RMS Titanic Inc. holds exclusive salvage rights to the wreck and sponsors expeditions to retrieve artifacts for a traveling exhibition and amass scientific data about the deep-sea environment. Dr. Lanneau accepted the invitation and climbed aboard the Russian research vessel Akademyk Mstislev Keldysh July 10. He intended only to accompany the crew on the ship, providing medical treatment as needed. Dr. Lanneau accepted the offer, confident he would live to tell the tale. Yet he had no delusions about the undertaking.
Submarines are well-calibrated machines, but catastrophes can and do happen.
And the deep sea itself is treacherous, with a crushing pressure outside the sub of 6,900 pounds per square inch. Creature comforts also are hard to come by in a submarine. During the expedition, the ocean temperature dropped from about 80 degrees Fahrenheit at the surface to about 50 on the seabed, and condensation formed on the walls inside the cold, damp sub. But Dr. Lanneau was too fascinated to dwell on discomfort during the sub's approximately three-hour descent. Down at the bottom, the terrain is pretty stark and bleak, but with almost a surreal beauty.