AT SEA 1 Sep 2010 Wreck of Titanic found 25 years ago

Robert Ballard discovered the wreck of the Titanic off the coast of Newfoundland 25 years ago on Sep 1. The supposedly unsinkable ocean liner had gone down with massive loss of life in 1912. The date promises video replays of the discovery and media about Ballard and his other celebrated finds. Sep 1 is one of a trio of anniversaries related to the sinking of the Titanic almost 100 years ago that are likely to boost interest in Titanic memorabilia. Items could gain value as the centenary approaches.

A letter written by a first-class passenger on the Titanic to his "wifey" sold for 55,000 British pounds (almost $85,000) at a recent auction in Britain, but other items have fetched bigger sums. Auctioned by Christie's in 2008, a Titanic life jacket sold for US $119,000. Other items from the liner, which was hit by an iceberg and sank on its maiden voyage, claiming some 1500 lives, have done well in auctions. These include a second-class passenger list and two "Marconi Grams" from and to survivors. In 2009, a Titanic cabin key sold for US $88,000

Ballard, an American oceanographer and marine geologist whose pioneering use of deep-diving submersibles laid the foundations for deep-sea archaeology, is best known for discovering the wreck of the Titanic. Other notable discoveries have kep him in the headlines for decades. He led an expedition that uncovered thermal vents in the Galapagos Rift, which gave rise to the discovery of chemosynthesis, the chemical synthesis of food energy. The wrecks he discovered include ancient vessels and World War II ships, including the Bismarck, which sank in 1941; the wreck of the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown; and the wreck of John F. Kennedy's PT-109.

He searched for the wreck of the Titanic to test the Argo, a 16-foot submersible sled he developed that was equipped with a remote-controlled camera to transmit live images. The submersible was sent some 13,000 feet to the floor of the North Atlantic, sending video to the monitors on the USS Knorr, a US Navy research ship. The first images were of the 45,000 ton luxury liner were its giant boilers on the ocean floor at a depth of more than 10,000 ft some 350 miles south of Newfoundland. Later video revealed that the Titanic was lying in two pieces, with the hull upright and largely intact.

In Dec 1997, the sinking was brought forcefully back into the public eye with the blockbuster hit Titanic, starring Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio. It was the highest-grossing film in history until Avatar, released in 2009.

RELATED READING:

Robert Ballard biography (Encyclopedia Britannica)
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/50538/Robert-Ballard

Hubbard Medal information (Media Newswire 15 Apr 2010)
http://media-newswire.com/release_1116548.html

Titanic letter fetches £55,000 (Telegraph 28 Apr 2010)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/7602406/Titanic-letter-fetches-55000.html

Titanic's wreck found and filmed (Guardian 3 Sep 2010 http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/1985/sep/03/fromthearchive

Titanic's last surviving passenger dies (RIA Novosti 1 Jun 2009)
http://en.rian.ru/world/20090601/155136057.html

Titanic cabin key sold for $88,000 at auction in U.K. (RIA Novosti 19 Apr 2009)
http://en.rian.ru/world/20090419/121197275.html