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Firm Indefinitely Delays Plans to Retrieve Titanic's Radio

In this April 10, 1912 file photo the Titanic leaves Southampton, England on her maiden voyage. (AP)
In this April 10, 1912 file photo the Titanic leaves Southampton, England on her maiden voyage. (AP)
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Firm Indefinitely Delays Plans to Retrieve Titanic's Radio

In this April 10, 1912 file photo the Titanic leaves Southampton, England on her maiden voyage. (AP)
In this April 10, 1912 file photo the Titanic leaves Southampton, England on her maiden voyage. (AP)

The company that owns the salvage rights to the Titanic shipwreck has indefinitely delayed plans to retrieve and exhibit the vessel's radio equipment because of the coronavirus pandemic, according to a court filing made by the firm Friday.

RMS Titanic Inc. cited the “increasing difficulty associated with international travel and logistics, and the associated health risks to the expedition team.”

The Atlanta-based company also said that it's gone nearly a year without its primary source of revenue after virus restrictions closed exhibits of its vast collection of Titanic artifacts. Only some of the exhibitions, which are scattered across the country, have reopened. But they're seeing limited attendance.

The company, however, maintained that it's financially secure. The firm said the radio expedition remains a top priority and will “take place as soon as reasonably practicable.”

The company has argued that exhibiting the radio will help sustain the ship’s legacy while honoring passengers and crew. Known in 1912 as a Marconi wireless telegraph machine, the radio sent distress calls to nearby ships that helped save 700 people in lifeboats.

RMS Titanic Inc. filed its update with a US District Court in Norfolk, Virginia, which presides over Titanic salvage matters. The company said it will continue to work on an expedition funding plan, which the admiralty court has required.

But even without the pandemic, the expedition has been far from guaranteed. The firm has been in an ongoing court battle with the US government over whether the undertaking is legal.

Lawyers for the US government have argued that the mission is barred under federal law and an international agreement with Britain. The attorneys say the company must seek the government’s permission to remove the radio because the sunken vessel is a recognized memorial to the roughly 1,500 people who died.

The luxury ocean liner was traveling from England to New York in 1912 when it struck an iceberg and sank. It was discovered in 1985 about 2.4 miles (3.8 kilometers) below the surface of the North Atlantic.

RMS Titanic Inc. is the court-recognized steward of the ship's artifacts. Its collection includes silverware, china and gold coins as well as the Titanic’s whistles and a piece of its hull.

The US government’s effort to stop the expedition is pending in the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond.

In the meantime, the company said in its Friday court filing that it had to lay off high-profile experts in the Titanic field: Dave Gallo, P.H. Nargeolet, Bill Sauder and William Lange.

The company said it “will seek to re-engage them when the time is right prior to the expedition, if and when it ultimately takes place.”

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Varieties

In Music and Dance, Sudanese Performers Transport Refugee Audiences Back Home

Sudanese Camirata troupe dancers, who lost some of their relatives during the conflict in Sudan, Hoda Othman, right, and Kamal perform Al Saysaed dance from East Sudan during a rehearsal, in Cairo, Egypt, Tuesday, September 10, 2024. (AP/ Amr Nabil)
Sudanese Camirata troupe dancers, who lost some of their relatives during the conflict in Sudan, Hoda Othman, right, and Kamal perform Al Saysaed dance from East Sudan during a rehearsal, in Cairo, Egypt, Tuesday, September 10, 2024. (AP/ Amr Nabil)
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In Music and Dance, Sudanese Performers Transport Refugee Audiences Back Home

Sudanese Camirata troupe dancers, who lost some of their relatives during the conflict in Sudan, Hoda Othman, right, and Kamal perform Al Saysaed dance from East Sudan during a rehearsal, in Cairo, Egypt, Tuesday, September 10, 2024. (AP/ Amr Nabil)
Sudanese Camirata troupe dancers, who lost some of their relatives during the conflict in Sudan, Hoda Othman, right, and Kamal perform Al Saysaed dance from East Sudan during a rehearsal, in Cairo, Egypt, Tuesday, September 10, 2024. (AP/ Amr Nabil)

As the performers took the stage and the traditional drum beat gained momentum, Sudanese refugees sitting in the audience were moved to tears. Hadia Moussa said the melody reminded her of the country's Nuba Mountains, her family's ancestral home.
"Performances like this help people mentally affected by the war. It reminds us of the Sudanese folklore and our culture," she said.
Sudan has been engulfed by violence since April 2023, when war between the Sudanese military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces broke out across the country. The conflict has turned the capital, Khartoum, into an urban battlefield and displaced 4.6 million people, according to the UN migration agency, including more than 419,000 people who fled to Egypt.
A band with 12 Sudanese members now lives with thousands of refugees in Egypt. The troupe, called “Camirata," includes researchers, singers and poets who are determined to preserve the knowledge of traditional Sudanese folk music and dance to keep it from being lost in the ruinous war, The Associated Press said.
Founded in 1997, the band rose to popularity in Khartoum before it began traveling to different states, enlisting diverse musicians, dancers and styles. They sing in 25 different Sudanese languages. Founder Dafallah el-Hag said the band's members started relocating to Egypt recently, as Sudan struggled through a difficult economic and political transition after a 2019 popular uprising unseated longtime ruler Omar al-Bashir. Others followed after the violence began. El-Hag arrived late last year.
The band uses a variety of local musical instruments on stage. El-Hag says audiences are often surprised to see instruments such as the tanbour, a stringed instrument, being played with the nuggara drums, combined with tunes of the banimbo, a wooden xylophone.
“This combination of musical instruments helped promote some sort of forgiveness and togetherness among the Sudanese people,” el-Hag said, adding that he is eager to revive a museum in Khartoum that housed historic instruments and was reportedly looted and damaged.
Fatma Farid, 21, a singer and dancer from Kordofan, moved to Egypt in 2021. Her aunt was killed in 2023 when an explosive fell on their house in al-Obeid, the capital of North Kordofan.
“The way I see art has changed a lot since the war began," she said. "You think of what you present as an artist. You can deliver a message,” she said.
Kawthar Osman, a native of Madani city who has been singing with the band since 1997, feels nostalgic when she sings about the Nile River, which forms in Sudan from two upper branches, the Blue and White Nile.
“It reminds me of what makes Sudan the way it is,” she said, adding that the war only “pushed the band to sing more for peace.”
Over 2 million Sudanese fled the country, mostly to neighboring Egypt and Chad, where the Global Hunger Index has reported a “serious” level of hunger in Chad. Over half a million forcibly displaced Sudanese have sought refuge in Chad, mostly women and children.
Living conditions for those who stayed in Sudan have worsened as the war spread beyond Khartoum. Many made hard decisions early in the war either to flee across frontlines or risk being caught in the middle of fighting. In Darfur, the war turned particularly brutal and created famine conditions, with militias attacking entire villages and burning them to the ground.
Armed robberies, lootings and the seizure of homes for bases were some of the challenges faced by Sudanese who stayed in the country's urban areas. Others struggled to secure food and water, find sources for electricity and obtain medical treatment since hospitals have been raided by fighters or hit by airstrikes. Communications networks are often barely functional.
The performers say they struggle to speak with family and friends still in the country, much less think about returning.
“We don’t know if we’ll return to Sudan again or will see Sudan again or walk in the same streets,” Farid said.