced at £900, or $4,500. This was a fabulous sum of money when an ordinary home could be purchased for less than $1,000 dollars, hence the nickname: "The Millionaire’s Suite."

While the general concensus as to why Titanic sank is: "the Ship hit an iceberg;" in fact, the sinking resulted from a whole series of circumstances.  Factors that lead to the sinking of the Titanic include: the speed and angle of the impact into the iceberg, the temperature of the water, the quality and makeup of the steel hull and rivits in 1912; the unusual position of the ice field during that period, the number and placement of the punctures in the six forward compartments, and the awareness of the crew.  While Titanic did hit an iceberg, if it were not for the events leading to and resulting from the actual impact, Titanic probably would not have sunk.  "Bad luck" might almost be a more specific conclusion as to why the Ship ultimately sank.

Navigating officers were warned verbally and by posted notice of the approaching ice field, and the crow’s nest was also instructed to watch for ice in the distance. Hatches on the forecastle head were closed to eliminate light scatter and render the vision forward as dark as possible. No alteration, however, was made in the Ship’s speed, which was the fastest time of the voyage so far; nor were additional lookouts posted despite the difficult seeing conditions. While it is true that Capt. Smith did order the Titanic to take a course several miles south of the customary lanes through these waters, his reasoning for that decision has never been determined. Although some of the surviving deck officers believed that this was an attempt to put additional distance between the Titanic and the reported positions of ice fields in the area, many people today feel that, given the lack of exact knowledge of the iceberg's position and the comparatively small change in course, Smith may have been positioning the Titanic in an unobstructed sea lane for a final burst of speed into New York.

Yes, the first ice warning came in by wireless at 9:00 the morning of the collision from the Cunard Liner Caronia. As the day progressed, several additional wireless warnings came in from ships in the region warning of ice ahead.

The afternoon and evening of the collision found the wireless operator swamped with personal messages from the Titanic’s passengers to shore stations. In the deluge of "commercial traffic", some incoming wireless warnings of ice ahead did not reach the bridge. In large measure, this can be explained by the fact that there was no telephone or dispatch system linking the wireless room and the bridge. This required the radio operator to stop what he was doing and hand deliver the message to the officer on deck. No doubt, the ice warnings were put aside for delivery when the passenger’s private messages eased up and a moment could be spared for delivery.

The collision with the iceberg occurred at 11:40 p.m. (Titanic time) at 41° 46’ north latitude , 50° 14’ west longitude.

The collision felt differently to various observers, depending on their location in the Ship. For those far from the impact, the sensation was "a faint, grinding jar", or a rumble like "gliding over a thousand marbles", or a loss of momentum like a train arriving at a station. Some of the crew who had been on the Olympic when she lost a propeller blade assumed that the shudder was for the same reason, necessitating a trip back to the builder’s yard. Passengers and crew closer to the impact felt the collision more violently, and in at least one instance, ice shaved from the iceberg in the collision fell into a passenger cabin through the open porthole.

In the Arctic and Antarctic Circle, snow does not melt and over the centuries thick deposits of ice called glaciers form on the ground. Over time, these "rivers of ice" slowly inch down valleys towards the sea. Upon arriving at the ocean, large chunks of this ice break loose and float away with the current to form icebergs and can vary in size from a refrigerator to a small mountain.

Eyewitness descriptions vary, but the berg rose out of the water to at least the forecastle head (the upper deck of the Ship forward of the foremast), making it no less than six stories tall above the water line, but plunging down almost fifty stories beneath the sea.

On a clear day icebergs can be seen 15 to 20 miles from the bridge of a ship -- farther from the crow’s nest. On a moon-lit night, that distance is greatly reduced to only a few miles, depending on the relative positions of the berg, ship and moon. The night of the Titanic Disaster presented unusual conditions that helped conceal the presence of the iceberg until it was too late to avoid. There was no moon to help illuminate the ocean. Icebergs are frequently spotted by small waves that break against the water line, but the absence of wind or swells prevented this. Without these cues, the iceberg appeared as a black mass against the black background of the sky, and the berg was spotted only a few hundred yards from the bow of the Titanic.

In lookout work, binoculars are used to greatest advantage after something is spotted in the distance by the naked eye. Although they magnify objects, binoculars have the disadvantage of narrowing the field of vision considerably. This means that in practice, a small segment of the horizon is being over-scrutinized while the larger arc of the horizon goes unobserved. Using searchlights to detect ice is also a questionable practice. There is a tendency for the light beam to scatter in the atmosphere just in front of a ship, much like the way high beams on a car light up a fog but not the road. This "dazzle effect" blocks the view of objects at a distance. The result can be an illuminated haze that actually obscures small objects because of glare and impairs the deck officer’s night vision. When searchlights are fitted today, it is with the purpose of either finding lifeboats on a dark ocean, or to flood-light the waters below as a ship lowers its own boats.

