PEACHTREE CORNERS, Ga. — A legal battle is resurfacing over items salvaged from the Titanic.
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Recently unsealed court documents reveal a back-and-forth between the U.S. government and a Metro Atlanta company over artifacts recovered from the famous shipwreck.
Over the years, the Gwinnett County-based company has sought to auction off some of the items. Now, newly unsealed records are shedding light on the federal government’s opposition.
It’s hard to believe that this nondescript building in Peachtree Corners, off Peachtree Industrial Boulevard, houses EM Group and RMS Titanic Inc., a company that says it has exclusive salvage rights to the Titanic wreck site.
Channel 2’s Candace McCowan last spoke with company representatives in 2023, when one of their team members was still missing aboard the submersible that was later found in pieces at the bottom of the ocean after attempting to reach the wreck site.
RMS Titanic Inc. did not respond to requests for comment.
The recently unsealed court documents detail the debate over the company’s ability to auction off some of the items it has salvaged, including a bronze cherub featured on the company’s website.
“This particular instance in this debate over the Titanic artifacts is the latest generation in a long debate, a long conversation about what should happen with the artifacts from the Titanic,” said Georgia Tech archaeology professor Allison Mickel.
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The federal government has opposed the auctioning of those artifacts, while RMS Titanic Inc. has argued that selling items would help fund future exploration.
Mickel believes salvaging items from the Titanic should be publicly funded.
“It’s precisely why we have institutions like the National Science Foundation, like the National Endowment for the Humanities — federal funding in the U.S.,” Mickel said.
Some Titanic artifacts have been sold by others for hundreds of thousands — and in some cases millions — of dollars.
Court documents show the company has argued that the U.S. government does not have jurisdiction over what it salvages from the wreck site.
“But preserving them, making sure they have a home, that is the most important thing,” said Dr. Annie Shanley of Emory University’s Michael C. Carlos Museum.
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