Go beyond the basics.
The Ship
- R.M.S stands for Royal Mail Steamer
- R.M.S. Titanic was operated by the White Star Cruise Line. It was built to compete with German ocean liners which were dominating the cruise line industry. The cruise line industry did more than offer vacations for the wealthy - it also brought workers to the United States for the growing U.S. economy.
- Manufacturer: Harland and Wolff, Ltd. in Belfast, Ireland.
- The fourth funnel was not operational; it was simply for aesthetic reasons.
- The cost for a first class ticket from England to New York cost $4,350, that would be about $70,000 today.
- Titanic was 882 feet 9 inches in length, 92 feet in width, 175 feet in height and weighed 46,328 tons.
- Titanic left Southampton, Britain, on April 10, 1912 with over 2,200 people on board.
The Message
- Jack Phillips, a wireless operator, received seven ice warnings, including one from the California just six miles away.
- Having not seen any ice, Captain Smith did not cut the speed. Titanic's wireless operators tried to contact the California, but much of the crew, including the wireless operator, had gone to sleep for the night rather than risk navigating through possible icebergs.
- CQD, the regulation international call for help, was sent but the closest ship, the Carpathia was 58 miles away.
The Collision
- At 11:40 p.m. lookout Fredrick Fleet spotted the iceberg and first officer Murdoch ordered the ship hard to port and the engines full astern. The ship was moving too fast and was too close and the starboard side brushed the iceberg.
- Most of the people on board barely felt the impact, some even slept through the whole thing. After inspecting the damage, the ship’s captain and the builder knew the impact was fatal.
- Approximately 700 survived
- Contrary to reports of the time and for many years after, there was not a big gash in the bow. Instead, it was a narrow but long separation of the hull plates.
- A fictional story was written in 1898 describing a large luxury liner hitting an iceberg in April. The name of the fictional ship was the Titan.
The Search for Titanic
1912
The first attempts to locate Titanic were based on the belief that Titanic sank as one big wreck. The first plan to find Titanic was hatched just five days after the sinking.
1913
In 1913 salvage firms were hired to try to raise the wreck. The firm correctly determined it would be impossible.
1953
The next serious attempt came in 1953 by a British salvage firm Risdon Beasley, Ltd. Using acoustic technology, they detonated underwater explosives thinking that low frequency acoustic pulses would “bounce” back to the salvage vessel’s hydrophones.
1981-1983
The next attempts were organized by Texas oilman Jack Grimm. Grimm used side-scan sonar making systematic grids over the last known location. Grimm’s team discovered 14 potential sites and despite two more attempts in 1981 and 1983, Titanic still eluded Grimm. While unsuccessful, Grimm’s hi-tech methodical approach laid the groundwork for finding the ship.
Finding Titanic
The Debris Field Officers Charles Lightoller and Herbert Pitman, and passengers Colonel Archibald Gracie and Lawrence Beesley were sure that Titanic sank intact. This became the accepted version of what happened. Working under the assumption that the ship did not sink intact but was instead broke in two, Dr. Ballard changed the parameters for searching for Titanic. Instead of searching for one 900 foot vessel, Ballard and his crew were going to search for two pieces and a large debris field.
The Discovery In 1984, Dr. Ballard was exploring the USS Thresher, a nuclear sub that sank off New England. The sub had broke in two and spread its contents on the sea floor. This find combined with Jack Thayer’s account solidified the belief that Ballard and his crew would be looking for a debris field.
At 12:48 a.m. on September 1, 1985, metallic objects started coming across the video monitors on board the research vessel Knorr. Shortly after 1 a.m., Argo, a camera sled, found a gigantic boiler. This was conclusive evidence that Argo had indeed found the Titanic.
Dr. Ballard got into Alvin in July of 1986 to investigate Titanic face-to-face. A photomosaic was created and a close up inspection was done of some of the interior sections of the bow and the catastrophic damage to the stern.
Return to Titanic
In 2004, Dr. Ballard made a return visit to Titanic with Remote Operated Vehicle Hercules. Originally this mission was going to asses the environmental decay of the Titanic and to find ways to preserve her.
Unfortunately, environmental factors were not the only factors affecting Titanic, but human impact was visible as well. Salvaging of artifacts and other bizarre tales including someone getting married on the bow led Dr. Ballard to make this mission more public in order to protect the Titanic from salvagers. R.M.S. Titanic Maritime Memorial Act of 1986 was signed by President Ronald Reagan and it urged that Titanic be turned into an international memorial. A draft agreement between Canada, France, the U.S. and Britain was created in 2000 but it wasn’t until 2003 that the British signed the international agreement. The U.S. government signed the agreement near the conclusion of the 2004 expedition.
Dr. Ballard likens Titanic to the Pyramids of Egypt. If Titanic—the most famous shipwreck—can be preserved from salvagers, so can other shipwrecks. Dr. Ballard’s ultimate goal is to create an underwater museum where cameras and telepresence can whet the public’s insatiable curiosity about Titanic without disturbing her.
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