The tears are too much. If Mr Sauder was genuinely upset by the personal tragedy of Titanic, he wouldn't be rooting around through passengers' personal possessions to find things to peddle for Titanic Inc. Saalfield might have survived, but other did not.
Titanic is both a grave and a marine archaeological site. It should be conserved, recorded, and explored with care. Titanic Inc. is a business, and it exhibits objects taken from the wreck for profit with little or no care for their context or long-term preservation.
The reasons for its sole authority over the wreckage are tenuous, and the company's primary goals (to recover "desirable objects" and generate as much media attention as possible) remain decidedly non-archaeological. The US Government recently issued an injunction to prevent the company from cutting into the ship to retrieve a supposed 'diamond shipment'.
We can but hope the Supreme Court and UNESCO (which recently awarded Titanic special status) can work together to ensure a future for the wreck that is free of commercial exploitation.
Titanic is both a grave and a marine archaeological site. It should be conserved, recorded, and explored with care. Titanic Inc. is a business, and it exhibits objects taken from the wreck for profit with little or no care for their context or long-term preservation.
The reasons for its sole authority over the wreckage are tenuous, and the company's primary goals (to recover "desirable objects" and generate as much media attention as possible) remain decidedly non-archaeological. The US Government recently issued an injunction to prevent the company from cutting into the ship to retrieve a supposed 'diamond shipment'.
We can but hope the Supreme Court and UNESCO (which recently awarded Titanic special status) can work together to ensure a future for the wreck that is free of commercial exploitation.