Museums bid for 5,500 Titanic artifacts

Filmmaker James Cameron and Titanic discoverer Robert Ballard are backing a bid by a group of British museums to acquire a collection of 5,500 artifacts from the sunken vessel, AP reports.

The campaign announced Tuesday aims to raise USD 20 million to buy the items from a private American company that salvaged them from the wreck.

The director of the 1997 blockbuster Titanic said there are grave concerns that the collection will be broken up and sold privately because that company has filed for bankruptcy.

– It’s an incredible piece of history. If it gets sold into private hands, it disappears from the public eye. It would be broken up and could never be reassembled – Cameron points out.

The objects include a section of the ship’s hull and a bronze cherub decoration from the ship’s grand staircase.

The bid for the artifacts comes from the Royal Museums Greenwich, National Museums Northern Ireland, Titanic Belfast and Titanic Foundation Limited. The National Geographic Society has pledged USD 500,000 to help fund the project.

The bid was announced at Titanic Belfast at the location where the ship was designed, built and launched.

The Titanic sank in the North Atlantic on its maiden voyage in 1912 after hitting an iceberg. More than 1,500 passengers and crew died.

Titanic

Titanic artifacts

James Cameron

Robert Ballard

Royal Museums Greenwich

National Museums Northern Ireland

Titanic Belfast

Titanic Foundation Limited

National Geographic Society