Undersea expedition to showcase advances in technology, science
In a live national broadcast June 7, the University of Rhode Island professor
who discovered the R.M.S. Titanic will return to observe the extent of the ship’s
deterioration in the hopes of paving the way for the adoption of ground rules
governing underwater salvage.
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Dr. Robert Ballard, a professor of oceanography and director of URI’s Institute for Archaeological Oceanography, located the wreck in 1985 and first visited the site a year later with a small submersible. Nearly two decades later, Ballard, who has also discovered the resting places of PT 109, the Lusitania and the Bismarck, has seen his name become forever linked to the Titanic.
Whether or not he wants to, Ballard hears the rumors about rogue salvage operations, or the story of a couple who were married on the ship’s bow 12,000 feet below the Atlantic. And the wreck’s discovery always leads off his list of accomplishments, and is the first thing others mention about him at dinner parties.
Ballard announced plans for a return trip in mid-April, on the 92nd anniversary of the ship’s sinking. The National Geographic Channel will broadcast a live feed from the ship to close out the June 7 one-hour program, “Return to Titanic” (which begins at 9 p.m.).
At its core, Ballard stresses that the Titanic’s history has always been a human story, long before Hollywood got its hands on the tale. Though he said he has always seen himself first as a scientist and engineer, he said it is impossible to remain emotionally detached when exploring a wreck and finding shoes, or a child’s doll – all that is left behind after a body decomposes.
“It hits you hard,” he said, whether it’s the boots of German soldiers on the Bismarck or woman’s shoes near baby’s shoes on the Lusitania.
The primary goal of the trip is to map the Titanic’s exterior and then compare the ship’s current state to a mosaic he took in 1986 and was published in National Geographic magazine in an effort to see what has deteriorated naturally and what has been caused by man.
“We know the Titanic has been naturally deteriorating, but I’m convinced that the deterioration is being accelerated by man-made impacts as well,” said Ballard, who is also president of the Institute for Exploration at Mystic Aquarium in Connecticut.
The May 30 through June 9 trip is being funded primarily by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and much of the work will be performed aboard the administration’s research vessel Ronald H. Brown.
In 2001, NOAA issued its “Guidelines for Research, Recovery and Salvage of RMS Titanic,” built around the principle that any activities on the site should have minimum adverse impact on Titanic and its artifacts. Ballard hopes an international group, including the United States, Canada, Britain and France, will sign on to those ground rules and apply them to all sea wrecks. National Geographic is also funding the expedition.
In addition to mapping the Titanic, microbial research will also be conducted on the natural deterioration of the ship’s hull. Though never before researched and observed in depth, the tiny microbes that feed on iron and create icicle-shaped formations are called “rusticles.”
In some ways, Ballard has regrets over the carnival atmosphere his discovery of the Titanic created. He’d like to see the wreck treated with more respect and solemnity and talks about the need to recognize its historical significance in a fashion much closer to the battlegrounds of Gettysburg, or the Arizona Memorial.
More than 6,000 artifacts have been removed from the Titanic by RMS Titanic Inc., a group that has obtained the rights to conduct salvage operations at the site. Ballard would prefer to see a virtual underwater museum preserved on the site, with nothing else being removed.
“It’s a symbolic story,” said Ballard of the Titanic. “The ties this vessel has to the past and to the future are extraordinary. I like to say that as the Titanic goes, so goes the rest of the world.”
Ballard’s crew has been operating off the Grand Banks of Newfoundland for the past week after having sailed out of Boston in late May, having arrived on the site May 30 during the calmest part of the season. Regardless of what the weather is above sea, the waters are still 12,000 feet below the Atlantic Ocean, though Ballard’s unmanned, remotely operated vehicles can function in very rough currents.
The three submersible robots being used for the return expedition are controlled by thrusters, which allow the operator to move the machines inch by inch, hovering above the sea floor. Multimillion-dollar lights and cameras are attached to all of the ROVs, while other vehicles have attached sensors that will gather data on water current, temperature and oxygen conditions.
The machines will descend three miles on 20,000 feet of fiber optic cable, acting as the eyes of the expedition and not having humans make the dangerous descent. One of Ballard’s ROVs is specially designed for excavation and has mechanical arms that can lift, push and grab while using suction pipes and water jets to clear mud away from the area being explored.
Ballard said the technology today, compared with what was available in 1986, is like the difference between a “satellite phone and two cans and a string.” He said the refining of the technology allows for important advances in precision, a huge improvement from the modestly funded trip in the mid-1980s.
Ballard hopes the live broadcast, made possible by a complex satellite communications system, will showcase the powerful potential of underwater museums and memorials. And he has already been working with NOAA on 24-hour-a-day digital feeds to a shipwreck in Lake Huron’s Thunder Bay.
The Mystic Aquarium also uses live feeds from Monterey Bay in California. Students around the country will have also had the opportunity over the past week to interact with Ballard’s team using video-conferencing technology provided through the JASON Project.
“This is the closest most people will ever get to these sites,” Ballard said. “Hopefully, these sites will speak to them like they’ve spoken to me.”
