French Sub Makes First Dive to Titanic

A French midget submarine Saturday dove to the wreck of the Titanic at the start of an operation to salvage objects from the luxury liner 75 years after it sank, a private firm coordinating the mission said.

“We want to salvage as much as possible--crockery, plates, glasses, bottles of wine, strongboxes and even statues,” said Daniel Puget of the French company Taurus International.

A company statement said the three-man midget submarine, the Nautilus, had dived to the ocean floor off Newfoundland and surveyed the front and rear section of the sunken British liner and will make a second dive today to complete preliminary studies.

Video film and photographs taken by the submarine will be used to determine which artifacts can be recovered during the controversial salvage operation.

The Titanic has rested virtually undisturbed 12,400 feet beneath the surface since it sank in the Atlantic in April, 1912, after hitting an iceberg.

The rusted but largely intact wreck was first found in September, 1985, by American scientists and the French Institute for Marine Research and Development.

Artifacts recovered will not be sold but put on public display. Film taken during the search mission, however, will be used to help finance the project.