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The Discovery - The 1985 French-American
Expedition
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| By 1985, deep-sea exploration technology had vastly
improved. In particular, the French oceanographic institute, IFREMER,
had developed new side-scan sonar capabilities. In addition, the U.S.
Navy had fitted an unmanned, deep-towed submersible called Argo
with sophisticated video cameras and strobe lighting. That summer,
French and American scientists launched a collaborative two-month
expedition to test the new equipment. A second goal of the expedition
was to find and photograph the wreck of the Titanic. |
 According
to the plan, the French ship Le Suroit would tow a new side-scan
sonar device, called SAR, 600 feet above the sea bed. The French team,
headed by oceanographer Jean-Louis Michel and operations leader Jean
Jarry, would "mow the lawn" with SAR, scanning an area 400
nautical square miles in size. It would be up to the French team to
locate the Titanic. Then the American team, led by geologist
Robert Ballard, would use the U.S. Navy's video-based search system
to explore and photograph the wreck. If the joint expedition succeeded
in finding the Titanic, IFREMER would recover its expenses
from contracts it had negotiated with Ballard's private company, DOSS,
for the sale of video and still photos of the wreck. |
After 21 days of constant sonar scanning over 80 percent of the search
area, however, there was still no sign of the Titanic. In
truth, Le Suroit had actually passed over the Titanic
at the very beginning of the search.  The
ship's magnetometers had indicated a large metal mass on the sea floor,
but the expedition team had dismissed the surprising readings, attributing
them to equipment problems.
At that point, the French and American researchers transferred to
the U.S. Navy vessel Knorr, while Le Suroit returned
to France. The joint team began to explore the remaining 20 percent
of the search area using the Americans' new video system, mounted
on Argo. Together, they hunted for the debris that often falls from
sinking ships, as well as for the Titanic's wreck itself. |
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