Even though Titanic had a full set of pumps, they were not large enough to handle the vast amount of water that was entering the holes in the hull.

Originally, the wireless signal for a ship in distress was cqd, but in 1908 a new signal, sos, was introduced since the combination of three dots, three dashes, and three dots could be easily recognized by even the greenest amateur. Records show that the sos call was used at least as early as 10 June 1909, by the Cunard liner SS Slavonia.  

The Titanic struck the iceberg at 11.40 p.m. on Sunday, April 14, 1912 and sank 2 hours, 40 minutes later at 2.20 a.m. the next day.

Both the British and American inquiries found that there was no evidence to suggest that third-class passengers were deliberately kept below decks, although it is true that third-class passengers did not make their way to the Boat Deck until very late in the sinking. A reasonable explanation is that the Ship’s officers were overwhelmed by the disaster and simply overlooked sending specific orders to evacuate third-class. White Star had formulated no emergency plans for this type of accident and the Ship’s officers were fully preoccupied with the crisis of damage control and the launch of lifeboats. In an attempt to provide for an orderly evacuation, third-class stewards held passengers below waiting for orders that nobody thought to give.

In the course of sinking, the Titanic split into two major pieces between the third and fourth funnels. During the course of the investigation after the tragedy, many eye-witnesses claimed that the Ship had not broken up, and this was the generally held opinion until the discovery of the wreck.

The Titanic sank off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada. Fourth Officer Lightoller reported the location as latitude 41° 46’ North, longitude 50° 14’ West.

The Titanic’s distress call was received by several ships the night of the disaster including the Carpathia, Mount Temple, Virginian, Baltic, Caronia, Prinz Fredrich Wilhelm, Frankfurt, and the Titanic’s sister ship the Olympic. Initially, several of these ships altered course towards the collision site, but when it became apparent that Carpathia alone would make it to the scene of the accident in reasonable time, they resumed their previous courses. One ship, the Leyland Line’s California was only a few miles distant from the Titanic. The Californian had stopped for the night in pack ice because her Captain felt it too dangerous to proceed through the ice field in the dark. Although fitted with wireless, the Californian’s operator had turned in for the night and missed the distress call. To this day, there is considerable controversy as to whether the Californian’s deck officers were negligent in not making a more aggressive investigation into rockets and lights seen in the distance.

Traditionally, first seats in lifeboats are given to women and children, with men filling up the late leaving lifeboats; however, given the Titanic’s lifeboat shortage, this tradition meant that the casualty list was more heavily male. On the port side of the Titanic, the lifeboat launchings were supervised by Officer Lightoller, who took this order literally, preventing any men except the boat crews from embarking. Early in the sinking, women were naturally reluctant to abandon a ship that did not seem at all to be in trouble, and as a result, many of these boats were sent away only partially full. On the starboard side, Officer Murdoch interpreted the order to mean "women and children first on deck" – and only after all the seats had been offered to women, could any men on hand, who wished to evacuate, do so.

At the turn of the last century, passenger lists could not be complied accurately until after the start of a voyage since passage tickets could be sold at any White Star Office almost up to the moment of sailing. Only after leaving dock did the ship’s staff do a head count and compile the finalized tally. This means that the only completely accurate passenger manifest went down with the Titanic, and this in turn has made an accounting of the lost and saved difficult. In the weeks following the disaster, the British Board of Trade, Lord Mersy’s Inquiry as Wreck Commissioner, and American Senate’s Inquiry each came up with various casualty figures, each list slightly different based on the sources at hand. To see a tabulation arrived at by Lord Mersy in July of 1912, click here.

Coal-fired ships were sometimes plagued with small, smoldering combustion points that broke out spontaneously in the coal bunkers. Although called "coal fires" there are seldom flames or vigorous combustion of the coal, it in fact resembles the glow of hot charcoal in a barbecue. "Fires" of this type are more of a nuisance than a danger, and frequently the engineers simply let the coal smolder until the coal is used up to the seat of the combustion, and the fire put out at that time. There had been a small coal fire on Titanic for a few days during the voyage, but absolutely no evidence that it affected the structural integrity of the Ship’s hull or contributed to the Ship’s loss.

This was an "artificial controversy" invented a few years back when it was suggested that the Olympic, too heavily damaged in a collision to be fixed, was sent back to the builder’s yard and her identity swapped with the Titanic, which was then under construction. The "theory" then goes on to state that the "Titanic" (in reality the damaged Olympic) was deliberately rammed into the iceberg as part of a massive insurance fraud, although the loss of life was a "genuine" accident since the White Star Liner Baltic was supposed to be in position nearby to effect an heroic rescue. The "theory" is completely disproved by well-documented physical differences between Olympic and Titanic. In addition, no artifact that was part of the Ship’s hull or outfit has any other identification other than the Titanic’s hull number – 401. Likewise, over the years, hundreds of items have been sold at auction from the Olympic, which was broken up in 1935 for scrap. No artifacts from Olympic have ever been marked with any other identification other than her hull number – 400.

