RMS Titanic is found by Dr Robert Ballad 1st September 1985 In the 1980s Dr. Robert Ballard was determined to discover the Titanic. On several occasions he tried to rally an expedition to find the most famous shipwreck of all time. To him undersea exploration was easy but the Titanic, deep on the Atlantic sea bed would push boundaries further than any deep sea diver had previously gone. Equipment had to be specially designed to withstand the water pressures of the depths they needed to explore. The Titanic would lay at a depth over 13,000 feet. In 1973, the submersible Alvin went through design changes. Inparticular, her steel hull was replaced with titanium alloy which could better withstand the depths involved. Eventually funding was granted from Woods Hole and equipment was borrowed from various sources that included a side scan sonar, a deep-towed magnetometer, an LIBEC imaging system and of course underwater cameras. The Titanic's distress signal placed the Titanic at 41°46'N, 50° 14' west. Part of the British Enquiry was to ascertain if this was exact.

It concluded that the position given was slightly inaccurate as the Carpathia, who raced to the Titanic's rescue, reached the lifeboats before they should have done if the position was accurate. Ballard's search strategy was simply: they would scan the ocean floor within a best search triangle until they found the ship. Earlier in 1981 Jack Grimm led a team to find the ship, positive that they were searching the exact spot the ship foundered - they had not. Revised calculations suggested that the Titanic was eight miles further north than previously thought. They allowed for the speed of the lifeboats and the probable drift Titanic would have had on her way both after she had stopped and then down to the bottom of the ocean. After reworking these calculations, a second 1981 expedition failed again. The Deep-tow passed within a mile and a half of the wreck but the sonar scanners were out of range. After three weeks of searching Grimm was convinced he had found one of Titanic's propellers. He began to tell the world that Titanic had been found. Two years later Grimm wanted to search the area again but the expedition failed.

Ballard who had followed the expeditions with great interest realised that Grimm had not spent enough time looking for the ship. It was now Ballard's turn. Ballard had a realisation which led him to develop the Argo/Jason concept. When assembled they were a remote controlled deep towed deep sea video vessel combined with a swimming robot on a cable leash. The name of the project was derived form Greek mythology (Jason and the Argonauts). Argo would be an unmanned submarine loaded with video cameras towed above the ocean bottom at the end of fibre-optical wires. The built in sonar could scan accurately the ocean floor for small debris. In 1984 the US Navy agreed to fund a three week test for the following summer and Argo was built. Aboard the Knorr, Ballard sailed to where he believed the Titanic sank. He hoped that his French colleagues had not beaten him to the wreck. However, by the end three weeks he had not found the ship and on August 6 1985 headed home. Lateral thinking When a ship it sinks it leaves a path of debris (objects from within the ship or objects breaking off). Depending how deep the vessel sinks this debris can be scattered over a large distance.

On a shorter descent, the debris falls more or less vertically. However, as the Titanic sank 21/2 miles a huge debris field was expected. A new search strategy was formed. This time they would first look for the debris field rather than the Titanic herself. The logbook of the Californian enabled Ballard and his crew to estimate the speed and direction of drift of the lifeboats. The Californian was between five to ten miles away from the Titanic at the time of the disaster and reported in its log that they had experienced drift. Also Ballard knew that the Titanic had to be north of where the lifeboats were found. On August 24 1985 Ballard returned to the vacinity of the Titanic. He had 12 days to locate the wreck. Argo was launched the next day but encountered technical problems. After another six days, the crew was fed up with the monotiny of observing sand, mud and the bottomless ocean. But on the 1st September 1985 a strange appeared on the Video monitors. A BOILER!!! The RMS Titanic had to be near. New hopes were realised. Argo was launched to scan the search area for the Titanic.

Eventually at an altitude of 160 feet above the bed, Argo passed over the main hull of the ship. They could see that the funnel had gone (the one which Lightoller recalled saved his life when it tore out of its fixtures moments before the ship went down). Their first look at the Titanic lasted six minutes: she was upright and a large section of her hull was in tact. She laid 13,000 feet below the surface. Following much the cheering and clapping, reverential silence overcame the crew of the Knorr. It was almost 2 a.m. and very close to the time when the Titanic actually sank. Argo was used to photograph the wreck during the many passages made over her. Soon news that the Titanic had been found had reached the corners of the world. Once more the RMS Titanic was in the minds of millions of people. EXPLORATION OF THE TITANIC Day 1 On July 13th 1986 another Ballard expedition was underway to explore the Titanic in more detail. Jason Junior (JJ) would be used to video the Titanic. JJ would be operated on a long cable attached to Alvin which contained three crew who would steer JJ.

Day 2 After a short lived dive due to battery failure, a second dive proved highly successful. Apparently from nowhere, the razor sharp bow of the Titanic came into view. Both anchors were still in place. It appeared that the bow was buried more than 60 foot in the mud. Ballard described the decaying metal as "frozen rivers of rust covering the ships' side and spread out over the ocean floor." As Alvin moved across the forward deck, the giant bollards and capstans were clearly visible although the wires and ropes once connected to them were gone. The wooden floor had been eaten away. The expedition continued to the severed section of the intact bow section. A sudden strong current stopped the trip and Alvin was forced to head to the surface. Day 3 JJ traversed the Grand Staircase, which at one time had been covered by a glass dome. Whatever JJ saw, Alvin's crew saw too. A Chandelier had survived the journey to the bottom of the sea. JJ's maiden voyage was a total success. Day 4 The team visited Captain Smith's cabin to find its outer walls collapsed to a heap on the deck.

