Mystic Aquarium & Institute for Exploration

In June of 2004, nearly 20 years after first finding the sunken remains of the R.M.S. Titanic, marine explorer Dr. Robert Ballard returned to help the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) study the ship’s rapid deterioration.

A professor of oceanography at the University of Rhode Island (URI) and director of its Institute for Archaeological Oceanography, Dr. Ballard and scientists from NOAA, Mystic Aquarium & Institute for Exploration (MAIFE) and other institutions spent 11 days at the site, mapping the ship and conducting scientific analyses of its deterioration.

“We know Titanic has been naturally deteriorating over time, but I’m convinced that the deterioration is being accelerated by manmade impacts as well,” said Dr. Ballard, president of the Institute for Exploration at Mystic Aquarium and Explorer-in-Residence at the National Geographic Society. “The 1986 photo mosaic of the ship that we published in National Geographic magazine will serve as a baseline for comparative studies to determine the level of degradation that has occurred since  then.”

The expedition, funded primarily by NOAA and working aboard the NOAA research vessel Ronald H. Brown, used Dr. Ballard’s remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) to conduct a more sophisticated documentation of the state of Titanic than was possible in the 1980s. National Geographic is also a funder of the expedition.

Under the direction of Dr. Ballard, the Mystic Aquarium & Institute for Exploration (MAIFE) developed a unique new collection of underwater vehicles dedicated to marine archaeology surveying for use in the Titanic and future expeditions. Three robots, named Argus, Little Hercules (Little Herc) and Hercules were used to survey the wreck of the Titanic. Argus served as the “tow sled” that hangs on a cable connected to the ship to maneuver the Remote Operated Vehicles (ROVs). Little Herc gathered underwater video and artifacts from the Titanic. It is an unmanned vehicle, but its cameras allow the pilot aboard the ship to visit the wreck as though the pilot were there. Hercules was anchored to the ocean floor and used an underwater manipulator arm to excavate and transmit images back from the site.

“As the nation’s ocean agency, NOAA has an interest in the scientific and cultural aspects of Titanic,” said Capt. Craig McLean, director of NOAA’s Office of Ocean Exploration. “NOAA’s focus was to build a baseline of scientific information from which we can measure the scientific processes and deterioration of Titanic, and apply that knowledge to many other deepwater shipwrecks and submerged cultural resources.”

In 1985, Dr. Ballard discovered the remains of Titanic in over 12,000 feet of water off the Grand Banks of Newfoundland. He returned to the site in 1986 with a National Geographic Society film crew. Since then, RMS Titanic, Inc. has obtained the rights to conduct salvage operations at the site, and has recovered more than 6,000 artifacts. Several tour companies and movie producers have also visited the site in manned submersible vehicles.

In 2001, NOAA issued “Guidelines for Research, Recovery and Salvage of RMS Titanic,” including a general principle that activities should have minimum adverse impact on Titanic and its artifacts.

“I believe that the world’s oceans are the museums of the deep and that it is in the interest of all peoples to protect and conserve both wrecks of recent history as well as submerged sites of antiquity for future generations,” Dr. Ballard said. “It was important to return to Titanic to assess the state of the ship and help determine its future.”

In addition to mapping Titanic, expedition goals included microbial research by scientist Roy Cullimore, who studied the natural deterioration of the ship’s hull caused by tiny microbes that feed on iron and create icicle -shaped formations called “rusticles.”  While rusticles have been observed for many years, little is known about them. Most of the wood on the ship has been eaten by mollusks that feed on organic matter, and natural environmental conditions at the site, such as pressure, temperature and salinity, have also caused the ship’s remains to degrade.