Dive to The "Titanic"
This was certainly the most interesting consulting project of my career as well as the most fantastic experience of my life. I was hired as a consultant on ship structure and flooding for an expedition to the world's most romantic and well known shipwreck. Far more people have been to the top of Mount Everest or flown in space than have been as deep in the ocean as I went on August 13, 2005. More people have reached Everest's summit in a single day than have ever visited the remains of this great ship.
The expedition made some major discoveries that change our understanding of the break up and sinking and returned
with thirty hours of the first high definition video footage of the wreck ever made. A two hour special aired in
February, 2006 on the History Channel. You can buy a DVD of the show from the History Channel. There are now clips of
the show all over the web including this one of me discussing the break up.
Even if I had not gone to the bottom, this would have been the most interesting twelve days I have ever spent.
We had a remarkably congenial and experienced group. My companion on the dive, the late Ralph White (above right),
took the footage for the famous movie and has made over 30 dives to the wreck. Our HD cameraman from Woods Hole
was on the first expedition that found the wreck and mapped the debris field. It was a privilege to work in such
company. A second expedition scheduled for 2006 was canceled due to the Russians needing the ship and subs for
emergency pipeline work in the Baltic. However, I was retained to lead the investigation as the team continued
to research and analyze. This work was the subject of a second History Channel show "Titanic's Achillies Heel".
Both shows continue to air from time to time but the second has not been made available on DVD.
The expedition and research are the subject of a book, TITANIC'S LAST SECRETS by Brad Matsen, Twelve Books, and currently
available in most bookstores.
Our Ship
My My Ride
My Certificate
Since I was part of the story and being filmed, I couldn't wander around with a camera so I didn't take one. However, this was the most thoroughly documented event I was ever involved with.
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