“Titanic was called the Ship of Dreams, and it was. It really was,” Rose DeWitt Bukater, played by actor Gloria Stuart, says in the 1997 James Cameron film Titanic. It is hard to believe that was 25 years ago.
To celebrate the film’s anniversary, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution released rare footage of its 1986 expedition exploring the wreckage of the Titanic. This footage is extraordinary, and it is the first time it has been made available to the public. If viewers use their imaginations, they just might be able to picture the Heart of the Ocean diamond necklace from the film.
The footage can be found on YouTube. It runs around 80 minutes. It is so impressive to watch.
Robert Ballard, crew leader and ocean explorer, recalls how moving it was to see the wreckage for himself for the first time. It was found 2 miles under the ocean's surface. The ship’s massive stature surprised him.
“The first thing I saw coming out of the gloom at 30 feet was this wall, this giant wall of riveted steel that rose over 100 and some feet above us,” he described to the Associated Press. “I never looked down at the Titanic. I looked up at the Titanic. Nothing was small.”
The ship was first sighted when the three-person crew was heading back up to the surface. The first image that Robert saw was the vessel’s portholes. He will never forget that moment.
“It was like people looking back at us. It was pretty haunting actually,” he said. This feeling was intensified when he spotted what appeared to be discarded baby shoes.
The footage was captured with the help of specialized equipment. A human-occupied vehicle named Alvin and a remote-operated vehicle named Jason Jr. were utilized. Jason Jr. takes viewers inside the vessel, while Alvin shows the initial approach and rests on the deck.
James Cameron, Titanic's director, weighed in about the release of the footage. “More than a century after the loss of Titanic, the human stories embodied in the great ship continue to resonate. Like many, I was transfixed when Alvin and Jason Jr. ventured down to and inside the wreck. By releasing this footage, WHOI is helping tell an important part of a story that spans generations and circles the globe,” he said.
The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution not only explored the wreckage in 1986 but also originally found it in 1985. The initial discovery just happened to occur at the same time of day the ship sank. The Titanic sank at around 2:20 a.m. on April 15, 1912, and was discovered many years later on the ocean floor at around 2 a.m.
This was a profound moment for Robert. “We actually stopped the operation and raised the vehicle to gather my thoughts and I said, ‘I’m going to go outside and just get myself back together’ and everyone else followed,” he recalled. “We had a small memorial service for all those that had died. But we were there, we were at this spot.”
