THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Tuesday, April 30, 1996                TAG: 9604300294
SECTION: FRONT                    PAGE: A1   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: BY MARC DAVIS, STAFF WRITER 
DATELINE: NORFOLK                            LENGTH: Medium:   89 lines

A SKEPTIC MAKES WAVES OVER RAISING THE TITANIC HIS RIVAL SAYS ALL HE NEEDS IS MONEY - AND A JUDGE'S PERMISSION.

This summer, George Tulloch hopes to raise the Titanic, literally. Only two things stand in his way.

One is money. Tulloch says he will get it by selling cruise tickets to gawkers and lumps of Titanic coal to collectors. His critics are dubious.

Then Tulloch, a New York businessman, must get past a federal judge in Norfolk.

On Monday, Tulloch laid out in court a grand plan to raise a 33-foot chunk of the Titanic's hull, and enough cash to finance the operation. He is the only court-approved salvager of the historic wreck.

But at the same hearing, a California film producer tried to squash Tulloch's plan. The producer, John A. Joslyn, says he wants to salvage the Titanic this summer, and that his rival can't possibly raise enough money to do the job.

At stake is a potential fortune in film, photo and book rights. And while the historic artifacts themselves cannot be sold, they can perhaps bring millions more in exhibitions.

Joslyn is asking Judge J. Calvitt Clarke Jr. to revoke Tulloch's status as ``salvor in possession'' of the Titanic, a right that Tulloch won in 1994 from the same judge in the same court.

On the witness stand, Tulloch described in some detail how giant airbags would lift a chunk of the Titanic's hull from 2 1/2 miles down on the ocean floor. The section weighs between 5 and 25 tons.

An associate described how enormous floodlights would illuminate the sunken ship while video cameras relayed color pictures to hundreds of spectators on two cruise ships.

And Tulloch said he has already raised about $50,000 selling chunks of Titanic coal, recovered during a 1994 expedition, for $25 each.

He also claimed that he has raised about $2 million by selling tickets to two cruises from New York and Boston. The cruises would include three days at the site of the sinking and cost $1,600 to $6,600 per passenger.

But if Tulloch cannot pull off the salvage expedition, the cruises are off. To keep the expedition alive, he must pay big cash advances in June and July for equipment and crew.

``I'm confident that our marketing partner . . . will pay the $400,000 on June 20 and the $420,000 on July 15 from the earned receipts we have already received,'' Tulloch testified.

But a lawyer for rival Joslyn, Lawrence Cohen, said he doubts that Tulloch's plan will ever happen.

``Their story is like the Broadway musical by Burt Bacharach, `Promises, Promises,' '' Cohen told the judge.

The Titanic clash played out in a huge, velvet-draped, virtually empty courtroom. There were almost no spectators. As Tulloch spelled out his grandiose plan, only the judge, four lawyers, three news reporters and a few court employees were there to hear it.

The ``unsinkable'' Titanic sank on its maiden voyage after hitting an iceberg in the north Atlantic Ocean on April 15, 1912. About 1,500 passengers and crew were killed.

The wreck was discovered on the ocean floor in 1985. Since then, Tulloch has led salvage dives in 1987, 1993 and 1994, raising more than 3,600 artifacts. Those items were displayed at the National Maritime Museum in England in 1994 and 1995, breaking attendance records. About 750,000 people visited and Tulloch's company got about $700,000 from the exhibition.

But Tulloch's grander plan of a world tour on a floating exhibition barge has yet to happen. In 1994, Tulloch said he expected the artifacts would come to Norfolk in a 1996 tour.

Now Tulloch says he'll need $13 million to build the floating museum. He said most of the money will come from the British government and Barclays Bank. In court papers, Tulloch says the barge will tour the world for 10 years, showing its treasures in 40 or 50 cities.

Joslyn said it is all wishful thinking. He said Tulloch can't possibly raise enough money for an expedition this summer.

Neither man has any connection to Norfolk, nor does the Titanic. It lies about 400 miles off the coast of Newfoundland. The case wound up here because Norfolk is the premiere maritime court on the East Coast.

The hearing will continue one or two more days. The judge probably will not rule immediately. ILLUSTRATION: A full-page ad touts chunks of coal, to be sold at $25 each, to

finance the salvage effort.

George Tulloch

John Joslyn

KEYWORDS: LAWSUIT by CNB