Next, JJ explored the Gym where pieces of equipment could be seen in amongst the rubble. Metal frames from the electric camel were also intact. Day 5 The debris field spans nearly 2000 feet between the two sections of the Titanic. The debris includes lumps of coal, wrought-iron deck benches, baths, crockery and other bric-a-brac. Another boiler was found with an iron cup sitting peacefully on top of it. A safe was found on the ocean floor proudly showing off its brass handle. Ballard tried to open the safe but the door would not open to reveal its contents. Day 6 It was clear from the debris field that the torn-off stern section had been badly damaged during its journey to the bottom and now lay 1,970 feet from the bow section. Ballard's next plan lead Alvin along the bottom of the ocean bed directly behind the stern section and sent JJ to examine the hull. He found that the stern section was also buried deep beneath the mud, probably to a depth of 45 feet. Both middle and starboard side propellers were under the mud.

Before leaving the wreck, Ballard placed a memorial plaque on the stern in memory of those who lost their lives on that fateful night. Discovery of the Titanic Shipwreck in 1985 Discovery of the Titanic Shipwreck Found by Famous Ocean Explorer Robert Ballard in 1985 A 23 x 12 ft. piece of the Titanic weighing 20 tons is on display at 'TITANIC The Artifact Exhibit' at the California Science Center in Los Angeles, California. (2003). (Photo by Michel Boutefeu/Getty Images) By Jennifer L. Goss, Contributing Writer Updated February 03, 2016. After the sinking of the Titanic on April 15, 1912, the great ship slumbered on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean for over 70 years before its wreckage was discovered. On September 1, 1985, a joint American-French expedition, headed by famous American oceanographer Dr. Robert Ballard, found the Titanic over two miles below the ocean’s surface by using an unmanned submersible called Argo. This discovery gave new meaning to the Titanic’s sinking and gave birth to new dreams in ocean exploration.

The Titanic’s Journey Built in Ireland from 1909 to 1912 on behalf of the British-owned White Star Line, the Titanic officially left its final European port of Queenstown, Ireland on April 11, 1912. Carrying over 2,200 passengers and crew, the Titanic began its maiden voyage across the Atlantic, headed for New York. The Titanic carried passengers from all walks of life. Tickets were sold to first, second, and third class passengers; the latter group largely consisting of immigrants seeking a better life. continue reading below our video 10 Best Universities in the United States Famous first class passengers included the Astors, the Strausses, J. Bruce Ismay, and Benjamin Guggenheim. The Sinking of the Titanic Only three days after setting sail, the Titanic struck an iceberg at 11:40 p.m. on April 14, 1912, somewhere in the North Atlantic. Although it took the ship over 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 did exist.

The lifeboats could have held over 1,100 people, but only 705 people were saved; nearly 1,500 perished the night the Titanic sank. People around the world were shocked when they heard that the “unsinkable” Titanic had sunk. They wanted to know the details of the disaster. Yet, however much the survivors could share, theories about how and why the Titanic sank would remain unsubstantiated until the wreckage of the great ship could be found. There was just one problem -- no one was sure exactly where the Titanic had sunk. Robert Ballard Robert Ballard wanted to find the wreckage of the Titanic. Ballard had grown up in San Diego, California, near the ocean, where he began his life-long fascination with the ocean and learned to scuba dive. After graduating from University of California, Santa Barbara in 1965 with degrees in both chemistry and geology, Ballard signed up for the Army. Two years later, in 1967, Ballard transferred to the Navy, where he was assigned to the Deep Submergence Group at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Research Institution in Massachusetts, thus beginning his illustrious career with submersibles.

By 1974, Ballard had received two doctoral degrees (marine geology and geophysics) from the University of Rhode Island and had spent a lot of time conducting deep water dives in a manned submersible he helped design, called Alvin. During subsequent dives in 1977 and 1979 near the Galapagos Rift, Ballard helped discover hydrothermal vents . More importantly, though, were the amazing plants that grew around these vents; it was the scientific study of these plants that led to the discovery of chemosynthesis , a process in which plants use chemical reactions rather than sunlight to get energy. Yet, however many shipwrecks Ballard explored and however much of the ocean floor he mapped, Ballard never forgot about the Titanic. Ballard has said, “I always wanted to find the Titanic. That was a Mt. Everest in my world -- one of those mountains that had never been climbed.”* Planning the Mission Ballard wasn’t the first to try to find the Titanic. Over the years, there had been several teams who had set out to find the wreckage of the famous ship; three of them had been funded by millionaire oilman Jack Grimm.

On his last expedition in 1982, Grimm had taken an underwater picture of what he believed to be a propeller from the Titanic; others believed it was only a rock. The hunt for the Titanic was to continue; this time with Ballard. But first, he needed funding. Ballard, who had a history working with the U.S. Navy, decided to ask them to fund his expedition. The Navy did decide to fund the project, but not because they had a vested interest in finding the Titanic; instead, the Navy wanted Ballard to create the technology needed to help them find and investigate the wreckage of two nuclear submarines (the USS Thresher and the USS Scorpion) that had been mysteriously lost in the 1960s. Ballard’s search for the Titanic provided a nice cover story for the Navy, who wanted to keep their search for their lost submarines a secret from the Soviet Union. Amazingly, Ballard maintained the secrecy of his mission even as he built the technology, used it to find and explore the remains of the USS Thresher, and the remains of the USS Scorpion.

Plus, while Ballard was investigating these wreckages, he learned more about debris fields, which gave him an idea as to how to find the Titanic. Done with his secret mission, Ballard was finally able to turn to his search for the Titanic. However, while other teams had spent months looking in vain for the Titanic, Ballard now had only two weeks for his search. Locating the Titanic It was late August 1985 when Ballard finally began his search for the Titanic. Ballard had invited a French research team, led by Jean-Louis Michel, to join this expedition. Aboard the Navy’s oceanographic survey ship, the Knorr , Ballard and his team headed to the likely location of the Titanic’s resting place -- one thousand miles due east of Boston, Massachusetts. While previous expeditions had used close sweeps of the ocean floor to search for the Titanic, Ballard decided to conduct mile-wide sweeps with the hope of being able to cover more area. Ballard was able to do this for two reasons. First, after examining the wreckage of the two submarines, he discovered that ocean currents often swept lighter pieces of the wreck downstream, thus leaving a long debris trail.

