Elation, Satisfaction, and Hope
June 10, 2004
The bow of the Titanic photographed in high-definition video on 6/1/2004 by the ROV Hercules.
Video image © Institute for Exploration/University of Rhode Island
It'll take some time to sort through and analyze the video and still-frame photographs taken during the Return to Titanic expedition, but Dr. Robert D. Ballard says his preliminary observations are hopeful. Titanic does not appear to be deteriorating as rapidly as he had been led to believe before the expedition, he said.
"They're saying it's collapsing from the rear forward," he said of Titanic's bow section. "Possibly. But I think sub damage has occurred. The problem is the sub damage is in the main places. They want to get down the Grand Staircase, so they land there."
Submersibles damage the deck during landings, he said. They also bump the ship. Dr. Ballard noted the collapse of the walls of Capt. E.J. Smith's cabin and what he believes is sub damage to Chief Officer Henry Wilde's room, both at the rear of the bridge. However, he said it is difficult to tell how much of the collapse was due to impacts instead of natural decay.
"If you look from the bridge forward, I saw no change, other than one landing spot and the destruction of the mast," he said. He believes the mast was damaged when the crow's nest and bell were removed, although some microbial damage also is evident.
Aft, he saw no change in the openings where the funnels stood.
The stern doesn't look different at all, he said. As he compares the photographs taken by the remotely operated vehicle Hercules and its tow sled Argus with the painting of the stern section by Titanic artist Ken Marschall, he said he finds them "identical."
"Why? Well, no one lands on the stern," he said. It's too torn up.
Dr. Ballard said it would be interesting to see Titanic again in 20 years and study how much has changed.
As he heads for home, he said he will always look back on his return to Titanic and think, "What a visit!"
He said he accomplished about 99 percent of what he set out to do. He would have liked to have sent the ROV Little Hercules down the Grand Staircase, but was prevented from doing so by a NOAA ruling aimed at preserving the shipwreck. NOAA Capt. Craig McLean called it a "look, but don't touch" expedition. In addition, Dr. Ballard never found the doll's head he photographed in 1986, or one similar.
Dr. Ballard said he expects to keep with his personal tradition and raise a broom on the mast by the flags as the NOAA ship Ronald H. Brown approaches the pier at Woods Hole, Massachusetts. The broom only goes up when the expedition performs a "clean sweep" of objectives.
Those objectives ? which included mapping and mosaicing the bow and stern, testing the power of remotely operated vehicles to create "telepresence," assessing decay and damage, and photographing Titanic's human scale ? were accomplished despite a series of setbacks. Hercules's tether, never tested at this depth, repeatedly failed. A low pressure system off the coast of Newfoundland kept generating rough seas that jerked Argus in the water. And the 11 days on the site of Titanic's grave required the science crew to rush its work and hope for good weather.
Storms kept Hercules and Argus out of the water for a total of about a day. Dr. Ballard said his plans had allowed for two. He was elated when the weather cleared and allowed for long dives.
"I slept about four hours a day," Dr. Ballard said. "I'll start sleeping again now."
Soon, he expects to begin work on an exhibit at Mystic Aquarium based on his findings. His science team will fiddle with the exploration vehicles to try to improve them. Wednesday, he cranked out the first 1,000 words of an article about this voyage.
All in all, it has been a satisfying journey to Titanic, he said, particularly when so many things that could have gone wrong, went right.
"She let me in," he said of Titanic at the bottom of the fickle North Atlantic, as if the ship had human qualities. "I had a real sense, when the weather went flat, that she let me in."
(Note: nationalgeographic.com does not research or edit dispatches.)
