Is salvage from the Titanic worth $100 million?

NORFOLK

The company that controls 5,500 Titanic artifacts has asked a federal judge to award it at least $100 million to cover the costs of salvaging and maintaining 3,700 of the pieces.

A federal judge has already ruled that RMS Titanic Inc. is not entitled to take ownership of the 3,700 artifacts, but a trial will be held in the coming months to determine how it should be compensated. The company does own, through a French decree, the remaining 1,800 artifacts recovered during initial salvage operations.

U.S. District Judge Rebecca B. Smith has kept tight reins on the maneuverings of RMS Titanic Inc. In a recent ruling, she ordered the U.S. attorney's office to closely monitor the company's actions to ensure that the artifacts are preserved "as an international treasure for posterity."

Arnie Geller, chairman of RMS Titanic, said he agrees that the artifacts need to be preserved and kept together in no more than two locations. He said Friday that the company is continuing negotiations with the cities of New York and Belfast, Northern Ireland - home to a majority of the Titanic's crew - as well as the Mariners' Museum in Newport News to take some or all of the collection.

After 20 years of salvage operations, Geller said, preserving the artifacts has become more important than profits.

"At some point it becomes a labor of love," he said in a phone interview from his Atlanta office. "It's more than the money at this point."

The company, which became a subsidiary of Premier Exhibitions Inc. in 2004, filed a motion earlier this month for what's known in maritime circles as a "salvage award." The filing included three thick binders of detailed financial and historical information on the company's salvage operations.

A salvage award means the court will determine an amount the company is owed for its efforts retrieving the artifacts from the ocean floor and preserving them.

The Titanic ocean liner sunk in the North Atlantic in April 1912. The company noted in a recent news release that only one survivor remains alive today.

The problem becomes how to pay the company. Smith has already denied requests by RMS Titanic to sell the artifacts, which include large pieces of the hull and are estimated to be worth $110 million in today's market, up about $40 million from just three years ago. The company says it should be paid 90 to 100 percent of the market value.

Geller said there is no museum rich enough to write a check for $100 million.

The company has earned millions exhibiting the artifacts at museums around the world but says it has lost $7.7 million overall when balanced with the expense of the six salvage expeditions since 1993. The artifacts are housed in Atlanta.

According to a court ruling, Smith appears skeptical of RMS Titanic's motives.

In the October ruling, she scolded the company for claiming outright ownership of certain artifacts through an agreement it reached with a London company that had insured personal property aboard the voyage.

That agreement "is devoid of any legal or factual merit," the judge wrote, "and it is blatantly misleading to the public and the investors" of RMS Titanic.

The company filed subsequent papers in the court explaining to Smith that it was not engaging in misconduct and had no "intention to further annoy the court." However, the company acknowledges that the judge "obviously disagrees" with its legal analysis.

Geller said Friday that he shares the judge's concern over the future of the artifacts.

"We've dedicated our efforts for the last 20 years to protecting the wreck site and recovering and rescuing the objects from 12-1/2 thousand feet," he said. "We've been preserving them and caring for them all these years. We feel very strongly that the collection should be kept together."

Tim McGlone, (757) 446-2343, tim.mcglone@pilotonline.com