Secondly, Ballard had engineered a new unmanned submersible (Argo) that could explore wider areas, dive deeper, stay underwater for many weeks, and deliver crisp and clear pictures of what it found. This meant that Ballard and his team could stay on board the Knorr and monitor the images from Argo, hoping to find small, man-made pieces of debris. The Knorr arrived in the area on August 22, 1985 and began sweeps of the area using Argo. In the early morning hours of September 1, 1985, the first glimpse of the Titanic in 73 years appeared on Ballard’s screen. Exploring 12,000 feet below the ocean’s surface, the Argo relayed the image of one of the Titanic’s boilers embedded within the sandy surface of the ocean’s floor. The team on the Knorr was ecstatic about the discovery, although the realization that they were floating atop the graves of nearly 1500 individuals brought a somber tone to their celebration. The expedition proved to be instrumental in shedding light on the Titanic’s sinking. Prior to the discovery of the wreckage, there was some belief that the Titanic had sunk in one piece.

The 1985 images did not give researchers definitive information on the ship’s sinking; however, it did establish some basic foundations that countered early myths. Subsequent Expeditions Ballard returned to the Titanic in 1986 with new technology that allowed him to further explore the interior of the majestic ship. Images were collected that showed the remains of the beauty that so captivated those who had seen the Titanic at its height. The Grand Staircase, still-hanging chandeliers, and beautiful iron-work were all photographed during Ballard’s second successful expedition. Since 1985, there have been several dozen expeditions to the Titanic. Many of these expeditions have been controversial since salvagers brought up several thousand artifacts from the ship’s remains. Ballard has been widely outspoken against these efforts, claiming that he felt the ship deserved to rest in peace. During his two initial expeditions, he decided not to bring any discovered artifacts to the surface. He felt that others should honor the sanctity of the wreckage in a similar fashion. The most proliferate salvager of Titanic artifacts has been RMS Titanic Inc.

The company has brought many notable artifacts to the surface, including a large piece of the ship’s hull, passenger luggage, dinnerware, and even documents preserved in oxygen-starved compartments of steamer trunks. Due to negotiations between its predecessor company and the French government, the RMS Titanic group cannot sell the artifacts; however, they can put them on display and charge admission to recoup expenses and create profit. The largest exhibition of these artifacts today is located in Las Vegas, Nevada at the Luxor Hotel. Titanic Returns to the Silver Screen Although the Titanic has been featured in numerous films through the years, it was James Cameron’s 1997 film, Titanic, that stimulated massive, world-wide interest in the ship’s fate. The movie became one of the most popular films ever made. The 100th Anniversary The 100th Anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic in 2012 also fueled renewed interest in the tragedy, 15 years after Cameron’s film. The wreckage site is now eligible to be named a protected area as a UNESCO World Heritage site and Ballard is also working to preserve what remains.

An expedition in August 2012, revealed that increased human activity has caused the ship to break down at a faster rate than previously expected. Ballard has a plan to slow the process of degradation – painting the Titanic while it remains 12,000 feet below the ocean’s surface. The discovery of the Titanic was a momentous accomplishment but now the world is conflicted about how to care for this historical wreck. * Quote by Dr. Robert Ballard from National Geographic’s Titanic: Ballard’s Secret Mission (2008). Nazi Ship Bismarck Is Found in 'Good Shape' - NYTimes.com Nazi Ship Bismarck Is Found in 'Good Shape' Reuters Published: June 14, 1989 WOODS HOLE, Mass., June 13— The powerful Nazi warship Bismarck, sunk by the British in a crucial fight for control of the North Atlantic, has been discovered ''upright in good shape'' at the bottom of the ocean, its finders said today.

A research team led by Robert Ballard, the explorer who led the expedition that found the sunken ocean liner Titanic in 1986, discovered the Bismarck about 600 miles west of Brest, France, using the same robot submarine that located the luxury liner, a Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute spokeswoman said. When it sailed from the Polish port of Gdynia on May 18, 1941, the 41,700-ton Bismarck was one of the world's most powerful warships and key to Hitler's plan to blockade Britain. But after a chase and major battle that lasted nearly a week, the ship was sunk and nearly 2,300 German sailors perished. Only 100 of its crew survived. The Bismarck was located over the weekend, the spokeswoman, Shelley Lauzon, said. Video to Be Shown June 22 ''They found it, they surveyed it, they did what they could and they left,'' she said. Full details and video pictures taken by the robot submarine will be made public at a Washington press conference on June 22.

The battle that sent the ship to the bottom was one of the great naval battles of World War II and a victory that the British Navy has long savored. The sinking of the Bismarck has been the basis for songs, books and films, including a 1980 book by a surviving Bismarck crewmember, Baron Burkhard von Mullenheim Rechberg, and an earlier movie and song, both titled ''Sink the Bismarck.'' John Davies, a member of the team that found the ship, said the warship was found 15,000 feet deep in the Atlantic with the camera-equipped robot submarine. Mr. Davies said he did not believe the exploration team planned to raise anything from the ship. Naval experts said the wreck could yield insights on the battle, Nazi naval technology and how the crew operated. Paul Stillwell, editor in chief of Naval History magazine in Annapolis, Md., said, referring to naval historians, ''If they have a chance to look at it in detail, they can see how much damage was done by the British forces.'' Mr. Ballard made no mention of preserving the Bismarck wreck as a war memorial.

