Back to Titanic: Footage of first images from first dive in 1986 released
Titanic footage FILE PHOTO: On September 1, 1985, underwater explorer Robert Ballard located the world's most famous shipwreck. The Titanic lay largely intact at a depth of 12,000 feet off the coast of St. John's, Newfoundland. Using a small submersible craft, Ballard explored the wreck in 1986, taking a series of spectacular and haunting pictures and giving the world its first glimpse of the legendary ship in 73 years. (Ralph White/Getty Images)
ByNatalie Dreier, Cox Media Group National Content Desk
It was the first time in 74 years that someone had laid eyes on the Titanic since it sunk in April 1912, and footage from the first manned dive to the massive ship in 1986 is giving a glimpse of the amazing sight.
The rare video will be released Wednesday evening by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, USA Today reported.
The video was captured by submersibles Alvin, which was occupied by a diver, and “Jason Junior,” which was remotely controlled, during an expedition in July 1986 helmed by oceanographer Robert Ballard.
The organization said most of the footage was never released to the public until now.
The ship was discovered on Sept. 1, 1985, when Ballard was part of the crew from Woods Hole and IFREMER, a French oceanographic research organization. At the time, they were towing an underwater camera more than 12,000 feet below the ocean’s surface, USA Today reported.
Ballard had asked the U.S. Navy to fund an underwater camera that could go as deep as 20,000 feet to help find the Titanic. But the military had other uses for the camera rig, known as the Argo. They wanted to use it to look at the wrecks of two nuclear subs — the U.S.S. Thresher and U.S.S. Scorpion — which had been lost in the Atlantic in the 1960s, History.com reported.
Ballard and the Navy came to a deal: If Ballard would find the subs, then with whatever time he had left, he could look for the Titanic. The mission was under a veil of secrecy during the height of the Cold War, History.com said. While Ballard was technically on active duty as a Navy officer, only the military and those who were part of the search for the subs knew the official mission. Others were told that Ballard was only an oceanographer looking for the doomed liner. That was until the mission’s military side was declassified in the 2000s.
After finding both the Thresher and the Scorpion, and with the deadline to complete the job only 12 days away, the crew started looking for the Titanic. After several days of around-the-clock monitoring a live feed from the Argo, they saw hull plates and the Titanic’s boiler, showing they were close. The next morning, they came across the Titanic’s bow surrounded by the inky darkness of the deep water.
“It was one thing to have won—to have found the ship,” Ballard later wrote about the moment, according to History.com. “It was another thing to be there. That was the spooky part. I could see the Titanic as she slipped nose first into the glassy water. Around me were the ghostly shapes of the lifeboats and the piercing shouts and screams of people freezing to death in the water.”
Less than a year after the discovery, Woods Hole returned to the site with Alvin and Jason Junior to capture video of the ship’s interiors. The Sept. 1, 1985, dive was the first time a person had come face-to-face with the fabled ship since it slid under the ocean’s surface after hitting an iceberg in the North Atlantic, The Associated Press reported.
Fifteen hundred people were killed in the sinking.
Woods Hole will unveil 80 minutes of the Titanic footage at 7:30 p.m. EST on the organization’s YouTube channel.
Earlier this month, the motion picture “Titanic” was remastered and rereleased to celebrate the film’s 25th anniversary.
“More than a century after the loss of Titanic, the human stories embodied in the great ship continue to resonate,” ocean explorer and filmmaker James Cameron said in a statement, according to the AP. “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.”
