Oilman Says He’ll Retrieve Titanic Goods

Members of the Titanic expedition want items from the sunken luxury liner to stay on the sea floor, but a Texas oilman says he will go after the artifacts.

“I can’t see them just lie there and be absorbed by the ocean floor,” said Jack Grimm, founder of Grimm Oil Co.

Grimm said he wants to pay a crew from the French Institute of Research for Exploration of the Sea to retrieve items such as wine bottles, dishes and pots and pans that have littered the ocean floor since the Titanic struck an iceberg and sank 74 years ago, claiming more than 1,500 lives.

Didn’t Make Trip

The French institute teamed up with a crew from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution last year to find the vessel but did not make the return trip last month.

“Mr. Grimm is very interested in our technology,” said Francoise Vitali-Jacob, spokeswoman for the institute. “He has confidence in our technology, but we have not decided to do anything this year, although it’s possible next year. But no, we haven’t already reached an agreement.”

Grimm, who has made unsuccessful searches for Noah’s Ark and the Loch Ness monster, is confident that he will reach an agreement with the French for a 10-day expedition next July that he says would cost between $600,000 and $700,000.

The institute has a miniature submarine similar to Alvin, a submersible that the Woods Hole team used to explore the Titanic last month. The French sub could scoop up items with mechanical arms and bring them up.

Grimm said that the items should be displayed at the Smithsonian Institution and maritime museums, and that he has no desire to sell them.

Personal items would be returned to families of victims if possible, he said.