He has urged that the Titanic's remains be left undisturbed in memory of the 1,200 people who died on board, the Woods Hole spokeswoman said. Discovery Over the years there were many unsuccessful attempts to locate the wreckage of the Titanic. In 1985, Dr Robert Ballard from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (WHOI) and Jean-Louis Michel from the French Institute for Research and Exploration of the Seas (IFREMER) launched an expedition to search for the Titanic. The last known position of the Titanic as relayed by the crew was: Latitude: 41° 46' N and Longitude: 50° 14' W. It was not known if this position was accurate, but it was used as the starting point for the search. From July 9th to August 7th, the French ship Le Surôit searched a designated area of 150 square miles using side-scanning high resolution sonar. Nothing was found. On August 22nd, the US Naval research ship Knorr was sent to continue the looking for the Titanic.

A new piece of equipment called "Argo" carried forward-scanning and side-scanning sonar and high-resolution real-time video cameras. For many days, Argo was towed back and forth along the ocean floor. On September 1, 1985 at about 02:00 am, Argo had located a large object. As the cameras were aimed to take a closer look, the object was identified as one of the Titanic's boilers. At last, after 73 years the wreck of the Titanic had finally been found. The Titanic rests in the North Atlantic Ocean 13,000 feet below (about 2.5 miles). For several more days, the Argo further searched the Titanic wreckage. It was determined that the Titanic was sitting upright and that the hull had broken into two separate sections. This break occurred in the region between the third and fourth funnels. The two sections are approximately 2000 feet apart and debris is spread over a large area. The Knorr returned to port on September 4, 1985.

Statement by Robert Ballard: The following excerpt from a press conference describes the position of the Titanic: "The Titanic itself lies in 13,000 feet of water on a gently sloping alpine-like countryside overlooking a small canyon below. Its bow faces north and the ship sits upright on the bottom. Its mighty stacks point upward. . . . It is quiet and peaceful and a fitting place for the remains of this greatest of sea tragedies to rest. May it forever remain that way and may God bless these found souls".

Location of Bow: 41° 43' 57" N and 49° 56' 49" W Location of Stern: 41° 43' 35" N and 49° 56' 54" W Location of Boilers: 41° 43' 32" N and 49° 56' 49" W Last position reported by Titanic: 41° 46' N and 50° 14' W Titanic's position is almost 1900 miles from Southampton, England - the place where the adventure began and 1500 miles from New York - the final destination. The Titanic is located about 1000 miles due east of Boston, Massachusetts and approximately 375 miles southeast of St Johns Newfoundland. The bow points towards New York. In 1986, Ballard led another expedition to the Titanic site. This time, the research vessel was the Atlantis II. On board this ship was a newly developed deep-diving submersible named "Alvin" which was capable of carrying three people to previously unattainable depths.

Alvin was the first such vehicle of its kind and was a technological marvel. The US Navy helped fund this Titanic expedition as a way to test Alvin. Alvin was equipped with a small self-propelled device called "Jason Junior" which carried a high-resolution camera. The camera which was controlled from within Alvin via a 250 foot long cable. Alvin and Jason Junior worked as designed and was a resounding success. Jason Junior was sent into the Titanic and recorded the first views from inside the Titanic in over 74 years. Jason Junior was sent to look at many rooms and parts of the Titanic. It also surveyed the debris field. There were many fragile items such as panes of glass, dinner plates, drinking glasses and bottles of wine that were still in perfect condition. The sea had perfectly preserved these artifacts. During the exploration of the Titanic, no human remains have ever been found. Only personal belongings lay where bodies once were. Seeing the wreckage of the Titanic and its contents spilled out on the ocean floor is an incredibly awesome sight, but it is important to remember that the sinking of the Titanic was a tragedy which took about 1500 human lives.

One of the most compelling and disturbing images is a photograph of a pair of shoes. That image makes us realize that this is not just a pair of shoes but, the shoes that belonged to a person. Scientists believed that the extreme cold and reduced oxygen levels at 13,000 feet below the ocean surface would have prevented deterioration of the Titanic and its contents. It was hoped that the damage caused by marine eating organisms would be minimal. As it turned out, the destruction by these organisms was worse than expected, but not as bad as it could have been. The Titanic is slowly disappearing, and over time, it will be gone forever. Why did the Titanic sink? It was strongly believed that when the Titanic hit the iceberg, a 350 foot gash was torn in the starboard side of the forward hull. The huge gash in the bow allowed water to infiltrate the ship and cause six of the sixteen watertight compartments to flood. The Titanic was designed to stay afloat if 3 or possibly 4 compartments flooded.

As the sea rose above the watertight bulkheads, adjoining compartments filled with water (a simple way to conceptualize how Titanic flooded is to think of what happens when you fill an ice cube tray with water). The added water weight pulled Titanic's bow deeper into the ocean until the great ship gave up its fight and finally sank. The Titanic's "remarkable" and "innovative" watertight design proved to be a mistake and helped contribute to its tragic demise. Design At this point, we should briefly look at the Titanic's intended design. The Titanic was considered practically "unsinkable" because it was designed to stay afloat in the event the hull was pierced and internal flooding occurred. The design was based on the division of the hull into 15 transverse watertight bulkheads with each one incorporating watertight doors. The doors could be closed automatically in the event of an accident. However, the compartments formed by the watertight bulkheads were not independently watertight. This was a major oversite. If water filled a compartment higher than the top of a watertight bulkhead, then the adjoining compartments would flood.