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Titanic FILE PHOTO: On September 1, 1985, underwater explorer Robert Ballard located the world's most famous shipwreck. The Titanic lay largely intact at a depth of 12,000 feet off the coast of St. John's, Newfoundland. Using a small submersible craft, Ballard explored the wreck in 1986, taking a series of spectacular and haunting pictures and giving the world its first glimpse of the legendary ship in 73 years. (Ralph White/Getty Images)
Titanic 29th April 1912: Stewards who survived the Titanic shipwreck line up outside a first class waiting room before being called in for questioning by the board of enquiry. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images) (Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)
Titanic NEW YORK, NY - JANUARY 05: Artifacts recovered from the wreck site of the RMS Titanic on display at the Titanic Auction preview at the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum on January 5, 2012 in New York City. (Photo by John Lamparski/WireImage) (John Lamparski/WireImage)
Titanic Undated artist impression showing the 14 April 1912 shipwreck of the British luxury passenger liner Titanic off the Nova-Scotia coasts, during its maiden voyage. The supposedly 'Unsinkable' Titanic set sail down Southampton Water en-route to New York on 10 April 1912 and met disaster on 14 April 1912 after hitting an iceberg off Newfoundland shortly before midnight and sinking two hours later, killing about 1,500 passengers and ship personnel. (Photo credit: OFF/AFP via Getty Images) (AFP/AFP via Getty Images)
Titanic A.U.V.s explore the wreck of the Titanic (Mmdi/Getty Images)
Titanic RMS Titanic Of The White Star Line Sinking Around 2 20 Am Monday Morning April 15 1912 After Hitting An Iceberg In The North Atlantic (Photo by: Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images) (Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty)
Titanic The 46 328 Tons RMS Titanic Of The White Star Line Which Sank At 2 20 Am Monday Morning April 15 After Hitting Iceberg In North Atlantic 1912 (Photo by: Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images) (Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty)
Titanic The White Star Line passenger liner R.M.S. Titanic embarking on its ill-fated maiden voyage. (Bettmann/Bettmann Archive)
Titanic Purser Hugh Walter McElroy and Captain Edward J. Smith aboard the Titanic during the run from Southampton to Queenstown, England. The man who took the photograph, Rev. F.M. Browne, got off at Queenstown, three days before the ship hit an iceberg and sank. (Photo by Ralph White/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images) (Krista Few/Corbis via Getty Images)
Titanic Some of the Titanic's Notable Passengers', April 20, 1912. Photographs of well-to-do passengers, some 'known to be saved'. The White Star Line ship RMS 'Titanic' struck an iceberg in thick fog off Newfoundland on 14 April 1912. She was the largest and most luxurious ocean liner of her time, and thought to be unsinkable. In the collision, five of her watertight compartments were compromised and she sank. Out of the 2228 people on board, only 705 survived. A major cause of the loss of life was the insufficient number of lifeboats she carried. Page 5, from "Titanic In Memoriam Number", a special supplement in "The Daily Graphic" newspaper issued following the sinking of the 'Titanic' on 15 April 1912, published on 20 April 1912. Artist Unknown. (Photo by The Print Collector/Getty Images) (Print Collector/Getty Images)
Titanic A spare anchor sits in its well on the forepeek of the shipwrecked Titanic. (Ralph White/Getty Images)
Titanic (Ralph White/Getty Images)
Titanic Allan Carlin, general counsel for RMS Titanic Inc., poses for photographers in front of a section of the hull of the RMS Titanic at the Commonwealth Pier in Boston, 21 August. The 20-ton steel piece, which was recovered 10 August from the floor of the Atlantic off Newfoundland 10 miles from the original wreck site, will join the Titanic exhibition underway at the World Trade Center in Boston. (Photo credit: STUART CAHILL/AFP via Getty Images) (AFP/AFP via Getty Images)
Titanic A telegraph message from a ship called Olympic reports that it has received word from the Titanic that it has stuck an iceberg. The message is one of several similar messages from ships in the vicinity of the Titanic detailing the events leading up to it's sinking which were on display 13 February at Christie's East in New York City and will be auctioned as part of a Maritime auction on 17 February. AFP PHOTO Matt CAMPBELL (Photo credit: MATT CAMPBELL/AFP via Getty Images) (MATT CAMPBELL/AFP via Getty Images)
Titanic Features which Contributed to the Splendours of the Titanic', April 20, 1912. A single-berth state room, a deck state room, the swimming pool, the Turkish Bath Cooling Room, the Verandah Cafe, the main staircase, the Georgian Smoke Room and the restaurant. The luxurious interior decoration included French walnut panelling, mother-of-pearl inlay and climbing plants. The White Star Line ship RMS 'Titanic' struck an iceberg in thick fog off Newfoundland on 14 April 1912. She was the largest and most luxurious ocean liner of her time, and thought to be unsinkable. In the collision, five of her watertight compartments were compromised and she sank. Out of the 2228 people on board, only 705 survived. A major cause of the loss of life was the insufficient number of lifeboats she carried. Page 6, from "Titanic In Memoriam Number", a special supplement in "The Daily Graphic" newspaper issued following the sinking of the 'Titanic' on 15 April 1912, published on 20 April 1912. Artist Unknown. (Photo by The Print Collector/Getty Images) (Print Collector/Getty Images)
