![]() But the ship had surely drifted during the more than two hours it took to sink. The Titanic’s crew had relayed the ship’s location after striking the iceberg-about 400 miles south of Newfoundland, Canada. But where exactly was the Titanic? Nobody was sure. Reading these poignant stories, Ballard became more determined to find the wreck. In the years following the disaster, survivors shared their terrifying memories: the haunting cries they heard as the ship sank, their hours of frozen terror in the lifeboats, their tears of relief when, at dawn, the ship Carpathia arrived to rescue them. Even after the collision, it might have been possible to save all the passengers, but the ship carried only enough lifeboats for half those on board. The Titanic’s crew had been warned that icebergs lurked in the ship’s path, yet the captain kept the ship steaming across the ocean at close to top speed. By the late 1970s, Ballard had spent more time in deep-sea submersibles than almost any other human. He went to college to become an oceanographer-a scientist who studies the sea. But Ballard was more interested in what was happening underneath the waves. One of them was Robert Ballard.Īs Ballard was growing up in Southern California, his friends loved to surf. Their achievement inspired a new generation of undersea explorers. They didn’t see much, but their submersible withstood the water pressure and the men made it back to the surface alive. They descended 7 miles down into the murky blackness. Then, in 1960, two researchers in a submersible-a tiny, submarine-like vehicle called the Trieste-reached the deepest known part of the ocean on Earth, a region in the Pacific Ocean known as Challenger Deep. The most important was a technology called sonar, which uses sound waves to create images of objects underwater. Do not reproduce without permission.In the following decades, new inventions slowly opened the deep sea to exploration. Related Article: 10 Things to Know About James Cameron, Who Was Born on This Day in 1954 The same could not be said for the stern, which was described to be severely damaged. When the wreck was located, the bow and the stern sections of the passenger liner were located around a third of a mile apart.īetween the two, it was the Titanic's bow that was clearly recognizable in the photos taken of the wreck, according to Britannica. Only the Titanic's Bow was Clearly Recognizable When It was FoundĪs previously mentioned, the Titanic split into two during the fateful night that it sank. Read Also: USS Indianapolis Sank on This Day in 1945 After Delivering the Internal Components of the Atomic Bomb Dropped on Japan 5. The National Geographic points out in its article that the wreck was found during "a secret United States Navy investigation of two wrecked nuclear submarines." It should be noted that this took place as the Cold War was going on. ![]() The Titanic Wreck was Found During a Secret US Navy Mission In Robert Ballard's case, he had actually called his mother to inform her that he had successfully located the Titanic wreck.Īccording to CNN, Ballard said that "his mother predicted he'd never be able to escape that 'rusty old boat' when he called to tell her he'd located the famous shipwreck in 1985."Īs it turned out, he became best known as "the man who found Titanic." 4. When you make a life-changing discovery, chances are one of the first people you'd inform is your family. Robert Ballard's Mother Told Him He'd Never Escape the 'Rusty Old Boat' It confirmed the fact that the ship had split into two when it sank. The body of the Titanic was not discovered until the next day. Per History, "was investigating debris on the ocean floor when it suddenly passed over one of the Titanic's massive boilers, lying at a depth of about 13,000 feet." The Titanic's Boilers were the First to be Foundīallard and Michel used an unmanned submersible called the Argo to locate the Titanic. ![]() Robert Ballard may have successfully found the wreck of the Titanic on September 1, 1985, but it was actually not his first attempt at locating it.Īccording to an article by History, his first search for the wreck took place in 1977, which obviously failed. The Successful Search was Actually Robert Ballard's Second Attempt at Finding the Titanic Here are five interesting facts about it that you may not know about: 1. ![]()
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