There are records of more than 8,000 ships
that have sunk off the
east coast of the Americas, as well as an uncounted number in
the Pacific. But perhaps the most famous of these was the
Titanic.
The search for Titanic seemed to be a race for
who would find it first,
or if anyone ever would. It would be the Seas greatest Race,
where many cheated death to find Titanic.
Almost from the time the Titanic disappeared into the Atlantic
many planned and dreamed of locating and salvaging her.
Even as early on as the same year of the sinking,
J.Astor, Benjamin Guggenheim, and The Widener families
spoke with the Merritt and Chapman Wrecking company
with high hopes of a possible salvage of her.
In 1914 an article appeared in Popular Mechanics predicting that
one day the children of victims would see photos of the wreckage.
But it wasn't until 50 years later that our technology progressed
to actually make the search and salvage possible.
Most that had the dream of finding her, had no idea what they would
do with her once they did, beyond looting her of anything of value.
Some dreamed of raising her and virtually having a floating museum,
They dreamed of a wreck that was untouched by decay.
Theories had shown that with no oxygen at the depth where she laid,
the temperature would be cold enough to prevent decomposition
of many things, including human bodies. In spite of all the dreams
and speculations it wasnt until July 1980 , 68 years later before
a research vessel set out in attempts to find her resting place.
38 crew including 20 scientists and writer William Stephenson
set sail for their journey. The expedition was the idea
of film producer Mike Harris but its chief backer was
Texas Oil Millionaire Jack Grimm also known as Cadillac Jack.
He had previously financed searches for Big Foot,
Loch Ness Monster, and Noah's Ark.
Unfortunately the expedition had a bad start with
stormy weather, and bad weather conditions.
After 45 days on the search low on fuel and food
they headed back to the United States.
Jack Grimm didnt give up though,
he returned again in July 1981 feeling certain
this time he would find the ship, and even more sure the
ship was still in tact. the trip again proved unsuccessful.
.
In September of 1985 a Joint French-American
team
began their search for the ship that seemed out of reach
forever. After a month in the search area and turning up nothing
big enough to be the wreckage, Ballard decided to give up the French
sonar search strategy and decided to use a visual form of exploration
by using his underwater camera vehicle "Argo" now instead of
ooking for a large piece of wreckage they would now look for a
one mile long train of debris. With a time shortage and only one
small area that had been missed by the French due to bad weather,
Ballard and his Co Leader Jean-Louis Michel had just about lost all hopes
of finding the great ship. They expanding their search eastward of where
lifeboats had been found and began quickly raking over everything
in site. Then shortly after midnite on September 1, 1985 pieces of man
made wreckage began to appear to them on the video screens!
could it be?
at 1:05 A.M
All of a sudden they were faced with a large object,
One of the Titanics 20 boilers!
Within the next few hours, the search was over, they had
found the Most Famous Ship since The
Ark!
A boiler appeared that could only have belonged
to Titanic,
It filled the screens! As it turned out the wreck "was" in the
tiny corner of the original search area. They now were the
first to see Titanic in almost 73
years!
They had found the final resting place of the:
R.M.S.
Titanic
Titanic was found 350 miles from New Foundland,
at a depth of 13,000 ft. over 200 miles below
the oceans surface. She was found 13½ miles
Southeast of the position where her
last distress call came from.
When Dr. Ballard finally released the information
of the location of the ship,
He recorded her coordinates as follows:
Stern section rests on the ocean floor
at 41o43'35" N, 49o56'54" W,
Boilers at 41o43'32" N, 49o56'49" W,
Bow at 41o43'57" N, 49o56'49" W.
With tons of videotape, and thousands of
photos Ballard returned to Woods Hole to an enormous welcome and international
publicity. The Titanic discovery made him literally famous overnight. Because
of this he was able to set up a 2nd expedition with the sole purpose of exploring
the wreck and surrounding area and testing his underwater video technology.
Over a period of 12 days, 10 dives were made to the ship in the submersible
Alvin. With the remote camera
Jason Junior taking video footage of the wreck site.
And the story of Titanic 83 years later ,after she was lost
to the ocean would now begin to unfold.
