French diver who died in the submersible helped a private company excavate 5,000 artifacts from the Titanic

• RMS Titanic Inc. was granted retrieve-and-display rights to the Titanic shipwreck.
• The private company salvaged more than 5,000 artifacts with the help of Paul-Henri Nargeolet.

The French diver who died in the Titan submersible had spent two decades working with a controversial company with the sole right to retrieve and display items from the Titanic wreck site.

Paul-Henri Nargeolet, one of the most prolific Titanic divers in history, led five expeditions for the private salvage firm RMS Titanic Inc. to collect more than 5,000 artifacts from the ship. The artifacts included items as small as shaving kits and pipes and as large as chandeliers.

His legacy and the company he spent many years working for highlight the debate surrounding grave tourism and salvaging shipwrecks.

RMS Titanic Inc., a subsidiary of Premier Exhibitions, first claimed salvor-in-possession rights to the Titanic in 1986 and was granted such rights by court order. At the time, some regarded RMS Titanic Inc. and Nargeolet as high-tech grave robbers, Insider's Katherine Long reported.

The company says its mission is "exploring the wreck of Titanic and its surrounding ocean areas; obtaining oceanographic material and scientific data; and using the data and retrieved artifacts for historical verification, scientific education, and public awareness."

The company also often works with multinational regulatory bodies and nonprofits dedicated to the historical preservation of the Titanic. It runs "Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition" in Orlando, Florida, where much of the memorabilia taken from the ship is displayed.

However, RMS Titanic Inc. has also attracted scrutiny concerning whether a private company should own the rights to historical artifacts that critics believe are in the public's interest.

In 2016, Premier Exhibitions and RMS Titanic Inc. filed for bankruptcy and were able to put the collection up for auction. At the time, Robert Ballard, who discovered the Titanic wreckage, and James Cameron, who directed the 1997 film "Titanic," backed a movement led by museums to get the collection out of the hands of private owners and collectors, but it failed. The auction never happened, and RMS Titanic Inc. still owns the collection to this day.

Most recently, the company courted controversy after requesting in 2020 to salvage a Marconi wireless telegraph machine, which sent out distress calls while the ship was sinking, to add to an exhibit — potentially at the expense of the roof of the underwater remains. A judge approved the request, but the company paused the project for financial reasons.

In a 2012 interview with Forbes, Nargeolet was asked about the ethics of taking from the site. He said he believed that while detractors had valid concerns, the collections would help the "education and preservation" of the ship's history.

"I remember talking to one of them, a woman, who told me, 'I don't like what you're doing because my father died on the ship,'" Nargeolet said at the time. "I'm OK with that. But I've met other survivors who like what we're doing. They believe that it helps keep the ship and its legacy alive."

He added: "My belief is that it is good to record the artifacts, that it's good for education and preservation. That's the goal."

RMS Titanic Inc didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Correction: June 26, 2023 — An earlier version of this story referred to Paul-Henri Nargeolet as a billionaire. Insider was not able to verify his wealth; the references in the headline and story were removed.