Searching for Titanic's Human Scale
May 29, 2004
Dr. Robert Ballard stands over plot maps of the Titanic shipwreck and discusses expedition strategy with the IFE and NOAA crews in the sonar lab onboard NOAA ship Ronald H. Brown, May 27, 2004.
Photograph by Bert Fox © National Geographic magazine
Of all the artifacts on the ocean floor near the wreck of Titanic, Dr. Robert D. Ballard has the highest hopes that his team will find and photograph pairs of shoes and a doll's head.
"It's symbolic of what I remember most," said the man who led the expeditions to discover and explore Titanic in 1985-86.
Such images remind Dr. Ballard and others aboard the research ship Ronald H. Brown about the human scale of the tragedy that broke Titanic in two and sent it to the bottom of the Atlantic in 1912.
The Ron Brown, flagship of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, is churning eastward at 12 knots. When it reaches the site of the shipwreck Sunday afternoon, Dr. Ballard intends to begin with a detailed photographic exploration of the bow. Afterward, he'll move on to the stern.
The catastrophic tearing and flattening of Titanic's stern section as it sank showered the ocean floor with debris. Much, particularly items of porcelain and leather, remained remarkably intact decades later.
"The bow looks like it is still under way, trying to get to New York City," Dr. Ballard said. "But at the stern, what you think about is death. It's a haunted house, a house of horrors."
Ballard's previous expeditions to Titanic found and photographed a pair of work boots. Their relative position ? about shoulder-length apart, heels in, toes out ? suggest they remained on someone's feet as the body came to rest on the ocean floor. Over the years, flesh and bone dissolved, leaving the microbe-resistant leather intact. A ceramic doll's head also resisted the ravages of time. Both artifacts call to mind the more than 1,500 deaths.
Dr. Ballard knows the cards may be stacked against him during the search. Thousands of artifacts have been removed by salvors, starting in 1987, and finding particular ones still undisturbed will prove a challenge.
Shortly after setting out from Boston, Dr. Ballard and his team began looking at old notes about the location of objects in the debris field. Unfortunately, some data are missing, Dr. Ballard said. Furthermore, he characterized his locator drawing as a "rubber map" ? one that might have to be stretched or twisted to be completely accurate because of its lack of precision. Objects could be fixed to a point on the globe only within several meters in 1985-86, compared with millimeters today, so the old map data are imperfect.
The Ron Brown's voyage has been relatively uneventful although the ship sounded its horn several times during a thick fog Friday morning as a warning to nearby vessels.
Routine fire and abandon-ship drills introduced the passengers to the potential hazards of life at sea. First-timers on the Ron Brown had to learn how to put on a "gumby suit" ? a rubbery neoprene jumpsuit designed to keep a person warm and afloat if the ship should sink.
"That'll keep you alive, even in the North Atlantic," Dr. Ballard joked as the newcomers toddled about the main deck in bright red suits like cartoon characters. "Unless a great white shark decides to take a bite out of you."
Dr. Ballard's scientific crew members met Friday to coordinate their schedules with each other and with the National Geographic team that is documenting the expedition. The National Geographic Channel's Return to Titanic is scheduled to give viewers live pictures from Titanic at 9 p.m. ET/PT Monday, June 7.
(Note: nationalgeographic.com does not research or edit dispatches.)
