TITANIC

12,450 ft BELOW

Ballard Balances Excitement, Reverence

During Centennial Exhibit Opening

By John Voket

MYSTIC — It was as though Oceanographer Robert Ballard flipped a switch.

At one point during a crowded press conference for the opening of Mystic Aquarium’s new exhibit, “Titanic – 12,450 Feet Below,” with a bank of video cameras and dozens of reporters and photographers jockeying for position, Dr Ballard made reference to what it must have been like on the desolate and serine landscape of the North Atlantic floor as the bodies of hundreds of Titanic passengers and crew began raining down from 2.3 miles above.

It seemed at that moment the sheer human tragedy of that fateful event a century ago transcended all the mystery and drama of the massive ship’s fateful voyage, as well as the glitz and celebrity of the centennial exhibit opening, struck virtually everyone in the room. And there was a collective, although momentary hush, as that mental image took hold.

“When you’re down at Titanic, you see the giant boilers and the giant bow and the giant stern. But then you come across the shoes,” Dr Ballard related. “And that’s the signature. The bodies that came raining down ... the people who were freezing to death and dying by the hundreds — who didn’t have life jackets. Imagine a rain of human bodies landing on the bottom all over the place.”

Further explaining the rapid elimination of those now lifeless bodies by the deep ocean dwelling animals, and the eventual deterioration of their bones, Dr Ballard pointed to a small manmade replica of the ocean floor just a few feet in front of him which contained three pairs of matching shoes.

“When we saw those pairs of shoes, we saw the tombstones of those people. That’s pretty powerful,” Dr Ballard said, before delivering the most critical message illustrating how passionate he is about forever preserving this solemn burial ground. 

“And you don’t pick up their watch, you don’t go to a cemetery with a shovel.”

Harmful Visitors

In chatting briefly with Dr Ballard, and observing him interacting with numerous other interviewers, some who traveled from halfway around the world to witness the opening of the aquarium’s special exhibition opening, he continued to drive home the point of preservation, and the reverence the final resting site of Titanic should inspire.

At the same time he took aim at the rich and curious, who have the means to send manned and unmanned submersibles “like bulls in a china shop” down to Titanic. Dr Ballard described an original act in 1986 that was intended to protect and preserve Titanic and its artifacts where they rest as polite, but lacking any teeth to enforce its noble intent.

And he praised Senator John Kerry’s latest attempt to initiate a pact with enforceable language.

“The language that Senator Kerry introduced just a few days ago has teeth in it,” Dr Ballard said. “The idea is to have NOAA — the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration — become the lead agency in setting regulatory controls over access to the Titanic, and to have that treaty co-signed by other nations.”

Dr Ballard said France and Russia are the nations currently targeted for sending submarines down to the wreckage, which appear to be causing irreparable harm to the site.

“It’s their submarines that I believe are doing the most tremendous amount of damage, because I’ve documented it,” he said, pointing to a giant mosaic of the deck of Titanic’s bow. “You can see where the submarines are landing and crushing the deck. You don’t go to the Louvre and stick your fingers in the Mona Lisa. We’re trying to have some rules of the road for anyone visiting the Titanic.”

Despite repetitive questions about his feelings the moment he first saw the ghostly wreck loom from the darkness, and his favorite aspect of the new Mystic Aquarium exhibit, Dr Ballard managed to steer virtually every conversation back to the solemnity, and his preservation agenda regarding the “unsinkable” ship.

Welcoming The World

Sea Research Foundation, operator of Mystic Aquarium, is welcoming the world to its multi-million dollar permanent exhibit, located in the aquarium’s newly renamed Ocean Exploration Center exhibit hall. As a commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the ship’s tragic voyage, Connecticut Governor Dannel P. Malloy proclaimed April 11, 2012, as Titanic Memorial Day in the State of Connecticut.

The new exhibit is the product of a collaboration between Dr Ballard, president of Sea Research Foundation’s Institute for Exploration, and Tim Delaney, the former senior Walt Disney Imagineering designer.

Sea Research Foundation President & CEO Dr Stephen M. Coan said the renamed Ocean Exploration Center and centenary Titanic exhibit represents “a unique and important collaboration that will give people a chance to experience Titanic through the eyes of the person who found her, someone recognized as one of the world’s greatest explorers, and through the imagination of a world-renowned exhibit designer.”

Mr Delaney described the exhibit that he and his team produced as “a very different approach to the Titanic experience, one that taps directly into the excitement of exploration and discovery.

“Our Titanic exhibit is awe-inspiring and emotional. It is designed to capture the moment of discovery that only access to the actual discoverer’s insight and vision can deliver,” Mr Delaney added. “Working hand in glove with Bob Ballard and Sea Research has enabled us to create something that both adults and children will find thrilling, immersive, interactive, experiential and memorable.”

“Titanic – 12,450 Feet Below” welcomes visitors with a glowing iceberg that is cold to the touch, a bi-level adventure area inspired by Titanic’s engine room, hands-on experiences that unfold Titanic’s lingering mysteries, and modern deep-sea technology that led to Titanic’s eventual discovery.

“Everything about her conception, construction, launch, passage, passengers, loss and legend is fascinating and mind-boggling,” Dr Ballard said in an advance. “Our goal with this new exhibit has been to draw visitors into the wonder of discovery by exposing them to natural phenomena such as icebergs, hydrodynamics, navigation, deep-sea exploration, and to present them with challenges, options and insights for interpreting the story on their own. At Sea Research, we follow the mantra of learning by doing, and this new exhibit is designed to do just that.”

To learn more about the new  Titanic exhibit, as well as aquarium membership and visitor’s information, go to MysticAquarium.org.