RMS Titanic, Inc., (RMST) announced today that it will conduct its ground-breaking rescue expedition to Titanic, nearly 109 years after its maiden voyage, to recover the Marconi Wireless Telegraph from inside Titanic, in late spring/early summer of 2021. RMST is also pleased to announce further details regarding the Marconi recovery and the subsea tooling that will be utilized at the work site.
The first recovery expedition of its kind to Titanic, RMST has brought together a team of leading scientist, marine archaeologist and deep-sea engineering experts to help carefully and thoughtfully recover the telegraph that was instrumental in saving more than 705 passengers from the Atlantic in April 1912. After its recovery and conservation, the telegraph will be shared with the general public in museums and other institutions around the world as part of the touring museum experience Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition. During the expedition, the team will also monitor the current rate of deterioration of Titanic and conduct further recovery and scientific study as necessary.
After lengthy review and expert consultation, the organization has developed a multi-phase, dual ROV, non-evasive method to safely excavate and investigate the Marconi Radio. This new tooling and methodology will allow us to expose the key components in their current resting state and determine if safe extraction and recovery is possible. This unique dual ROV ladder deployment system on the Titan manipulators will allow non-evasive entry to areas of interest without wreck disturbance. Each ROV will be equipped with their respective tooling to first dredge and clean the area for a thorough investigation. Components approved safe for extraction will be gently removed using both ROV’s and collected to salvage baskets for safe recovery to the surface. The organization has also released additional imagery of the custom deep-sea tools that will be used to recover the Marconi.
Originally scheduled to occur this summer, the expedition has been moved to 2021 to abide by ongoing travel restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The safety of our crew, ports where we conduct business and foremost the care of the artifacts is our top priority,” states Bretton Hunchak, President of RMS Titanic, Inc. “Given the ongoing pandemic, current travel restrictions and the changing landscape, we have no choice but to move this important expedition. We will continue to refine our strategies and further our outreach to the community so that all can enjoy this historic moment. We look forward to 2021 and conducting this expedition with our partners and the world.”
“We appreciate the flexibility and understanding of our partnerships, including that of Magellan Limited and Managing Director Richard Parkinson, who have worked tirelessly with our team to help determine the best course of action with thoughtful and resourceful solutions,” continues Hunchak.
“It’s been a pleasure working with RMS Titanic and applying Magellan’s expansive skill, equipment and experience in ultra-deep-water. We are particularly proud that our company, headquartered out of St. Peter Port, Guernsey, has been chosen to play an instrumental role in a project of such global significance,” states Richard Parkinson, Managing Director of Magellan Limited.
THE LAST CRIES OF THE MARCONI
On April 14th, 1912, the day before Titanic sank, the Ship’s emergency Marconi radio had lost its voice. According to the Marconi Company protocol, its radio operators aboard the ship were directed to leave the fragile system for professionals to repair once they reached port. However, onboard Marconi radio operators, Jack Phillips and Harold Bride, decided to ignore protocol and worked for hours to nurse the wounded system back to health, giving the Ship back its far-reaching voice, the only source of communication to the outside world – just hours before they struck the iceberg that would eventually pull their Ship into the sea and leave over 700 men, women, and children stranded in lifeboats desperate for rescue.
Just minutes after Titanic fatally struck the iceberg that day, the Marconi’s voice was heard screaming out loud over the frigid sea, calling for help to all who would listen. Within 17 minutes, the SS Carpathia had heard the Marconi’s call, reversed course, full steam ahead to the aid of the sinking ship. But with the SS Carpathia nearly four hours away, the Marconi continued in its desperate cry for help. Even when the system’s 25-year-old chief operator, Jack Phillips, had been relieved from his post and could have survived like his co-worker Harold Bride, he instead heroically stayed with the Marconi, calling out for help on behalf of the ship’s survivors until the power failed three minutes before the ship plunged into the icy depths.
About Experiential Media Group, LLC/ RMS Titanic, Inc.
RMS Titanic, Inc. (RMST), a subsidiary of Premier Acquisition Holdings, LLC and an
affiliate of Experiential Media Group, LLC serves as the exclusive steward of RMS Titanic which tragically sank on April 15, 1912. The Company is dedicated to preserving the legacy of the Ship, wreck site and all her passengers and crew. Since 1987, RMST has honorably conducted eight research expeditions to the wreck of RMS Titanic exclusively recovering and conserving more than 5,500 artifacts.
Utilizing these recovered objects in concert with scientific data and historical research, RMST brings to the general public the celebrated and moving experience Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition, currently open in Las Vegas, Orlando, Arizona and soon at La Cite de la Mer in Cherbourg, France. RMST is committed to engaging the global community in RMS Titanic ‘s story at www.emgroup.com.
