I believe each person who is touched by the story of RMS Titanic comes away with a special relationship with the lost ocean liner. The Exhibition is the only collection in the world of Titanic artifacts recovered from the ocean floor. I've learned about the ship itself and the era that inspired its creation. I also came to know the stories of many of the ship's passengers and crew. As I've grown closer to her story, I've felt a strong connection to Titanic and all those who sailed with her into history.
So it was indeed an honor and a thrill when I was selected to participate in Expedition 2000: a research and recovery mission to the wreck site of the Titanic herself. After years of exhibiting the artifacts of the Titanic, I was now going to see the ship itself.
The wreck of the Titanic lies about 400 nautical miles off the coast of St. Johns Newfoundland, two and a half miles below the surface of the North Atlantic. Special deep-sea submersibles are required to reach the ship. The Mir I and Mir II are two such submersibles aboard the Russian research vessel, Akademik Keldysh. I sailed from St. Johns with a team of Titanic experts, historians and conservators, to meet the Keldysh over the Titanic wreck site.
There were 14 dives to the wreck of Titanic, using both submersibles for each dive. When my turn came, I found I was going to be a part of dive number 13. Fortunately, I'm not superstitious person, but the thought did give me pause. I was about to descend over 12,000 feet below the sea. I was certainly filled with a mix of emotions as I climbed into the submersible with my two Russian crewmates. The first thing I notice is how small the interior of the sub really is. It's like being in the front seat of a small car, with two other people, for the twelve hours duration of the dive. I had to lie on my stomach in order to fit in the craft. As the hatch was tightened down above me, word was given that we were ready to dive.
It was a bright and beautiful sunny day. I remember so clearly the moment we were lifted off the deck of the Keldysh and set in the North Atlantic. My window to the underwater world was a six-inch porthole. I will never forget the bright, turquoise blue of the North Atlantic as the submersible hit the ocean. As we were pulled away from the Keldysh and started our descent, the bright blue of the ocean slowly and steadily faded to black. Within fifteen minutes we were in total darkness and we continued our two and a half hour journey to the bottom of the North Atlantic. We all know the feeling of sitting in a theater, when the house lights go down and there is that moment of excitement -that moment of anticipation, for what is about to happen. Well, for me on this day, it was two hours of that feeling, as I journeyed to the bottom of the ocean.
The descent was a time of great expectation. After all, I was traveling to a place few have been - the final resting place of the "unsinkable" Titanic. There was a depth gauge over my left shoulder that counted up in meters - first 10 meters, then 100, then 1000. As our depth increased, the temperature inside the sub dropped. It was a hot and sticky 92 degrees when the hatch was first closed. The chill inside the submersible would be 38 degrees when we reached the ocean floor. As we passed 3000 meters, the sub's pilot, Jenna, moved forward to take control of the sub. The moment was near. At 3844 meters I felt a very light touch down on the ocean floor. "Tom," Jenna, the sub's pilot said to me, "we are on the bottom - and we are at the bow."
I turned back to my porthole, and starred out into the black, and waited, and waited. Suddenly, the Mir's exterior lights filled the ocean floor. And there was the Titanic, the very front of the ship towering above me. There she was, upright and strong, resting just as she landed in 1912. She appeared more beautiful than I had imagined. I just stared - awestruck and thrilled.
After a moment, we slowly and silently began to rise along the bow, past the enormous anchors that still hang from both sides of the ship, and finally climbing over the bow railing - the very front of Titanic. We navigated just above the ship's forward decks. I looked down into the number one cargo hatch and then the number two cargo hatch. We traveled just above the ship's fallen forward mast. The same mast held the crow's nest, where the ship's lookouts had first seen the fatal iceberg. The feeling of excitement that I had felt was starting to give way to a strong emotional and human experience.
As we turned toward the starboard side of the ship, we passed Captain E.J. Smith's cabin. The exterior wall of the cabin has fallen away, so I was able to look into his cabin almost as if it were a movie set. But, of course, this was not a Hollywood creation. I could see his bathtub, the place where his bed once stood, and in the back of the room, the doorway that led to the Bridge.
Captain Smith had retired to his cabin at 9:00 on the evening of April 14th, 1912. He was resting in that cabin when Titanic scraped along the iceberg at 11:40. And even though many passengers did not even feel Titanic shudder, Captain Smith immediately recognized there was something wrong with his ship. The records show that he quickly arrived on the Bridge to assume command.
As I looked into his cabin, I thought of Captain Smith. This man had crossed the Atlantic hundreds of times without incident. He had promised his wife he would retire once he brought Titanic back to England. Within a half an hour of arriving on the Bridge, he knew that Titanic was doomed. He knew that there were only enough lifeboats for the 2,228 passengers and crew on board. He knew that this, indeed, would be his final voyage.
As we continued to explore the Titanic, I began to recall the stories of other passengers and crew members, wives separated from husbands, children from their parents, some families staying together until the end. I knew this journey to the Titanic was not merely an adventure, it was a great privilege to be present at the site of such a moving human drama. I left the Titanic wreck site with a renewed understanding of this tragic event. I understood that day that all who are a part of Titanic have a responsibility to preserve Titanic's history. We must continue to present her recovered artifacts in a way that brings dignity and honor to those who lost their lives and to those whose lives were forever changed.
Kapcsolat: titanickiallitas@rtlklub.hu