Thanks to the blockbuster film by James Cameron, you have to be living under a rock if you don't know about the passenger liner called Titanic.
Much has been said about what happened on the fateful night of April 15, 1912 that led to its sinking. It should come as no surprise that many efforts have been made to raise the wreck of the Titanic. It probably will not surprise anyone either that most of those efforts also ended nowhere.
The lack of success in locating the wreck lasted until September 1, 1985, when an expedition launched by oceanographers Robert Ballard and Jean-Louis Michel managed to find the wreck.
Here are five interesting facts about it that you may not know about:
1. The Successful Search was Actually Robert Ballard's Second Attempt at Finding the Titanic
Robert Ballard may have successfully found the wreck of the Titanic on September 1, 1985, but it was actually not his first attempt at locating it.
According to an article by History, his first search for the wreck took place in 1977, which obviously failed.
2. The Titanic's Boilers were the First to be Found
Ballard and Michel used an unmanned submersible called the Argo to locate the Titanic. Per History, "was investigating debris on the ocean floor when it suddenly passed over one of the Titanic's massive boilers, lying at a depth of about 13,000 feet."
The body of the Titanic was not discovered until the next day. It confirmed the fact that the ship had split into two when it sank.
3. Robert Ballard's Mother Told Him He'd Never Escape the 'Rusty Old Boat'
When you make a life-changing discovery, chances are one of the first people you'd inform is your family. In Robert Ballard's case, he had actually called his mother to inform her that he had successfully located the Titanic wreck.
According to CNN, Ballard said that "his mother predicted he'd never be able to escape that 'rusty old boat' when he called to tell her he'd located the famous shipwreck in 1985."
As it turned out, he became best known as "the man who found Titanic."
4. The Titanic Wreck was Found During a Secret US Navy Mission
The National Geographic points out in its article that the wreck was found during "a secret United States Navy investigation of two wrecked nuclear submarines." It should be noted that this took place as the Cold War was going on.
5. Only the Titanic's Bow was Clearly Recognizable When It was Found
As previously mentioned, the Titanic split into two during the fateful night that it sank. When the wreck was located, the bow and the stern sections of the passenger liner were located around a third of a mile apart.
Between the two, it was the Titanic's bow that was clearly recognizable in the photos taken of the wreck, according to Britannica. The same could not be said for the stern, which was described to be severely damaged.
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