A federal judge has barred anyone from visiting the site of the sunken Titanic, prompting complaints from a sightseeing company that says the ruling doesn't apply in international waters.
In a ruling Tuesday, Judge J. Calvitt Clarke Jr. said no one could come within several miles of the wreck, take photographs or videotape it without permission of R.M.S. Titanic Inc., which has owned the ship's salvage rights since 1994.The company's attorney, F. Bradford Stillman, said Clarke's ruling was needed to preserve the famous shipwreck.
But Deep Ocean Expeditions Ltd. will appeal the ruling against allowing it to ferry adventurers to the wreck site in the north Atlantic.
Ann K. Sullivan, an attorney for the British company, said the U.S. court has no jurisdiction over the wreck in international waters. She also said it cannot control public picture-taking at the historic site, some 400 miles off the Newfoundland coast and 2 1/2 miles deep.
"The law of the sea requires freedom of navigation and freedom to exploit the sea's resources," Sullivan said. "If we want to go down and visit the ship, that's part of freedom of navigation."