After the sinking of the Titanic on April 15, 1912, the great ship rested at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean for more than 70 years before its remains were found.On September 1, 1985, a French American joint expedition, led by the famous American oceanographer Robert Ballard , found the Titanic more than two kilometers below the surface of the ocean by using a submersible Unmanned called Argo. This discovery gave new meaning to the sinking of the Titanic and inspired new dreams of ocean exploration.
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The sinking of the Titanic
Only three days after sailing, the Titanic crashed into an iceberg at 11:40 a.m.on April 14 from 1912, somewhere in the North Atlantic.Although the ship took two and a half hours to sink, the vast majority of the crew and passengers perished due to a significant lack of lifeboats and improper use of those that existed.
People from all over the world were surprised when they learned that the "unsinkable" Titanic had sunk and wanted to know the details of the catastrophe. However, As much as the survivors could tell, the theories about how and why the Titanic sank would remain baseless until the remains of the great ship were found.there was a problem: nobody was sure exactly where the Titanic had sunk.
Who is Robert Ballard?
Robert Ballard wanted to find the remains of the Titanic.Ballard had grown up in San Diego, California, near the coast, where he began his fascination with the ocean and where he learned to dive.After graduating from the University of California at Santa Barbara in 1965 with a degree in chemistry and geology , Ballard enrolled in the army.Two years later, in 1967, Ballard was sent to the Navy at Deep Submergence Group at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Research Institution in Massachusetts, thus beginning his career with the submersibles.
In 1974 Ballard I already had two doctorates (in marine geology and geophysics) from the University of Rhode Island and had spent a lot of time doing dives in deep water in a submersible manned called Alvin that he helped design.During some dives, in 1977 and 1979, near the Galapagos Islands, Ballard helped discover some hydrothermal sources, Around these sources grew unknown marine plants: the scientific study of these plants led to the discovery of the chemosynthesis, a process in which plants use chemical reactions instead of sunlight to obtain energy.
However, Ballard had a major challenge in his head: Find the Titanic.
Mission planning
Ballard was not the first to try to find the Titanic.There were several teams that had left to find the remains of the famous ship, three of which had been funded by the millionaire Jack Grimm .Last expedition in 1982, Grimm had taken a photo underwater of what he thought was a T-helix itanic (others believed it was just a rock).
Ballard decided to ask for funding for his expedition to the US Navy , and he succeeded, but not because the Navy had a special interest in the search for the Titanic, but because Ballard would create the necessary technology to help them later find and investigate the remains of two nuclear submarines (the USS Thresher and the USS Scorpion) that had been mysteriously lost in the 1960s.
However, Ballard kept it a secret this mission and how I build the technology necessary for this submarine, and I use it to find and explore the remains of the USS Thresher and the remains of the USS Scorpion.Besides, while Ballard was investigating these wrecks, he learned more about rubble fields, which gave him a idea of how to find the Titanic .
Completed his secret mission, Ballard was finally able to return to his search for the Titanic; however, while other teams had spent months searching in vain for the Titanic, Ballard now only had two weeks to do so.
Titanic Location
It was at the end of August 1985, when Ballard began his search for the Titanic.Ballard had invited a French research team, led by Jean-Louis Michel , to join to this expedition.On board the Navy oceanographic ship , the Knorr, Ballard and his team will head they went to the location where the Titanic was likely to rest, a thousand miles east of Boston, Massachusetts.
Previous expeditions had swept the ocean floor to search for the Titanic, but Ballard's team made even wider sweeps to try to cover even more space.
There were two things that Ballard had in favor of finding the Titanic.First, after examining the remains of the two submarines, he discovered that the ocean currents often displaced lighter pieces of the wrecks downstream, leaving a trail of debris.Second, Ballard had designed a new unmanned submersible , the Argo, that could explore wider areas, dive deeper, stay underwater d For several weeks, and deliver sharp and clear images of what he found.This meant that Ballard and his team could stay on board the Knorr and control the images of Argo, hoping to find small pieces of debris.
The Knorr arrived at the exploration zone on August 22, 1985 and began the sweeps using Argo.In the early hours of the morning of September 1, 1985, the Titanic after 73 years appeared on Ballard's screen.In his exploration at 12,000 feet below the surface of the ocean, the Argo transmitted the image of one of the boilers embedded in the sandy surface of the ocean floor.The Knorr was excited about the discovery, even though they knew they were floating on top of the graves of almost 1500 individuals.
The expedition proved to be fundamental for the clarification of the sinking of the Titanic.Before the discovery of the rest s of the ship there was some belief that the Titanic had sunk in one piece.The 1985 images they got did not offer researchers definitive information about the sinking of the ship; however, they helped establish some basic foundations to counter the first myths.
Later expeditions
Ballard returned to the Titanic in 1986, equipped with an even more advanced technology that allowed him to explore the interior of the ship in more detail.Images were collected that showed the remains of the beauty that had captivated those who had seen the Titanic at its peak.The grand staircase, the arana lamps that still hung from the ceilings and the beautiful cast iron works were photographed during Ballard's second expedition.
Since 1985, there have been several dozen expeditions to the Titanic.Many of these expeditions have been controversial because they used to extract hundreds of pieces from inside the ship.
Ballard spoke out against this practice, since he felt the ship deserved to rest in peace and during his two expeditions he decided not to bring anything found to the surface and felt that the others should respect the remains of it mode.
The Titanic on the screen
Although the Titanic has appeared in numerous movies over the years, it was the 1997 James Cameron movie that I stimulate mass interest throughout the world for the ship's destiny.The movie became one of the most popular movies of all time.
The 100th anniversary
The 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic in 2012 also boosted a renewed interest in the tragedy, 15 years after the Cameron movie.The place where the remains of the Titanic rest is now eligible to be considered a protected area as Heritage of Humanity of UNESCO, and Ballard is also working to preserve what remains.
On the other hand, an expedition carried out in August 2012 revealed that the increase in human activity has caused an acceleration of the demolition of the ship at a faster rate than expected.Ballard has a plan to stop the process or degradation: painting the Titanic while remaining 12,000 feet below the surface of the ocean.
The discovery of the Titanic was a momentous achievement, but now the world is in conflict about how Take care of this historic wreck.
If you liked this article, don't miss the incredible story of Violet Jessop, the woman who survived the Titanic, the Olympic and the Britannic.
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