US-UK Treaty Protects Titanic

The governments of the United States and the United Kingdom have agreed on a treaty to protect the wreckage of the RMS Titanic, which sank in the North Atlantic over 100 year ago, CNN reports.

The legislation passed by both governments allows them the ability to grant or deny licenses to take artifacts from the exterior and go into the Titanic’s hulls. Although the U.K. signed the treaty in 2003, it wasn’t ratified by the U.S. until the end of 2019.

The wreckage of the Titanic, which was built by Harland and Wolff in Belfast and launched from Southampton in 1912. It famously sank on its maiden voyage after hitting an iceberg in the North Atlantic, about 370 nautical miles from Newfoundland, Canada. It was discovered in 1985 about two-and-a-half miles beneath the surface of the ocean. Images from a visit to the wreckage by divers last August, the first in 14 years, showed that the ship is sinking into the ocean floor and being eaten by metal-consuming bacteria.

"Lying two and a half miles below the ocean surface, the RMS Titanic is the subject of the most documented maritime tragedy in history," British Department for Transport and Maritime Minister Nusrat Ghani said in a statement. "This momentous agreement with the United States to preserve the wreck means it will be treated with the sensitivity and respect owed to the final resting place of more than 1,500 lives."

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