Titanic & The Blue Rope Mystery
Now that the 99th anniversary of the sinking of Titanic has passed and we are into the centenary, the famous ship has managed to throw up yet another mystery. During the autumn of 2010, RMS Titanic Inc, an American group, went on an expedition with members of the WAITT Institute to the wreck site and reported on the mission. However, what they found managed to open a whole new light on the discovery of the wreck. The actual report is written below but was removed by RMS Titanic Inc’s Facebook daily wires when they realised how it affected them.
What has been responsible for all this is a length of blue rope. This would mean nothing to most people but for people involved in the type of work being conducted by the group, makes a huge difference. Quite simply, this type of rope is not generally used for this purpose. A second factor is also that this particular type of rope’s length is much longer than any manufacturers now make. All the manufacturers contacted about this were convinced that it must have been over thirty years old and the condition described matched their assessment of age. As any professional group marking a wreck site will always use new equipment and tackle of the right specification, this raises alarming questions about someone having been there before Dr. Robert Ballard in 1985. Photographs published in ‘The Observer’ newspaper a week after his supposed ‘find’ were also authenticated last year as being taken ‘no later than around 1980’ by an expert.
For many years there have been claims that Titanic was found and photographed at some point between 1977-1979 by a Royal Navy ship, HMS Hecate, and has not, to this day, been allowed to release this information. This is because it is being kept under the Official Secrets Act regulations. No other ship in history has been guarded by this for such a long time and it makes no sense to most people as if something is being hidden for a reason. Dr. Paul Lee is someone who has been able to confirm the story, via his website.
Douglas Faulkner-Woolley, a British man who is well known to Titanic enthusiasts, is often ignored by many or considered to be ‘eccentric’ by many people because of the way he conducts his business. Eccentric or not, he holds records of everything he has been part of to do with Titanic since the mid 1960s and not only does he have these involving what is often known as ‘The SOLLIS Project’, (something set up and performed by his group and Fathom-Line) but also papers proving his ownership of the famous wreck.
Arguments about salvage rights to artefacts have been going on for years. Mr. Faulkner-Woolley claims he is in a position to claim all artefacts as his own after as he says they become ‘part of the ship after sixty five years.’ He also has independent salvage claims and refuses to accept how an American group was able to be awarded any rights at all on a British registered ship in international waters when he was not informed about their claims.
Tim Coyle