Email this page
Print this page
del.icio.us
digg
CommentsWhat It Feels Like...
(page 10 of 17)
… To See the Titanic at the Bottom of the Ocean
John Joslyn, 61
The co-owner of Titanic Branson is more than just a collector of Titanic treasures. He is one of the few who have actually visited the sunken ship and seen the ruins up close as he
| Titanic Tidbits • John Joslyn and company brought up 1,800 artifacts from the Titanic debris fields. • The big ship sank in 1912, landing on the ocean floor 12,500 feet down. That’s about two and a half miles. • The expedition took two industrial-grade work ships out to the site, one of which was dynamically positioned using satellites to keep it from moving. Even in the strong current of the Gulf Stream, it stayed with in a one-meter radius of itself. • A submersible called Nautile was used to allow a pilot and two passengers to navigate the bottom of the ocean. Connected to it was a mechanical arm that allowed them to pick up artifacts. A robot on an umbilical cord could extend 80 feet to explore where the submersible could not go. • It took the submersible about two and a half hours to sink the 12,500 feet from the water surface to the Titanic wreckage. • A trip down in the submersible lasted about 15 hours, and that’s in a tiny, cold, dark space with no bathroom or food. |
prepared to produce 1987’s Return to the Titanic: Live TV program.
BY JOHN JOSLYN,
AS TOLD TO KATIE POLLOCK
It was a wonderful experience that I really cherish a lot. It was the adventure of a lifetime. During the 45-day expedition, we did 32 dives in a submersible. Each had a mission planned out. It’d be like going to space. “What are we going to achieve today. How are we going to achieve it?” They’d plan out exactly what part of the debris field we were going to be in. Two halves of the ship lay down there, and they’re about a half-mile apart. And it’s a very vast plane in between, only because it is pitch black. There is no light. None.
You have a maximum depth of field down there of about 100 feet. I guess the most amazing thing is just seeing the bow of the ship. That one magnificent shot. And that’s the most magnificent because you’re in awe. You’ve suddenly been placed somewhere that no people are really going to be able to be. It’s breathtaking. It comes out of nowhere. It’s like an apparition. It’s just all of a sudden there, and it’s so big!
The Ocean Floor
It’s a hostile environment down there, but it’s extremely peaceful. There is actual sea life down there. We saw a rat-tailed fish that was all bioluminescent. You could almost look through it. It had the head of a fish and a body like an eel, and it was cool. I’m sure he was blind. There’d be no point in having vision down there. There’s no light.
The sea floor is littered with debris, everything from coal to marine instruments. There are not many, but there are some personal items. A personal item that was kind of interesting was a doll’s head. There’s a lot, believe me. There’s literally tens of thousands of items down there. And recently an expedition in 2000 found another debris field that we didn’t even know existed.
Sunken Treasures
I remember one particular suitcase we picked up. Inside were some clothes, but the best part was in the upper lid of the suitcase there was a newspaper. Of course the minute we saw the newspaper, we were like, “Okay, we’re not touching this. Let’s leave it alone.” And we stabilized it, and we packed it. After it went through preservation and conservation, you can read that newspaper today. It was from Paris. You think, “A newspaper will never last. The paper will be gone.” But it was right there.
Skeletons and Skulls?
[Human bodies] were something I worried about from a producer’s standpoint because I knew I was going to get asked that question from the networks. But I went to medical people and said, “What’s the probability that we’re going to see some human forms out there after 75 years?” And they said, “None. You know, they’ve either been dissolved or eaten or they have floated away, John. They’re just not going to exist.” And they didn’t. There were none. So there wasn’t going to be anything macabre about the whole thing, like you were going to see a body. It just wasn’t going to happen. This isn’t Pirates of the Caribbean.
Swept Away
One day we were on the stern of the support ship, and we were just hanging out. I said to the captain, “Do you mind if we go for a swim?” And he looked at me like I was crazy. And he goes, “Okay, I’ll let you go in the water, you guys, but I’m going to put a tender in the water with you.”
So we’re out in the water, we’re cavorting, and we’re having fun. We’re in the water about 20 minutes. Then all of a sudden, one of the guys goes, “Where’s the ship?” And we started looking, and the ship’s not there. It’s way gone. The ship hasn’t moved. It’s dynamically positioned. We had moved. And just that fast, we were gone. That’s the reason the captain thought I was crazy. We were swimming in the Gulf Stream, and that thing will move you so quick. And that’s when I was like, “Okay. I get this big time.” Once you’re in the water, you realize what a disaster a ship accident is, how fast you drift.
Would I go out there again? Absolutely. Sure. The ship is changing. Every day it changes because of the environment and what it does to it out there. It’s rusting away.
Reader Comments:
I came to this site after reading another story on this "What it feels like..." set of articles. I must say, to read that Mr. Pitt (Doug) is working with his brother in an effort to raise money for relief in Africa, I am rather charmed. Not to sound terribly snide but we expect celebrities to do something with the fame they have, we don't often see "normal" people doing the same. Though I appreciate that life with a brother such as this cannot exactly be normal as I would understand it but it is a step closer than what his brother experiences and it would be much easier to just leave the "dirty work" to his brother. My respect goes to this man, I'm glad I read through the articles, this was an impressive one to read. ~Emily