A Titanic task: confronting the controversy of salvaging artifacts.

• Author: Marschall, Ken

THE RETRIEVAL of artifacts from the Titanic site, even from far off in the debris field, has stirred up a hornet's nest of controversy. It is curious, this attention to that one wreck, disastrous though it was, while other historic and equally tragic sites have been rifled for years with nary a critic. Two particularly horrific sinkings spring to mind--the Empress of Ireland in 1914 and Lusitania the following year--both very sudden and with terrible loss of life approaching that of Titanic. In fact, the Titanic languished on the surface for more than two and a half hours before disappearing, compared with the swift sinkings of the Empress and Lusitania, where passengers and crew had only moments to reach the upper decks.

Salvage from the Empress of Ireland and Lusitania, in both of which over 1,000 lives were lost, does not seem to touch the collective consciousness as does the Titanic. Yet, though the actual death count may be less, many would maintain that these wrecks are no less grave sites, if not more so. Nearly everyone on the Titanic had the chance, at least, to get up on deck, floating off the ship as it sank, most eventually freezing and drifting to regions unknown. Nothing but a few matching pairs of shoes have been found on the sea floor--no bones whatever. The Empress of Ireland, though, after being struck by another vessel in heavy fog, keeled over and sank so quickly that hundreds were caught below decks with no hope of survival. Today, salvage divers refer to one interior area of the wreck as "the boneyard," so plentiful are the human remains.

Why, then, are public auctions openly held to sell off hastily salvaged objects from these famous and equally tragic wrecks, while some are outraged at the very mention of even charging a modest admission fee to view carefully retrieved and conserved Titanic artifacts which, unlike salvaged Lusitania and Empress of Ireland objects, have been guaranteed by the salvor (RMS Titanic, Inc.) never to be sold? Where was the outcry when three propellers from the Lusitania were blasted from the hull a few years ago, one of which unceremoniously was melted down to produce commemorative golf clubs?

As one who, in a way, has attempted for many years to bring the Titanic back to life through my artwork, I am thrilled that the great ship was found. It was just common sense to me that it would be. I remain amazed at some colleagues who seriously felt the massive wreckage never would be discovered.

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