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Business

Company that owns rights to Titanic wreck hosting memorial service for Titan passenger

By
Shannon Thaler
Published July 19, 2023, 9:30 a.m. ET

The company that owns the sole salvaging rights to the historic Titanic shipwreck is hosting a memorial service for its former employee and late Titan passenger Paul-Henri “PH” Nargeolet — a day after debuting its latest Titanic expo in Paris.

RMS Titanic Inc., which was granted exclusive rights to recover the artifacts from the Titanic wreck site, shared on social media that it’s set to host an event to honor Nargeolet on Wednesday from 1:30 to 2:30 EST.

There will be a private, in-person commemoration ceremony that will be closed to the public, though it will be livestreamed free to the public via RMS Titanic Inc.’s Facebook page “to provide an outlet for the world-wide Titanic and Oceanographic communities to remember our colleague and friend, and express our grief together” the company wrote in a Facebook post.

The memorial is taking place a day after the company’s Parisian “Titanic L’Exposition” debut, which appears to have the support of Nargeolet’s family.

RMS Titanic Inc., which owns the sole salvaging rights to the Titanic wreck, is hosting a memorial service for Paul-Henri "PH" Nargeolet, who died aboard the Titan sub, on Wednesday afternoon.
RMS Titanic Inc., which owns the sole salvaging rights to the Titanic wreck, is hosting a memorial service for Paul-Henri “PH” Nargeolet, who died aboard the Titan sub, on Wednesday afternoon. AFP via Getty Images

Nargeolet’s daughter, Sidonie, spoke on a panel at the opening of the exhibit on Tuesday.

“My father wanted to work as long as possible,” she said, per a video clip from the panel posted to Twitter. “He liked to share his passion and introduce people [to his passion].”

However, Nargeolet’s longtime friend, David Concannon, isn’t so thrilled about the memorial service.

Concannon — who worked as the formal legal advisor to both RMS Titanic Inc. and OceanGate — told Insider that he wouldn’t be attending the event.

“I will be attending another, more appropriate memorial ceremony for PH,” he wrote in a statement to the outlet.

“The timing of the Paris event, so close to the opening of a commercial artifact exhibit there, is unfortunate.”

RMS Titanic Inc. shared behind-the-scenes photos of “Titanic L’Exposition” during the installation process.

The company’s latest exhibit features “a captivating 360-degree room that takes you on an immersive journey through the decks of Titanic,” RMS Titanic Inc. shared in a tweet posted Tuesday.

Nargeolet's memorial is being hosted one day after RMS Titanic Inc. launched a new exhibit about the famed shipwreck. The exhibition features 360-degree projection mapping that takes guests through the Titanic's decks.
Nargeolet’s memorial is being hosted one day after RMS Titanic Inc. launched a new exhibit about the famed shipwreck. The exhibition features 360-degree projection mapping that takes guests through the Titanic’s decks. RMS Titanic, Inc.

The Post has reached out to RMS Titanic Inc. for comment.

Nargeolet, lovingly nicknamed “Mr. Titanic,” was commissioned by RMS Titanic Inc. in 2007 to recover artifacts from the famed wreck, and served as its Director of Underwater Research, according to RMS’s website.

RMS Titanic Inc. conducted eight research and recovery exhibitions between 1987 and 2010, collecting more than 5,500 artifacts from the so-called “Unsinkable Ship” that met its final frontier on April 14, 1912.

The Titanic met its final frontier in April of 1912. Critics have said that artifacts shouldn't be recovered from the gravesite, and companies like RMS Titanic Inc. should leave it alone.
The Titanic met its final frontier in April of 1912. Critics have said that artifacts shouldn’t be recovered from the gravesite, and companies like RMS Titanic Inc. should leave it alone. Bettmann Archive

The recovery effort has been controversial, with critics arguing that the site and its inhabitants should be left untouched out of respect.

Nargeolet seemingly disagreed, as he took more than three dozen trips to the wreckage 12,500 feet below the North Atlantic Ocean surface as of 1987, before boarding the ill-fated OceanGate Titan submersible.

It’s believed that Nargeolet, 77, died alongside four other passengers on June 18, when the vessel suffered a “catastrophic implosion” less than two hours into its dive to the Titanic.