弗吉尼亚州诺福克——美国政府将试图阻止一家公司为取回泰坦尼克号的无线电报机而计划的打捞任务，称这次探险将违反联邦法律和与英国达成的协议，使这艘标志性的沉船不受干扰。
周一晚间，美国律师在弗吉尼亚州诺福克的一名联邦法官面前提起法律诉讼。探险预计在八月底进行。
总部设在亚特兰大的打捞公司皇家邮轮泰坦尼克公司，计划从船的大楼梯附近的甲板室回收无线电设备。如果车辆无法从天窗溜出去，这项操作可能需要一台潜水器切入迅速恶化的车顶。
美国律师辩称，该公司不能这么做。他们说，联邦法律要求该公司在进行研究或打捞“会在物理上改变或扰乱沉船”的探险之前，必须获得商务部长的授权
他们补充说，与英国的协议规定进入船体，以防止“其他文物和任何人类遗骸”的干扰
政府的文件称，国际协议呼吁“将泰坦尼克号视为‘对那些死去的男人、女人和孩子的纪念，他们的遗体应该得到适当的尊重’”。
1912年，泰坦尼克号在从英国开往纽约的途中撞上冰山沉没，除了大约700名乘客和船员外，其余2208名乘客和船员全部遇难。这艘船在离加拿大纽芬兰大约400英里(645公里)的地方沉没，大约1500人遇难。
国家海洋和大气管理局代表了公众对北大西洋沉船遗址的兴趣。联邦机构现在正寻求成为本案的实际当事人。
美国国家海洋与大气管理局向同一个联邦法官提交了它的论据，该法官上个月裁定，打捞公司可以潜近2.5英里(4公里)来找回马可尼无线电报机。收音机向其他船只发出的求救信号被认为拯救了数百名乘救生艇逃生的人的生命。
在5月的裁决中，美国地方法官丽贝卡·比奇·史密斯同意打捞公司的意见，认为电报具有历史重要性，可能很快就会消失在迅速腐烂的沉船中。该公司计划在讲述其英雄经营者的故事时展示该设备。
美国国家海洋与大气管理局的法律挑战加剧了一场争论，这场争论已经持续了几年，是关于谁控制了世界上最著名的沉船的打捞任务。
联邦机构认为联邦法律和国际协议应该适用于它。打捞公司不同意这一观点，认为数百年的海商法将沉船牢牢地交到了诺福克海事法院的手中。
该公司在今年早些时候提交的法律文件中称，“国家海洋与大气管理局试图抛弃发展了几个世纪的海洋法”。
US challenges planned expedition to retrieve Titanic's radio
NORFOLK, Va. -- The U.S. government will try to stop a company's planned salvage mission to retrieve the Titanic’s wireless telegraph machine, arguing the expedition would break federal law and a pact with Britain to leave the iconic shipwreck undisturbed.
U.S. attorneys filed a legal challenge before a federal judge in Norfolk, Virginia, late Monday. The expedition is expected to occur by the end of August.
The Atlanta-based salvage firm RMS Titanic Inc., plans to recover the radio equipment from a deck house near the ship's grand staircase. The operation could require a submersible to cut into the rapidly deteriorating roof if the vehicle is unable to slip through a skylight.
U.S. attorneys argue the company can't do that. They say federal law requires the firm to get authorization from the Secretary of Commerce before conducting research or salvage expeditions "that would physically alter or disturb the wreck."
The agreement with the United Kingdom, they add, regulates entry into the hull to prevent the disturbance of “other artifacts and any human remains.”
The international agreement calls for the Titanic "to be recognized as ‘a memorial to those men, women and children who perished and whose remains should be given appropriate respect,’” the government's filing states.
The Titanic was traveling from England to New York when it struck an iceberg and sank in 1912, killing all but about 700 of the 2,208 passengers and crew. About 1,500 people died when the ship sank about 400 miles (645 kilometers) off Newfoundland, Canada.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration represents the public’s interest in the North Atlantic wreck site. The federal agency is now seeking to be an actual party in the case.
NOAA filed its arguments before the same federal judge who ruled last month that the salvage firm could dive nearly 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) to recover the Marconi wireless telegraph machine. The radio's distress calls to other ships are credited with saving the lives of hundreds of people who escaped on lifeboats.
In her May ruling, U. S. District Judge Rebecca Beach Smith agreed with the salvage firm that the telegraph is historically important and could soon disappear within the rapidly decaying wreck. The company plans to exhibit the gear while telling the stories of its heroic operators.
NOAA’s legal challenge escalates a debate that's been simmering for a few years over who controls salvage missions to the world’s most famous shipwreck.
The federal agency argues that federal laws and international agreements should apply to it. The salvage firm disagrees, arguing that hundreds of years of maritime law firmly puts the wreck into the hands of admiralty court in Norfolk.
“NOAA seeks to jettison the law of the sea, developed over centuries,” the firm argued in legal documents filed earlier this year.
