## Facts

- R.M.S. Titanic, Inc. (RMST) located the wreck of the R.M.S. Titanic in the North Atlantic and conducted ongoing salvage operations.
- RMST brought an in rem admiralty action in the Eastern District of Virginia concerning the wreck and recovered artifacts.
- The district court recognized RMST as salvor-in-possession and entered orders aimed at protecting RMST’s salvage efforts from interference.
- Third parties, including Haver and others, were alleged to have threatened or planned activities that would interfere with RMST’s work, including recovery and exhibition of Titanic artifacts without RMST’s consent.
- Portions of the district court’s orders purported to restrict third-party conduct at the wreck site in international waters and to control certain Titanic-related activities beyond U.S. territory.
- Third parties challenged the breadth of those orders, arguing they exceeded in rem admiralty jurisdiction and improperly reached conduct outside U.S. territorial waters.

## Issues

1. Whether an admiralty court exercising in rem jurisdiction over a wreck and artifacts may recognize a salvor-in-possession and protect ongoing salvage operations from interference.
2. Whether in rem admiralty jurisdiction permits injunctions that broadly restrict third parties’ conduct at a wreck site located outside U.S. territorial waters.
3. Whether salvor-in-possession status creates a general, property-like right to exclude the world from future exploration, salvage, or exploitation of a high-seas wreck, including foreign actors.

## Decision

- The Fourth Circuit affirmed the district court’s recognition of RMST as salvor-in-possession and its authority to protect salvage operations and artifacts within the court’s control.
- The court vacated or narrowed injunctive provisions that purported to impose broad, extraterritorial restraints on third parties’ conduct at the wreck site and elsewhere outside the court’s legitimate authority.
- The court rejected treating salvor-in-possession status as a worldwide monopoly over future access to, or activity at, the Titanic wreck.
- The case was remanded for injunctive relief tailored to the court’s in rem jurisdiction and consistent with limits on extraterritorial judicial power.

## Legal Principles

- A court in admiralty may recognize a salvor-in-possession where a salvor has undertaken substantial, ongoing salvage and has possession or effective control of recovered property subject to the court’s authority.
- In rem admiralty jurisdiction is tied to the res; court orders must be directed to protecting the res and the supervised salvage operation, not to regulating the high seas generally.
- Salvor-in-possession status confers priority and protection against interfering competing salvors, but it does not confer ownership of the wreck or an unlimited right to exclude all others worldwide.
- Injunctions affecting conduct outside U.S. territory are constrained by jurisdictional limits and principles of international comity, particularly where foreign persons or vessels and high-seas activity are involved.

## Conclusion

The Fourth Circuit permitted judicial protection of RMST’s supervised salvage as salvor-in-possession but held that admiralty in rem jurisdiction could not support sweeping, extraterritorial orders that effectively granted RMST a global exclusive franchise over a wreck located in international waters.


R.M.S. Titanic, Inc. v. Haver, 171 F.3d 943 (4th Cir. 1999)