Graham Jessop, son of famous Keighley-born diver Keith "Goldfinder" Jessop, has been appointed official "guardian" of the wreck of the Titanic.

He has been given the job of recovery manager by RMS Titanic Inc, the company responsible for the historical preservation of the luxury liner.

The announcement was made as it was finally confirmed that Graham, 42, has found the wreck of the Carpathia - the ship famed for rescuing hundreds of survivors from the Titanic.

He has even bought the remains of the Carpathia, which means, just like the Titanic, others are prevented from plundering the wreck for private individual gain.

A spokesman for Graham said: "We were hampered by bad weather but ROV (Remote Observation Vehicle) pictures confirm we have found the Carpathia."

This week Graham was understood to be in Atlanta, where he is preparing to dive in a special submarine next week to examine the Titanic.

Added the spokesman: "Graham's appointment means he is in charge of all underwater operations for RMS Titanic Inc. He will be travelling the world to other historic wrecks in their care."

Graham was with his father, Keith, in 1981, when he found the wreck of HMS Edinburgh in the Arctic Ocean and raised £44 million-worth of Russian gold, which sank with her during the Second World War.

This week Keith said: "I am absolutely delighted for him. He has not only found the Carpathia but has also been given this extremely important post of recovery manager with RMS Titanic Inc. It is another tremendous feather in the cap for Keighley."

Mr Jessop's company was contracted by NUMA - the National Underwater Marine Agency - to find the Carpathia. NUMA is a non-profit-making organisation which finds historic wrecks all over the world simply to film and record them. It does not salvage the wrecks.

The ROV was launched from the Ocean Venture, a vessel owned by Oceanpoint UK, set up by Keighley businessmen Billy Skelton and David Wingate, with Graham as a co-director.

It finally found the Carpathia lying in 600ft of water, around 185 miles west of Land's End, in the Atlantic Ocean.

The 13,000-tonne Cunard ship picked up a distress signal from the Titanic in 1912. Captain Arthur Rostron pushed the ship's speed to 17 knots - two knots faster than its believed capacity - to reach the stricken liner.

She rescued all of the Titanic's survivors.

Six years later the Carpathia was hit by two torpedoes fired by the German submarine U55. Five people died, but 215 escaped.

Titanic, weighing approximately 46,000 gross tonnes, set off on it's maiden voyage, carrying more than 2,220 passengers, from the docks of Southampton, in early April, 1912.

While the ship was speeding towards New York City, it struck an iceberg about 153km south of the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, only minutes before midnight, on April 14, 1912. The Titanic was swallowed by the sea in less than three hours. In the end, 1,513 out of the 2,220 passengers perished in the freezing ocean water.

RMS Titanic Inc was granted salvor-in-possession rights to the wreck of the Titanic by a United States Federal Court order in 1994, reconfirmed again in 1996.

The court award includes the exclusive rights to own objects recovered from the Titanic wreck site and the exclusive rights to photograph Titanic.

The company was formed for the purpose of exploring the wreck and surrounding ocean areas.

It can also obtain oceanographic material and scientific data and uses that data and retrieved artifacts for historical verification, scientific education and public awareness.

Opinion p10

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