The design team assumed that this situation was impossible since all bulkheads rose to a level above the waterline. The theory of the iceberg causing a 350 foot gash in the hull of Titanic was virtually undisputed. After all, it seemed logical and many survivors of the Titanic said that they personally saw the gaping hole. Common sense should have discounted eyewitness accounts of the damage due to the fact that the iceberg damage occurred below the waterline. It should have also occurred to someone that it was a dark moonless night and extremely difficult to see. New Evidence Thanks to modern science, there is a new theory about how the Titanic sank. It is important to keep in mind that it is doubtful we will ever know which of these theories is actually true. When the Titanic was discovered in 1985, it was impossible to tell if there was a 350 foot gash in the hull because the bow is buried in about 60 feet of mud. In 1996, a special acoustic device known as sub-bottom profiler was used to look at the Titanic's hull through the muddy ocean floor. The images revealed that the collision did not cause a gaping hole.

Instead, there were six narrow non-contiguous openings in the starboard side of the forward hull. The openings are about 10 feet above the bottom of the ship and appear to follow the hull plate. This suggests that the iron rivets along the plate seams probably popped open to create splits. The openings vary in length, with the longest being about 36 feet and are no wider than an adult hand. The total area of the damage appears to be only about 12 to 13 square feet. The longest gap extends between boiler rooms No. 5 and No. 6, just crossing the watertight bulkhead. Naval architects and engineers believe that Titanic would not have sank had it been traveling at a slightly slower rate of speed. The iceberg's impact and the extent of its damage across the hull plates would have been less severe and fewer compartments would have probably flooded. These six openings may have been all that was needed to bring down the Titanic. The approximate locations of the six openings in Titanic's hull (indicated in green).

At the British inquiry in 1912, Edward Wilding, one of Harland & Wolff's naval architects, proposed that the uneven flooding in the six watertight compartments meant each had suffered unique, uncontinuous damage. Wilding also proposed that the actual cuts might be relatively small. His testimony was widely ignored. Nearly everyone believed that the only thing that could undo a ship so big and well constructed was a huge gash. Inferior Steel? In 1994, metallurgists studied a piece of the Titanic's hull that was retrieved from the wreck site. The piece was one inch thick and still showed remnants of the original paint. The steel edges appeared jagged and displayed no evidence of bending. High quality ship steel has a lot more give and does not break easily. The edges of the piece of steel from Titanic's hull looked as though they were shattered like a broken piece of glass. Scientists used a Charpy test to determine the brittleness of the steel. In a Charpy test, a sample is held in place while a pendulum is released and swings down and hits the sample. The forces in the impact area of the pendulum are electronically monitored.

For comparison purposes, a sample of steel used in modern ship building and a sample from the Titanic were cooled in an alcohol bath to about 28 degrees (F) - the temperature of the water at the time of the collision with the iceberg. The modern steel was tested first. When the pendulum hit the sample, the test piece bent into a "V" shape. When the Charpy test was repeated with the sample from the Titanic, the pendulum broke the sample in two. What did this mean? The data confirmed that Titanic's hull steel was brittle when it hit the iceberg. A physical analysis determined that the steel did not become brittle after sitting on the ocean floor for so many years, but instead, came that way from the steel plant. When the Titanic was built, shipbuilders were only concerned about testing for tensile strength (the maximum stress a material can handle before it breaks) and not embrittlement. The steel used in Titanic's hull was found to be high in sulphur - a key ingredient for brittleness. For high-quality modern steel to shatter as the Titanic's hull did, the water temperature must reach 130 degrees below zero (F).

These findings are not trying to suggest that Titanic's steel hull plates were so brittle that the impact with the iceberg shattered the hull into pieces. What it does support is the belief that the iron rivets along plate seams probably failed resulting in splits in the hull. The rivets had the same properties as the hull steel (high in sulfur) and were therefore also brittle. If a hull plate is bent during a collision, a shearing stress is applied to the rivet. If the rivet is considered brittle, it would shear (fail) at a reduced amount of applied force than would a non-brittle rivet. To compound the problem, the stamping process used to create the holes in the hull plates (to accommodate the rivets) caused microscopic cracks in the steel. These cracks reduced the structural integrity of the steel plate at the rivet hole. It is wrong to assume that Titanic was constructed with inferior materials. It should be pointed out that the steel Harland & Wolff used in the construction was considered high quality and that the most advanced construction techniques available were utilized. Unfortunately, even the best was still not good enough and helped contribute to the untimely demise of the Titanic. Fire Damage?

When the Titanic sailed from Southampton there was a significant fire burning in coal bunker No. 10 on the starboard side of boiler room No. 6. Coal fires caused by spontaneous combustion were very common and one of the risks associated with carrying large stocks of coal. Under the right combinations of oxygen, temperature and moisture content, coal will start to burn by itself. Spontaneous combustion fires usually begin as "hot spots" deep within the reserve of coal. These hot spots appear when coal absorbs oxygen from the air. Heat generated by the oxidation initiates the fire. Such fires can be very stubborn to extinguish because of the large amount of coal involved (often hundreds of tons) and the difficulty of getting to the seat of the problem. The coal bunker fire continuously burned throughout Titanic's voyage despite the best efforts by the firemen to put it out. One of the questions raised is what role, if any, did the fire play in the sinking of Titanic? As mentioned earlier, the largest area of damage extends between boiler rooms No. 5 and No. 6 on the starboard side, just crossing the watertight bulkhead. This fact brings to light different possibilities.

The first being that it was purely coincidental that the greatest extent of hull damage occurred in the area of boiler room No. 6. Another possibility is that the coal fire significantly weakened the bulkhead subsequently causing the damage to be more severe when the iceberg impacted Titanic's hull. An artist's rendering of how the Titanic's bow and stern sections look today. Art work copyrighted by Ken Marschall. Titanic Model: Roy Mengot, a Titanic enthusiast, did exhaustive research on the Titanic wreck and created an extremely accurate scale model. Roy went to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) to research the archives of ANGUS photos and unpublished video of the wreck. Everything that showed up on video and photographic evidence has been recreated in the model. What a challenge! Roy's exacting and difficult work has earned him many awards for his efforts. I would like to thank Roy for allowing me to display photos of his Titanic model on my website. All model photos are copyrighted by Roy Mengot and are used with full permission.

