Jan, the joint U.S.-French team , led by Dr. Bob Ballard of the Wood's Hole Oceanographic Centre, located Titanic in 1985 and, following a subsequent expedition in 1986, the team left a commemorative plaque requesting that the site be left undisturbed as a memorial to the dead.
In 1987, a controversial salvage operation set up as a limited partnership retrieved a number of artifacts, including the bell, from Titanic and exhibited them in Paris. The venture was subsequently sold to a company called RMS Titanic Inc. (here we go .....)
In 1994, a U.S. district court gave RMS Titanic Inc. sole authority over the salvage and ownership of any items recovered from the Titanic based on a legal precept called salvor-in-possession rights. This company has made six expeditions to the site and recovered more than 6,000 artifacts claiming the salvaged items are for exhibition only.
Following a questionable recovery operation it is rumored that the bell of HMS Repulse was acquired by a Japanese banking consortium. However, in 2002 an authorised team of Royal Navy and British civilian divers recovered the bell of HMS Prince of Wales in response to fears it would be stolen by unauthorised divers. The bell is now on display at the Merseyside Maritime Museum in Liverpool.
