Titanic: Museum bid to bring artefacts to Belfast fails

The Titanic sank in April 1912 with the loss of more than 1,500 lives

A consortium attempting to bring 5,500 salvaged artefacts from the Titanic to Belfast has been outbid for the items.

The current owners of the artefacts, Premier Exhibitions, are selling them after filing for bankruptcy in the United States.

A hedge fund consortium is reported to have made a rival bid of $19.5m (£15m) for the collection.

That is about $300,000 (£229,000) more than the amount museums from Belfast and London are jointly trying to raise.

However, the head of National Museums Northern Ireland (NMNI), Kathryn Thompson, said she had not given up hope of bringing the collection to Belfast.

Items from one of the ship's bathrooms are among the collection of 5,500 salvaged artefacts

A judge in the case has ruled that the collection must be sold as a whole.

Among the items from the ship, which sank in 1912 with the loss of more than 1,500 lives, are jewellery, photographs, diaries and even suitcases still packed with clothes.

The local bid has been made by a consortium including Royal Museums Greenwich, National Museums Northern Ireland, Titanic Belfast and Titanic Foundation Limited.

There are currently some items from the ship on display at the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum near Holywood in County Down.

Ms Thompson said that money was not the only element in the process.

"When we first put in a bid for the artefacts, we were the highest bidder," she said.

Kathryn Thompson said she had not given up hope of bringing the collection to Belfast

"One of the rival bids has now upped their value, which has topped where we're at, and we're going to consider our position over the next number of weeks along with our consortium partners."

She added that the strength of the bid to bring the collection to Belfast is that "we are providing a unique opportunity to bring these assets into public ownership".

"We believe that in public ownership we can protect them in the long term."

The Titanic was the world's largest passenger ship when it entered service

But what does she mean when she says that the UK consortium will now consider their position?

"We need to consider what we would be prepared to do in terms of being able to increase our bid and those are options that we are looking at together at the moment," she said.

However, a Titanic expert from Belfast said that it might be better for the city if the artefacts went on display elsewhere.

Professor John Wilson Foster from Queen's University, Belfast, has written three books about the ship.

"What happened to Titanic after she left Belfast is, in a sense, none of Belfast's business," he said.

Professor John Wilson Foster from Queen's University Belfast believes the artefacts should go on display elsewhere

"As this exhibition circulates the globe, we get a lot of publicity from this, and it's good publicity - not the publicity from the Troubles, so I'd be keen to see these artefacts keep going around the world."

He added: "There's a permanent exhibition in Las Vegas and one or two circulating the globe at any one time.

"In each city, Belfast is featured in a very positive way."

The fate of the Titanic is very well known.

The fate of the artefacts salvaged from it will become clear next month, when a decision will be made in the US on who the artefacts are sold to.