Bow: Robert Ballard, Ocean Explorer Information, Facts, News, Photos -- National Geographic Photograph by Emory Kristof Photograph by Becky Hale Among the most accomplished and well known of the world's deep-sea explorers, Robert Ballard is best known for his historic discoveries of hydrothermal vents, the sunken R.M.S. Titanic, the German battleship Bismarck, and numerous other contemporary and ancient shipwrecks around the world. During his long career he has conducted more than 120 deep-sea expeditions using the latest in exploration technology, and he is a pioneer in the early use of deep-diving submarines. Ballard has pioneered distance learning in the classrooms of America and around the world with the JASON Project, an award-winning educational program that reaches more than 1 million students and 25,000 teachers annually. He has received prestigious awards from the Explorers Club and the National Geographic Society—the Explorers Medal and the Hubbard Medal, respectively—as well as the Lindbergh Award. In 2003 President George W. Bush presented him with the National Endowment for the Humanities Medal in the Oval Office of the White House.

Ballard is president of the Institute for Exploration, scientist emeritus from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and Director of the newly created Center for Ocean Exploration at the University of Rhode Island’s Graduate School of Oceanography. His new ship of exploration, the E/V Nautilus operated by his Ocean Exploration Trust spends four to five months at sea each year and will be exploring the Black Sea, Aegean, Mediterranean, and Atlantic Ocean in 2011, beaming back his exploration around the clock on Nautilus Live . Explorer Bob Ballard goes after JFK's PT 109, and Senator Ted Kennedy recalls a heroic brother's return. Kids Ocean explorer Bob Ballard talks about growing up and what he was like as a kid. News Explorer Bob Ballard discusses the importance of underwater exploration. National Geographic Initiatives Who Discovered the Titanic, and When? Contact Who Discovered the Titanic, and When? The Titanic was discovered by a concerted effort from French and American scientists. Dr. Robert Ballard led the American side of the operation with a submersible from Hole Deep Submergence Lab in Massachusetts, and Francias de Recherche from pour I’Exploitation des Mers Led by Jean Jerry ran the French side of things.

They were armed with some of the most sophisticated underwater technology available at the time and each side had high expectations for the operation. Although the subject of public scrutiny, the effort set out to find the Titanic wreck, something that the public thought was simply ludicrous to attempt. Ballard, the U.S. leader had been interested in finding the Titanic shipwreck since 1973, and had actually set out to locate the vessel in 1977. Ballard used a somewhat less advanced way to attempt to locate the Titanic which involved using a drilling ship to probe the bottom of the ocean. The event ended when the rigging pipe snapped off and Ballard had to once again wait to attempt the legendary vessel. Armed with better technology and the help of the French Institute Francias de Recherche pour I’Exploitation des Mers (I.F.R.E.M.E.R.), Ballard would finally be successful in locating the Titanic. The science vessel Knorr that first discovered the Titanic The French vessel Le Suroit towed her state of the art side scan sonar system which was the most advanced model of sonar at the time. The instrument was capable of making 3,000 sweeps of the ocean floor in each pass.

Scientists would study and analyze the print outs of the images of the ocean floor, but still couldn’t find the sunken Titanic. Le Suroit eventually was needed elsewhere and the scientists transferred to the American vessel Knorr. The ship left off right where the other vessel had with back and forth sweeps of the ocean floor. Finally, on September 1st of 1985, the seabed began to paint a picture of a different layout. Instead of the usual ripples of mud and sand, unusual marks began to show including a massive ship’s boiler. The ALVIN submersible that helped document the Titanic wreck Twelve months later, Ballard and his crew returned to the wreck site, this time accompanied by a deep-sea submersible called Alvin, and a remotely operated underwater robot called Jason Junior, or JJ. Their surface vessel this time was Atlantis II, and on the evening of July 12th 1986, Ballard and his staff of about 50 scientists and crew arrived at the site.

Another Picture of Alvin At The Titanic Shipwreck Early the next morning, Alvin, pictured here on the left, was brought out of its hangar on the stern of the Atlantis II to be readied for the first dive on the wreck of Titanic. At just after 8.30am, the submersible began its slow journey to the wrecked liner lying 2.5 miles below. Inside the sub were Robert Ballard, Alvin’s chief pilot Ralph Hollis, and co-pilot Dudley Foster. For two-and-a-half hours the sub plummeted deeper and deeper into the Atlantic ocean, their instruments eventually telling them that the sea floor was about 600 feet below them. Crucial sonar equipment failed to work, and although the occupants of the sub knew that they must be pretty close to Titanic, they had to guess the general direction to head in. Eventually, the surface ship managed to point the sub in the right direction, although an alarm had begun to sound warning that one of the batteries was now shorting, meaning that their time spent on the bottom would be very brief. Suddenly, Ballard saw the ship’s hull.

“Directly in front of us was an apparently endless slab of black steel rising out of the bottom – the massive hull of the Titanic.” But the euphoria was short-lived – almost immediately after coming so close to the Titanic, Ralph Hollis was forced to head the sub back to the surface, for there were many problems to keep the sub’s crew busy through the night ahead. The next day, Alvin returned to the seabed. Ballard’s view of Titanic this time would be amazing. As the sub inched slowly across the mud towards the ship, he glimpsed the bow looming out of the darkness. Ballard’s first instinct was that the Titanic was ‘coming right at us’. But on closer inspection, the crew of the sub could see that Titanic’s bow was up to the anchors in the soft mud. Related Posts: Titanic 100th anniversary: Shoes and coat found at wreck site implies likely resting place of human remains | Daily Mail Online comments Newly-released photos show the haunting images of Titanic victim's clothing lining the bottom of the ocean floor 100 years after the New York-bound ship sank in the North Atlantic.

