A SALVAGE company in the USA has been
granted official title to almost 6,000 items
that it recovered from the stricken Titanic at
the bottom of the Atlantic ocean.
The company, named RMS Titanic,
conducted a series of expeditions in 1993,
1994, 1996, 1998, 2008 and 2004, using a
special submersible vessel to visit the
shipwreck at a depth of over 4km.
Because of the iconic nature of the wreck,
many items are covered by a covenant which
RMS established with governments to make
the artifacts “available to present and future
generations” for public display and research.
The collection is estimated to be worth
more than US$100 million, and includes fine
china, ship fittings, cutlery and other items
such as passenger belongings.
A GROUP of devout Tibetan Buddhists
enjoyed a cruise of a different kind off the
coast of the northern USA two weeks ago,
setting off from New England to liberate
more than 500 live lobsters.
The 30 animal-lovers arrived in Gloucester,
Massachusetts on their odyssey, first buying
over 300kg of lobster from a fish wholesaler.
They then set sail in a chartered whale
watching boat and once in an appropriate
location off the coast, conducted a special
ceremony before releasing them one by one
into the glorious deep – a much nicer fate for
them than ending up in a boiling pot.
“Even if they get captured again, they’ve
had a longer life,” philosophised one of the
liberators.
