Ripples from the sinking of the Titanic continue to wash through the world, this time curling through the courts.
A bankrupt Atlanta company that controls thousands of artifacts salvaged from the Titanic years ago has sued the French government, asking that the company be allowed to sell some of those items to raise money, according to a report from Agence Presse.
Premier Exhibitions filed the suit in a Florida federal bankruptcy court asking that the French government “clarify” it has no interest in the artifacts that would prevent their sale, the report said.
The ship, of course, hit an iceberg and sank in the early morning hours of April 15, 1912. The massive vessel – touted by its owners as unsinkable – sailed with too few lifeboats to carry all its passengers and crew. Worse, after the collision with the iceberg, many of those lifeboats launched while only partially filled.
More than 1,500 people died as the ship slowly slipped into the frigid waters of the north Atlantic Ocean.
A two hour and 40 minute illustrated version of the sinking is available here.
Premier had for a number of years put on commercial exhibitions displaying items recovered from the Titanic in the early 1990s.
The request for clarification came earlier this month in Jacksonville after the judge in the case denied Premier permission for Premier to sell some of the recovered goods to repay creditors, Agence Presse said.
Among the items are jewelry and clothing.