A 2004 photograph, released to the public for the first time this week in an uncropped version to coincide with the disaster's centenary, shows a coat and boots in the mud at the legendary shipwreck site. It came as the passengers of a cruise ship retracing the route of the ill-fated liner RMS Titanic held an emotional memorial service at the exact spot where the ship sank on its maiden voyage a century ago. 'These are not shoes that fell out neatly from somebody's bag right next to each other,' said James Delgado, the director of maritime heritage at the National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration. What remains: The fact that the pair of boots were found so close to each other implies that they were probably on the feet of a victim whose body has since disintegrated The way they are 'laid out' makes a 'compelling case' that it is where 'someone has come to rest,' he said. The image, along with two others showing pairs of boots resting next to each other, were taken during an expedition led by NOAA and famed Titanic finder Robert Ballard in 2004. They were published in Ballard's book on the expedition.

Mr Delgado said the one showing a coat and boots was cropped to show only a boot. RELATED ARTICLES Share The New York Times first reported about the photographs in Saturday editions. Filmmaker James Cameron, who has visited the wreck 33 times, told the newspaper that he had seen 'zero human remains' during his extensive explorations of the Titanic. 'We've seen shoes. We've seen pairs of shoes, which would strongly suggest there was a body there at one point. But we've never seen any human remains,' Mr Cameron said. More findings: A number of pairs were found near a coat and some other items in the sea bed For Mr Delgado, who was the chief scientist on an expedition in 2010 that mapped the entire site, the difference in opinion is 'one of semantics.' 'I as an archaeologist would say those are human remains,' he said, referring to the photograph of the coat and boots specifically.

'Buried in that sediment are very likely forensic remains of that person.' He said in an email that the images 'speak to the power of that tragic and powerful scene 2 1/2 miles below' and 'to its resilience as an undersea museum, as well as its fragility.' Extrapolating: Though previous expeditions, like that of film-maker James Cameron, said that they did not see human remains, others feel that it is obvious that the victims bodies were there at one point 'This is an appropriate time to note the human cost of that event, and the fact that in this special place at the bottom of the sea, evidence of the human cost, in the form of the shattered wreck, the scattered luggage, fittings and other artifacts, and the faint but unmistakable evidence that this is where people came to rest, is present,' he said. He said the images are also evidence that society could do a better job protecting the site. There has been a long fight to protect the Titanic since it was rediscovered by Mr Ballard in 1985, beginning with a federal law passed by Congress aimed at creating an international agreement to transform the shipwreck into an international maritime memorial.

Senator John Kerry introduced what some observers see as stronger legislation April 1 aimed at protecting the site from 'salvage and intrusive research.' Poignant: Passengers take part in the Titanic memorial service 100 years after the disaster at the site where it sunk in the North Atlantic. About 50 of the 1,309 passengers on board have a direct link with the doomed liner Respect: Rev. Canon Huw Mosford, leads the service marking the 100th year anniversary of the Titanic disaster, aboard the MS Balmoral Titanic cruise ship, in the North Atlantic ocean But the luxury liner, which went down April 14, 1912 after striking an iceberg, sits in international waters, limiting what the U.S. government can do. Mr Delgado said an international treaty would need to be negotiated between Britain, Canada, France and the U.S. At 11.40pm last night - the time the ship hit the iceberg - passengers gathered on the decks of MS Balmoral, which has been retracing the route of the doomed voyage. About 50 of the 1,309 passengers on board Balmoral have a direct family connection to the sinking.

The Balmoral left Southampton last Sunday for a 12-night cruise to commemorate the centenary of the sinking of the liner that hit an iceberg on its maiden voyage. Jane Allen, from Devon, whose great-uncle perished on the Titanic, said the moment vividly reminded her of the horror of the disaster. Emotional: A crew member throws a wreath overboard during the Titanic memorial service at the wreck site A wreath floats after being thrown into the sea during the Titanic service of remembrance Sadness: Passengers take part in the Titanic memorial service 100 years after it sank 'All you could hear was the swell splashing against the side of the ship. You could see the white breakers stretching out to sea,' she told the BBC. 'You are in the middle of nowhere. And then you look down over the side of the ship and you realise that every man and every woman who didn't make it into a lifeboat had to make that decision, of when to jump or stay on the ship as the lights went out.

'And when the lights went out it was horrendous.' Patricia Watts, 81, a retired teacher from Bristol, who is travelling with her husband David, 80, remembered her grandfather, George MacKie, 34, from Southampton, who was a second-class steward on board the Titanic. Patricia Watt with her husband David, holds a picture of her grandfather George Mackie, who died on Titanic Cruise ship passengers and crew said prayers Sunday at the spot in the North Atlantic where the Titanic sank 100 years ago Three wreaths lie on the memorial cruise ship before they are thrown into the North Atlantic to remember those who died on board Titanic Before the service she said: 'When we get to the wreck site there will be some sadness, but I think also some sense of release. TICKET FOR TITANIC'S DOOMED MAIDEN VOYAGE SOLD FOR $56,000 A New York auction house has sold an original ticket to the 1912 launch of the Titanic for $56,250.

