For decades, the Titanic was lost with its secrets in the ocean, many tried to reach the wreck or even pull it up. One of the very first attempts was in 1914, when an architect proposed trying to pull the wreck up with electromagnets, but that didn’t work. Then many other ideas were proposed in the ’50s, ’60s, and ’70s, but all failed.
The wreck remained undiscovered for 73 years until September 1985, when a team led by American oceanographer Robert Ballard and Jean-Louis Michel of the French oceanographic organization IFREMER finally found the wreckage after finding the ship’s boilers, which led them to discover the wreckage itself.
Finding the ship was a great win, but the moment that truly brought the Titanic back to the public eye was when the very first video footage of the sunken wreckage was released on July 18, 1986, and for the first time in more than 70 years, people were looking at the remains of the ship.
“What people didn’t know at the time, at least a lot of the people, was that the Titanic search was cover for a top-secret military operation I was doing as a naval intelligence officer,” Ballard told CNN.
To reveal this footage, the team from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) had to travel nearly two and a half miles down into the ocean using a three-person submersible named Alvin. Then with a small, remotely operated vehicle (ROV) named Jason Jr. that was connected to the submarine by a fiber-optic tether, the team was able to navigate the interior of the ship and capture close-up shots of its structures, including the famous grand staircase.
“The discovery of the Titanic opened a new chapter in deep sea exploration, since the deep sea is the largest museum in the world with an estimated 3 million chapters of human history in its depths, most of which are waiting to be discovered by the next generation of underwater explorers.“ Ballard stated to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI)
In 2012, on the 100th anniversary of the Titanic’s sinking, Ballard announced an exhibit in Connecticut that shows the photos and talks about the incident.
In 2023, on the 25th anniversary of the film Titanic, WHOI released 80 minutes of footage from that same expedition, where people got to see more parts of the ship like the bow of the ship, and many interior spaces and rooms.
Having this footage helped people see the tragedy from a different perspective, honor the lives lost, and keep the history of the Titanic alive for generations to come.
Ask us! What questions do you have about content, strategy, pop culture, lifestyle, wellness, history or more? We may use your question in an upcoming article!
Like MediaFeed’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was syndicated by MediaFeed.co