While it is true that the steel used in the Titanic’s construction was inferior to the steel produced today, nobody has demonstrated that chemical impurities or physical properties of the steel in anyway contributed to the loss of the vessel or the lives with which she had been entrusted.

Titanic's wreck site is located 963 miles northeast of New York and 453 miles southeast of the Newfoundland coastline.

Titanic lies 2.5 miles beneath the ocean surface, where the pressure is 6,000 pounds per square inch.

Sadly, even if the technology existed to raise it from the seabed, the wreck is far too fragile to withstand lifting and transportation.

Yes, but it is uncertain when this will take place. Already in the 20 years since the Ship’s discovery, there has been a compaction of the decks on the stern section, and decay of the superstructure in the area of the officers’ quarters, gymnasium, and enclosed promenade.

Most of the soft woods used in the construction of Titanic, such as the pine walls between cabins and staterooms, have disappeared throughout the vessel. This has turned most of the Ship’s interiors into enormous steel caverns, with a thick layer of brown ooze covering the decks. There are, however, some remnants of the once-opulent décor, mostly in the quiet water parts of the wreck where the lack of circulation inhibits wood-digesting organisms. Ceiling and wall panels, wainscoting, and decorative window coverings are best preserved in the first-class reception room, and a few of the deluxe suites on the decks above.

RMST, in compliance with admiralty law, recovered objects from the wreck site in 1993 and brought them into an admiralty court in Norfolk Virginia. RMST went through the legal process of arresting the Ship and gave public notice that it intended to become salvor-in-possession and further invited any entity with a claim to come into the federal court and challenge their rights in achieving their goal. A representative from over seven hundred insurance companies filed a claim, which was ultimately settled. On June 7, 1994 the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia declared RMST salvor-in-possession of the wreck and wreck site of the RMS Titanic, excluding all others from going to the site for the purpose of recovery. RMST is the only entity that has recovered and conserved items from the Titanic.

This question was addressed in great detail by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in its March 24, 1999 Opinion affirming RMST as salvor-in-possession of the wreck. R.M.S. Titanic, Inc. v. Haver, 171 F. 3d 943, 959, 967-8 (4th Cir. 1999), cert. denied, 120 S. Ct. 74 (1999). The Court noted that Article III of the U. S. Constitution extends the judicial power of federal courts to all cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction. The drafters of the Constitution placed maritime law under national control because of its intimate relation to navigation and to interstate and foreign commerce. The body of admiralty referred to in Article III preceded the adoption of the Constitution. It was the well-known and well-developed venerable law of the sea. Nations have applied this body of maritime law for 3,000 years or more. This maritime law preceded the Constitution. The Court of Appeals went on to say that this body of maritime law has the force of law, not from extraterritorial reach of national laws, nor from abdication of its sovereign powers by any nation, but from acceptance by common consent of civilized communities of rules designed to foster amicable and workable commercial relations. Thus, when we say today that a case in admiralty is governed by the general maritime law, we speak through our own national sovereignty and thereby recognize and acquiesce in the time-honored principles of the common law of the seas. The exercise of admiralty subject matter jurisdiction has never been limited to maritime causes of action arising solely in the United States territorial waters. On the contrary, maritime causes arising from matters on the high seas anywhere in the world have traditionally been brought to courts of admiralty, subject only to a discretionary exercise of the doctrine of forum non conveniens [non-convenient forum]. The Court recognized that the law of salvage is part of the law of nations and stated that they expect that whether RMST had returned property from the Titanic to an admiralty court in England or France or Canada, the court would, by applying the same principles, have reached the same conclusions. The need for courts of admiralty to apply the law similarly is fundamentally important to international commerce and to the policies supporting order on the high seas. The Court concluded by saying we believe that the district court has a constructive’...jurisdiction over the wreck of the Titanic by having a portion of it within its jurisdiction and that this constructive in rem jurisdiction continues as long as the salvage operation continues...It represents...a shared sovereignty,’ shared with other nations enforcing the same [law of nations]. Based on this reasoning, the federal courts have determined that it is appropriate for RMST to ask a federal court in the United States to award it salvor-in-possession status over the Titanic.

The bottom of the deep ocean is a hostile environment. Over time, man-made objects will be consumed by bacteria, abraded by sediments, and corroded by salt and acids. Even the Ship itself is slowly being destroyed by iron-eating microorganisms and will one day collapse on the ocean floor. Artifacts that are not recovered from the wreck site will eventually be lost. RMS Titanic, Inc. is committed to recovering, conserving, and exhibiting artifacts from the Titanic’s wreck site to help preserve the physical memory of the Ship and the people who perished in the disaster. Through these activities, people all over the world have the opportunity to see and touch three-dimensional objects that bore witness to the sinking and to gain new insights into the human dimensions of the tragedy.