Mỹ tìm cách ngăn chặn việc thu hồi cổ vật từ tàu Titanic

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In late 1985, weeks after the shattered remains (tàn tích tan vỡ) of the R.M.S. Titanic came to light, officials in Washington began seeking legal authority to regulate access to the famous shipwreck (con tàu đắm) as part of a memorial to the more than 1,500 passengers and crew members who had lost their lives in 1912. Congress called for a global accord, as the wreck lay in international waters. Until then, Congress declared, “no person should physically alter, disturb (làm nhiễu loạn), or salvage (thu hồi) the R.M.S. Titanic.”

As nations debated a draft agreement, American salvors moved in. Over the years, thousands of artifacts have been retrieved, including a top hat, perfume vials (lọ nước hoa) and the deck bell (chuông trên boong tàu) that was rung three times to warn the ship’s bridge of a looming iceberg (tảng băng trôi lù lù hiện ra).

Now, the federal government is taking legal action to assert control over who can recover artifacts (cổ vật) from the storied liner and, potentially, to block an expedition (chuyến thám hiểm) planned for next year. The move comes as the Titan submersible (chìm, lặn) disaster (thảm họa) of June 18 raised questions about who controls access to the ship’s remains, which lie more than two miles down on the North Atlantic seabed (đáy biển). The legal action is also notable because it pits the legislative and executive branches of government against the judicial branch.

Last Friday, in a federal court in Norfolk, Va., two U.S. attorneys (luật sư) filed a motion (đệ đơn kiến nghị) to intervene in a decades-old salvage operation. The Virginia court specializes in cases of shipwreck recovery and in 1994 granted exclusive salvage rights to RMS Titanic, Inc., which is based in Atlanta, Ga. The company has retrieved many artifacts from the ship and set up a number of public exhibitions (triển lãm).