I've noticed that most people talk about military history so I'm going to steer away from that for a sec.

I saw an interesting documentry last night on ABC's 20/20 about the Titanic being robbed. I've always found the story of the Titanic and her two sisters, the Olympic and Brittanic very intersting. The three were perhaps the most elegant steam ships ever built. Only Olympic, first of the three survived to fulfill her full service life.

Apparently now, the sleeping lady has been disturbed in her grave. A lot of people have been doing strange things in her vecinity recently. Everything for stealing coal for auction on eBay to getting married in a sub next to the wreck. The latter being the most disturbing because who the heck get's married in a cemetary. Don't forget that the wreck is a cemetary. Quite a morbid couple.

Another thing is unscientific expodition to the wreck are robbing the dead of all their worldly posessions. Stuff that should be left at the bottom of the sea, or at least put in a museum is being sold or auctioned off. It turns out that the people stealing these items are also damaging the wreck itself. Dr Ballard, who discovered the Titanic is left to watch the pride of his career disintegrate because of the actions of unscrupulous people.

I just wanted to drum up awareness of what people are doing. Please let the sleeping old lady sit in peace. She is not a circus sideshow. Remember the people who lost their lives, not what they had with them when they did so.

I think I have the same book. It's hardcover and details the explorations. Excellent photographs of the wreck. There's another excellent book I suggest you get. It's called "Titanic & Her Sisters Olympic and Britannic" by Tom McCluskie, Michael Sharpe, and Leo Marriott. It's the most complete volume on the history of the three ships and the people and companies that made them famous.

Also, if you haven't seen the 1997 movie Titanic (who hasn't), it's a must see. When you put the silly love story aside, it's actually very historically accurate. The film crew did an excellent job.

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I know which pub your talking about, I have pictures of it in one of my books. That's different though. The Olympic was the only surviving member of the Olympic class. It was never a mass grave yard. It was simply scraped. The pub took some of the wood work so a little piece of history could be preserved.

So chaps, what of the conspiracy that the ship that went down in April 1912 was infact the Olympic. The theory goes that the Olympic had been in several major accidents before the Titanic set sail so the white star line set up a huge insurance scam, dressed the Olympic up as Titanic (A relatively easy task as all that would have been needed was to change the name plates and some window frames from one of the decks) and intentionally hit an iceberg in the Atlantic. After all, the captain did speed up the vessel after recieving iceberg warnings. Anyway, the Olympic hit an iceberg rather sooner than intended and thats what lead to the huge loss of life. After this Titanic was supposed to finish her service life as Olympic.

Robert Ballard has been a personal hero of mine for years.  I have several of his books, and almost named my son after him, but it was vetoed by my wife.  His distaste for those who disturb Titanic is well documented, but in a way is of his own making.  When he found Titanic, he had the right to claim all salvage of her.  This would have made it illegal under international law for anyone but him to disturb her.  He didn't because he didn't think anyone else would ever be able to visit her.  After all, 2 1/2 miles is a long way down.

There are two sides to this issue though, and I am not entirely sure which one I am on.  Titanic is a cemetary, yes.  It should be protected and hallowed and honered like any cemetary on land.  But Titanic is undeniably a piece of history.  If left unattended, Titanic will eventually dissolve into nothing and every bit of that history will be lost.  Imagine if no one had save a Spitfire.  We would only be left with photo's and recollections of this beasutiful plane.  It's the same with Titanic.  The people who salvage pieces for showing in museums and such are simply keeping the memory of that ship and a tragic event alive so others can see.  It's a worthwhile undertaking.

Those harvesting souveniers for sale to the highest bidder are simply parasites...

The Titanic/Olympic conspiracy has been laid to rest by the discovery of hull numbers engraved onto various parts of the ship.  These are basically serial numbers which are unique to each ship.  Those found on the Titanic site have been positively linked to those on record as being that of Titanic.

Also, as a long time Titanic buff (the ship, not so much the movie), I've read just about every book there is about this disaster.  (Though interestingly enough, I've never read "A Night To Remember" by Walter Lord, perhaps the most infamous of the Titanic books.)

The best (and most lengthy) I've read were the Congressional Hearing transcripts.  This was an absolutely fascinating read that I'd highly recommend.

The Titanic belongs to the P&O Shipping company.
the UK has drawn up a deal with the US appropose the rights to salvage ect. It has yet to be rattified

The sad thing is that if the Titanic has simply rammed the iceberg head on she would probably not have sank.