Dr. Robert Ballard
{ oceanographer & marine biologist}
with the "Woods Hole Oceanographic
Institution."
.
.
What
Happened?
"After the stern rose out of the water the ship broke in two,
at the surface, as many witnesses had reported ,
seperating between the 3rd and 4th funnels.
The section of the ship aft of this point contained
engine rooms and was too heavy to remain intact.
The break occured at a weak point in the structure
caused by large open spaces, including the Grand Staircase.
As the ship plunged to the bottom , the three remaining funnels
were swept away, taking most of the rigging with them.
As cables dragged across the boat deck, they knocked away
most of the davits and a good deal of other equipment.
The bow still structurally intact, then glided to the bottom at
an angle striking the floor nose first and burying sixty feet into
the silt. As this pat settled, plates buckled and ruptured along
both sides. The aft part of the bow bent slightly, while the
firepeak remained buried in the mud at a sharper angle.
Meanwhile the stern section unlike the bow, had not fully
filled with water so it plunged straight down.
The incoming water forced out the air, wreaking havoc and
damage. The poop deck which formed the roof over
the 3rd class lounge and smoking room, was torn open
and folded back. The stern hit bottom hull first landing
with such force that the decks accordianed down on top
of one another, sides of the hull bulging outward.
The Bow and stern were found almost 2000 ft. apart.
Debris from the ship was scattered more than 1/2 of a mile along
the sea floor. Objects that fell to the floor from the ship when
she broke in two such as bedsprings, dishes, bottles, basins,
window frames, light fixtures, and hundreds of other objects.
Contrary to what many thought, the ocean did not preserve Titanic
from decay, soft materials such as cloth, paper and most woods were
eaten away, the wood decking and furniture were almost all gone,
as were human remains that once scattered the bottom of the
ocean floor. Only a few pair of shoes spared by the sea
indicated bodies once had rested there.
 |
.... |
None the less the wreckage remained
in a very remarkable
state of preservation, a fascinating underwater museum.
Despite attempts by the US Congress to prevent looting of
the wreckage in 1987 an American and European expedition
dove to the site and took hundreds of objects from the
debris field. Bottles, dishes, an empty safe, luggage,
and a statue of a cherub from the Grand Stair case.
Even the crows nest's bell was pulled from
the mast,
collapsing the crows nest in the process.
This expedition caused an outcry of protest
from
around the world. Of the few remaining survivors Eva Hart
who was 7 years old on Titanic became the most outspoken.
"To bring up those things from a mass sea grave
just to make a few thousand pounds
shows a dreadful insensitivity and greed,
The grave should have been left alone .
They are simply going to do it as fortune hunters,
vultures,pirates!"
The US senate responded by passing a bill which forbade
the sale or display for profit of any Titanic salvage
in the United States.
Ballards memorial plaque
he left at the wreck site.
Nautile: Inner-Space Capsule
Nautile visited the Titanic for the first
time in 1987,
recovering the first Titanic artifacts.
The Nautile dives at 100 feet per minute,
making the trip to reach Titanic
take more than 2 hours.
The nautile holds 3 people, and the journey is a very
dangerous one. As dangerous as landing on the moon.
A microscopic sized hole in the vessel,
could cause the crew to vaporize within mili- seconds!
Most images taken of the wreck came from the
television
and still cameras mounted on robotic type arms outside the vessel.
One of the first things sited after 75 years was the Bow section,
Bow Section
.
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Bow Railing
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.
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The Stern
.
They discovered a hole in the starboard side,
30 ft way above the ice bergs reach.
They found that she was remarkably preserved,
and in most places paint still on the wood.
(Bench from The Deck)
.
Among Some of the first of the several thousand
objects removed from the wreckage in 1987 & 1993
included, china, plates, cups, glasses, etc.
Bottles on the oceans
floor
I saw several bottles at the exhibition I attended,
and it was amazing that under such pressure the
corks remained in tact on so many.
There were even contents still inside some
of the jars, bottles etc.
This Cherub Statue
once adorned the First Class Grand Staircase,
and was raised in the 1987 expedition.
.
Titanic's Decks
(as seen down the First Class
stairwell)
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To View more photographs
Please see The
Photo
Gallery
.
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