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posted by martyb on Monday June 01 2020, @04:21AM   Printer-friendly
from the ***=|*|*=*|=*==||*|*=|*=*|*=**|=*==||*==|**|=****=|**=*|** dept.

[20200601_233900 UTC: updated to elide a couple paragraphs and update suggestion to read original article.--martyb]

US court grants permission to recover Marconi telegraph from Titanic wreckage:

When RMS Titanic struck an iceberg on April 14, 1912, crew members sent out numerous distress signals to any other ships in the vicinity using what was then a relatively new technology: a Marconi wireless telegraph system. More than 1,500 passengers and crew perished when the ship sank a few hours later. Now, in what is likely to be a controversial decision, a federal judge has approved a salvage operation to retrieve the telegraph from the deteriorating wreckage, The Boston Globe has reported.

Lawyers for the company RMS Titanic Inc.—which owns more than 5,000 artifacts salvaged from the wreck—filed a request in US District Court in Alexandria, Virginia, arguing that the wireless telegraph should be salvaged because the ship's remains are likely to collapse sometime in the next several years, rendering "the world's most famous radio" inaccessible. US District Judge Rebecca Beach Smith concurred in her ruling, noting that salvaging the telegraph "will contribute to the legacy left by the indelible loss of the Titanic, those who survived, and those who gave their lives in the sinking."

However, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is fiercely opposed to the salvage mission. The agency argues in court documents that the telegraph should be left undisturbed, since it is likely to be surrounded "by the mortal remains of more than 1500 people." Judge Smith countered in her decision that the proposed expedition meets international requirements: for instance, it is justified on scientific and cultural grounds and has taken into account any potential damage to the wreck.

[...] This latest ruling is bound to generate more controversy, given that the expedition's plans call for "surgically" removing the telegraph from the hull, risking further damage. (It's believed that the telegraph is located in a deck house near the grand staircase.) According to an Associated Press report, the company's 60-page plan calls for an uncrewed submersible to pass through a skylight. If that doesn't work, the expedition would cut through the roof, which is already heavily corroded. Then a "suction dredge" will remove any loose silt, and the submersible's arms will cut through any electrical cords.

The linked story at Ars Technica goes into considerable detail on the history of how several famous people vied for the claim of creator of telegraphy and wireless communications — well worth reading the entire article.


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  • (Score: 0, Troll) by Username on Monday June 01 2020, @07:41AM (10 children)

    by Username (4557) on Monday June 01 2020, @07:41AM (#1001641)

    I don't like making generalization of races, but what is with white people and grave robbing? White serial killers too. Always takes a part of their victims. At least they're robing white graves this time.

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  • (Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 01 2020, @07:46AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 01 2020, @07:46AM (#1001644)

    What? Mormon soul-stealing proxy-baptism? Ghouls, necromancers, most perverted pseudo-Christian poly-gamist misogynist stupid people. Joseph Smith was re-incarnated as Jeffrey Epstein. True story, as told by the True Prophet of the Heavenly Father, who also was a pedophile polygamist. Fucking Morans.

  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by EJ on Monday June 01 2020, @08:33AM (4 children)

    by EJ (2452) on Monday June 01 2020, @08:33AM (#1001651)

    What is it with people and the concept of "grave robbing"? It's the circle of life. The dead don't care. Ashes to ashes. Dust to dust. The calcium in our bones should be returned to the environment so they can become bones to something new.

    Anything other than cremation is selfish wastefulness.

    • (Score: 5, Interesting) by coolgopher on Monday June 01 2020, @09:16AM (2 children)

      by coolgopher (1157) on Monday June 01 2020, @09:16AM (#1001655)

      Cremation is quite a waste of energy and also polluting. Have a look at composting [recompose.life] instead if you want a rounder circle of life.

      • (Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Monday June 01 2020, @02:52PM

        by Phoenix666 (552) on Monday June 01 2020, @02:52PM (#1001708) Journal

        Or you could be buried at sea.

        I'm gonna have myself frozen in carbonite and placed in the foyer of one of my kids' home.

        --
        Washington DC delenda est.
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 01 2020, @04:51PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 01 2020, @04:51PM (#1001772)

        The energy and pollution is negligible. The composting movement is a feel-good scam, like much of the so-called carbon-neutral company press-releases that were popular a few years ago.

    • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 01 2020, @04:24PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 01 2020, @04:24PM (#1001755)

      At that depth and that age there are no bodies.

  • (Score: 3, Informative) by Phoenix666 on Monday June 01 2020, @02:47PM

    by Phoenix666 (552) on Monday June 01 2020, @02:47PM (#1001704) Journal

    Grave robbing is practiced worldwide. Ancient Egyptians set traps for them in their royal tombs. Incans buried their dead in inaccessible niches in cliffs and hid the entrances to prevent desecration of remains. And so on and so on.

    --
    Washington DC delenda est.
  • (Score: 1) by khallow on Monday June 01 2020, @03:18PM (2 children)

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Monday June 01 2020, @03:18PM (#1001717) Journal

    but what is with white people and grave robbing?

    Leave valuable stuff in your graves? You get white people. It's like leaving food on the floor for the mice.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 01 2020, @03:32PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 01 2020, @03:32PM (#1001722)

      Hey racists bastards, the Asians are the true grave robbers.
      See post farther down about WW2 ships being illegally scrapped and what they do to the human remains.