The Begining Of A Dream

In 1967 Robert Ballard was a young member of the Boston Sea Rovers. A group of people who loved the ocean, and liked underwater exploring.

At the university of Hawaii he did post graduate work in marine geology, but to help pay his expenses by working as a porpoise trainer at Sea Life Park. He wasn't able to finish though because he was called into the U.S. Navy.

In 1967 he and his wife loaded whatever they could in their tiny little car, and headed for Woods Hole, Massachsetts, on Cape Cod. There he was assigned to the Deep Submergence Group at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

He first thought it would be possible to find Titanic in 1973. No one had even looked for her till then when he was a member of the Alvin team. Unfortunately Alvin could only dive to 6,000 feet, and since the average of the deep ocean was about 12,00 feet Alvin would not make it. The Navy however decided to give Alvin a new stronger hull made out of a very stronger metal called titanium alloy. This would make alvin's hull strong enough to handle massive underwater pressures, which would allow them to reach depths of 13,000 feet. They called this project, Project Titanus. In August of 1985, he and his French partner Jean-Louis Michel set out on the french ship Le Suroit determined to find Titanic.Using a brand new sonar tracking instrument called SAR.  After a long six weeks they had still found nothing. They then switched from the Le Suroit to the Knorr. After not finding Titanic after six weeks, he decided that a new search was needed.

As Titanic fell in deep water In April of 1912 she had a trail of debris that setteled on the bottom of the ocean floor. Looking for this debris field would make finding Titanic easier. They were using a new device called Argo. Instead of using sonar, Argo used only video cameras. For several days they searched for Titanic with no results, and time was running out. They had only five more days to find Titanic.

Just after midnight on September 1st he was in his bunk getting a little rest, when all of a sudden he heard a loud comotion coming from the control room, and he got up to investigate. What he had found was that they had located oneof Titanics huge boilers. 

Finally at last their hunt was almost over. The R.M.S. Titanic lay somewhere very close. The crew of knorr had a few moments of silence for those who parished the night Titanic sank into the Atlantic ocean. They then raised the Harland & Wolff flag in memory to the passengers and crew of the Titanic. After many days, and many sweeps with Argo, there was a huge storm coming, and they had to start in. They had some clear pictures of Titanic...But there would be another day.

The date was July 13,1986. Ballard was on a new ship called Atlantis 2. Again they used Alvin.

As ballard began to climb down into the tiny submarine, he thought about the adventure that lied before him. Along with Alvin Ballard was using a remote controlled robot called J.J. (Jason Junior), and they began their 2 & 1/2 mile desent to where Titanic lay like a ghost ship. Two and a half hours later they reached the ship they thought were unsinkable.

There was some debate in the past wether the ship actually broke in two, but as Ballard came closer he could see that the stern was in fact missing. The first visit to Titanic was not so good because they had technical problems with Alvin. The very next day they attempted another visit. A team of experts worked through the night to get Alvin in tip top shape by the next morning, and so they made a second trip down to Titanic.

The bow of the ship had huge rusticles hanging from it, the wood planking was completely gone.

They safely landed on the forward deck, and sent J.J. to explore the inner decks of Titanic.

The next day they landed on the deck next to the grand staircase. In the past it had been covered by a glass dome. Now the dome was gone, and the roof caved in where the dome used to be. They again sent J.J. to explore the Grand Staircase. Everything that J.J. was seeing they were seeing on their video screen. As J.J. went deeper the men in the sub noticed something in the distance. They had found the chandelier.

This had been an eventful visit for the crew, but now they had used up all their time, and had to start back to the surface.

The date was July 18, and they had decided it was time to visit the stern of the ship, so they traveled the 1,970 feet to where the stern lay. Along the way they saw many things in the debris field. Including a safe that had been on Titanic when she went down.

As they were headed for the stern they noticed something very strange. Two pairs of boots where bodies used to lay. Any bones that might have been there has long since dissolved by the salt water. Then it really hit home....They were looking down on the graves of the poor victims of the wreck of Titanic, their bodies long gone.

As they reached the stern they could plainly see that it had more damage to it than the bow section of the ship

Their pilot to land the sub under Titanic's huge propellers. A very dangerous and risky move. If a piece of the wreckage were to fall they surly would have been hurt, but their pilot was a professional, so he probably knew exactly what he was doing.

There was not much here to see. The propellers like bow was burried deep in the mud. Forty-five feet or so. They stayed for a few minutes looking at the hull, and the rudder that was also burried deep in the mud. They finally decided to leave. It was time to let theTitanic and all her ghost passengers rest in peace, but before they left, they placed a plaque on the stern in memory of those unfortunate souls that died on the Titanic.

This had been a very productive dive. Now it was time to let her sleep again 12,460 feet below the serface of the water.

Copyright © 2004 Lisa Morris