Titanic Titanic -- A 20-ton section of the hull of the Titanic was lowered into a pool underneath the Union Depot Concourse, the location of "Titanic The Exhibition." The piece was retrieved from the wreck site of the Titanic on August 10, 1998, during the most recent expedition to the ship's location at the bottom of the North Atlantic. The hull piece measures 20 feet high and 26 feet wide and is by far the largest object to ever have been retrieved from the wreck site. The section of the hull, which has several portholes and is reinforced on the inside by steel beams, comes from a part of the ship midway between the port and the stern. It is the outer wall of an unoccupied first-class cabin on C-deck.The piece will be displayed in a 5 foot deep pool filledwith a solution of soda ash and water. This will be the beginning of many months of conservation treatment designed to draw the salts out of the metal.(Photo By JERRY HOLT/Star Tribune via Getty Images) (JERRY HOLT/Star Tribune via Getty Images)
Titanic (Krista Few/Getty Images)
Titanic Sinking of the Titanic April 1912: lifeboat of the Titanic, seen from the deck of the ship Carpathia (Photo by ullstein bild/ullstein bild via Getty Images) (United Archives/ullstein bild via Getty Images)
Titanic Sets of breakfast dishes from the sunken Titanic (1912) are shown in New York, 25 August 1987, in the position they were found by expedition Titanic 1987. (Photo by - / AFP) (Photo credit should read -/AFP via Getty Images) (-/AFP via Getty Images)
Titanic On board the RMS Carpathia, the castaways of the RMS Titanic are supplied with blankets to keep warm. (Photo by: Carl Simon/United Archives/Universal Images Group via Getty Images) (United Archives/Archiv Carl Simon/Universal Images Group via Getty)
Titanic The hole from the number one funnel of the shipwrecked Titanic. (Ralph White/Getty Images)
Titanic British merchant seaman Sir Arthur Henry Rostron (1869 - 1940) (center), captain of the RMS Carpathia, is presented with a trophy cup by American socialite Molly Brown (1867 - 1932), New York, New York, May 29, 1912. The Carpathia had been instrumental in the rescue of 705 passengers, one of whom was Brown, from the sinking RMS Titanic the previous month. (Photo by Bain Photo Collection/PhotoQuest/Getty Images) (PhotoQuest/Getty Images)
Titanic Sender of the "S. O. S."' Signal for Help', (April 20), 1912. John George Phillips (nicknamed Jack, 1887-1912) was the ship's senior wireless operator who tried to save the 'Titanic' and all those on board by transmitting pleas for help until the ship lost power and sank. He died in the tragedy and his body was never recovered. The White Star Line ship RMS 'Titanic' struck an iceberg in thick fog off Newfoundland on 14 April 1912. She was the largest and most luxurious ocean liner of her time, and thought to be unsinkable. In the collision, five of her watertight compartments were compromised and she sank. Out of the 2228 people on board, only 705 survived. A major cause of the loss of life was the insufficient number of lifeboats she carried. Page 8, from "Titanic In Memoriam Number", a special supplement in "The Daily Graphic" newspaper issued following the sinking of the 'Titanic' on 15 April 1912, published on 20 April 1912. Artist Unknown. (Photo by The Print Collector/Getty Images) (Print Collector/Getty Images)
Titanic RMS Titanic passenger liner of the White Star Line. From The Story of 25 Eventful Years in Pictures, published 1935. (Photo by: Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images) (Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty)
Titanic The Scene Round the Fateful Board at Southampton', April 20, 1912. Anxious relatives and friends wait for news after the disaster. The White Star Line ship RMS 'Titanic' struck an iceberg in thick fog off Newfoundland on 14 April 1912. She was the largest and most luxurious ocean liner of her time, and thought to be unsinkable. In the collision, five of her watertight compartments were compromised and she sank. Out of the 2228 people on board, only 705 survived. A major cause of the loss of life was the insufficient number of lifeboats she carried. Page 20, from "Titanic In Memoriam Number", a special supplement in "The Daily Graphic" newspaper issued following the sinking of the 'Titanic' on 15 April 1912, published on 20 April 1912. Artist Unknown. (Photo by The Print Collector/Getty Images) (Print Collector/Getty Images)
Titanic Playing cards recovered from the wreck of the RMS Titanic are displayed at an exhibition in Memphis, Tennessee. (Todd Gipstein; RMS Titanic, Inc./Getty Images)
Titanic Funeral and memorial service for the dead of the shipwreck of the RMS Titanic, 1912. (Photo by: Carl Simon/United Archives/Universal Images Group via Getty Images) (United Archives/Archiv Carl Simon/Universal Images Group via Getty)
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