Planned attempt to retrieve Marconi radio equipment from the radio room of the RMS Titanic as being discussed.

The company with sole rights to salvage artefacts from the RMS Titanic has gone to court to gain permission to carry out a “surgical removal and retrieval” of the Marconi radio equipment on the ship, a Washington Post article reports.

The Titanic sank in 1912 on its maiden voyage after striking an iceberg in the North Atlantic. As the radio room filled with water, radio operator Jack Phillips transmitted, “Come at once. We have struck a berg. It’s a CQD, old man,” and other frantic messages for help, using the spark transmitter on board. CQD was ultimately replaced with SOS — which Phillips also used — as the universal distress call. The passenger liner RMS Carpathia responded and rescued 705 of the passengers.

As might be expected, the deteriorating Marconi equipment is in poor shape after more than a century underwater. The undersea retrieval would mark the first time an artefact was collected from within the Titanic, which many believe should remain undisturbed as the final resting place of some 1,500 victims of the maritime disaster, including Phillips. The wreck sits on the ocean floor some 2 1/2 miles beneath the surface, remaining undiscovered until 1985.

More Information - http://www.arrl.org/news/view/undersea-expedition-planned-to-retrieve-titanic-s-radio-gear