Also in the block Sunday at Bonhams was a menu, touting choices like the tongue of a castrated rooster and beef sirloin with horseradish, which fetched $31,250. Both went to private American buyers. Gregg Dietrich, Bonhams' maritime consultant, said one surprise at the auction was the comparatively low price paid for a telegraph that read, 'We have struck an iceberg' which sold for $27,500. The most curious lot of the day, Dietrich said, sold for $12,500: three rivets and a piece of porthole glass recovered from the wreckage. 'I shall feel a sense of accomplishment that I have achieved what I set out to do. I think the service will be a very memorable occasion, slightly sad, but also for a lot of people it will be the event of the cruise.' Another cruise ship, Journey, which has travelled from New York, also held a service at the site of the disaster, 400 miles off the coast of Newfoundland. In Belfast, a minute's silence also held during another poignant service.

A great, great nephew of the ship's doctor helped to unveil bronze plaques listing more than 1,500 passengers, crew and musicians who died when the liner struck an iceberg and sank in the North Atlantic on April 15, 1912. The boat was built in a Belfast shipyard and relatives of workmen who made and crewed the vessel were present for today's ceremony. Jack Martin, a 12-year-old descendant of Dr John Simpson, lay a wreath and said: 'I am proud that I am keeping the memory of my ancestor alive and it keeps memories fresh.' A letter penned on board the Titanic by the Belfast doctor to his mother is to be brought back to Belfast for exhibition. The letter, from assistant ship surgeon Dr John Edward Simpson, was written on notepaper headed RMS Titanic and brought ashore at Cobh, County Cork. From there it was posted to his mother, Elizabeth, who lived in south Belfast. Dr Simpson was married and had one son when he took the commission on Titanic. He had previously worked on another White Star Line ship - the Olympic.

Remembrance: Roses rest on a plaque bearing the names of those who died when the Titanic sank in Belfast's City Hall Legacy: Alex Aaronson, six, from north America, whose relative Artie Frost, 38, perished on the Titanic, in the new memorial garden at Belfast City Hall on the 100th anniversary of the ship sinking In the letter, Dr Simpson said he was settling into his cabin well and that the accommodation on board his new vessel was larger. Jack's father John Martin today said it meant a lot to him that the note was to be on display in Belfast. 'It is the last tangible object that we have from John Simpson, everything else that he had was lost,' he said. 'It is the last thing that we know he actually touched, that means a lot to the family.' Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness (centre) attends a requiem service at St Anne's Church of Ireland Cathedral in Belfast, on the anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic 100 years ago The service, held beside the city hall, took less than an hour and featured solo pieces by singer Brian Kennedy and reflections from actor Dan Gordon and minister the Rev Ian Gilpin.

Belfast Lord Mayor Niall O`Donnghaile, Jack Martin and a representative of the Harland and Wolff shipyard, where the vessel was built, laid wreaths at the new memorial. The names of the dead, from all classes on the doomed liner, are engraved in alphabetical order on five bronze plaques. When the Titanic sank with its three classes of passenger, a disproportionate number of victims were in third class. This is the first time all, including crew, are recognised on one memorial. Doomed: A photo taken of the 'unsinkable' Titanic in 1912 which sank in the North Atlantic on April 15 The sinking of the Titanic on its maiden voyage has fascinated people ever since it sunk 100 years ago in 1912 The Rev Ian Gilpin said: 'We behold the Titanic memorial, we remember all those who perished and whose names are herein inscribed - men, women and children who loved and we loved, their loss still poignantly felt by their descendants.

'In the permanence of granite, marble and stone may there be a permanence in our remembrance, in diversity, in the colour and fragrance of the flowers of the memorial, that the memorial be an acknowledgement of the diversity of humankind.' After the wreath-laying a minute's silence was held for private reflection then the hymn Nearer My God to Thee, which was played by the band before the ship sank, rang out. He said: 'This setting is dedicated to two people, one who died very old and one who died very young. 'Within my own experience, they mirrored the huge range of people who lost their lives as a result of the Titanic disaster.' Dr Robert Ballard, who discovered the wreck in 1985, was in Belfast for today's ceremony and delivered a memorial lecture yesterday. A funeral pall to commemorate the disaster will also be unveiled at St Anne's Church of Ireland Cathedral, in Belfast. Childhood home of Titanic captain to be put up for sale 100 years after tragedy Captain Edward Smith's childhood home has gone up for sale and is on the market for £80,000 The house where Titanic captain Edward John Smith was born is up for sale at a bargain price.

The skipper of the ill-fated liner grew up in the two-bed Victorian terrace in Well Street, Hanley, Staffordshire, which is now on the market for £80,000. The history of the humble home attracted the current owners to buy it 10 years ago and now they hope to pass it on to a historical custodian who can make the most of its past. Neil and Louise Bonner snapped the house up for less than £50,000 as an investment and rented it out. But now on the 100th anniversary of the Titanic tragedy, they have put it on the market. Mr Bonner, 64, who is a journalist said: 'It's been fascinating to have had a connection to the Titanic story. It's certainly provided an interesting talking point over the years.' The couple from Stafford are hoping to capitalise on the interest in the centenary year of the loss of the passenger liner which collided with an iceberg and sank off the coast of Newfoundland. More than 1,500 people including Captain Edward John Smith died in the 1912 tragedy. He and his pottery worker parents are believed to have lived in the house for more than a decade.

He worked at a local steelmaker before heading off to sea aged 13, where he progressed from ship's boy to captain. Mrs Bonner, 60, who is a retired university lecturer, said: 'It's hard to understand what motivated him to go to sea.He came from a typical working class Potteries family and he went on to achieve so much. 'The house has already attracted interest from Germany and America.' Estate agent Tabatha Cartlidge said: 'The history of this property is likely to be the draw for potential buyers. We anticipate it may attract interest from across the world.'

Question: Who led the expedition that discovered The Titanic on the bed of the Atlantic Ocean?
Answer: Robert Ballard