had totally collapsed, with the twisted bow subsequently tilting forward at such an angle that a chasm had opened up between the two intact sections. The breach is probably no more than about 50 feet wide( 15m), while the jagged pieces of hull plating that resulted from an alleged internal explosion are in reality nothing more than fractured steel plates, twisted in every conceivable direction during the sinking process. This in itself was a huge step forward in the field of Britannic research, although by the time our operations in the Kea Channel eventually concluded, on 4 September 1995, it was clear that the wreck of the Britannic had still not even begun to give up its secrets.
When NOVA’ s Titanic’ s Lost Sister transmitted, on 28 January 1996, the fact that it had not been possible to film key
This image and the top photo on the facing page show two views of the promenade deck pantry, used for the first-class public rooms on that deck internal areas of the wreck left me with a feeling of unfinished business. But while there were hopes that this might one day be rectified when Ballard returned to the Britannic to carry out his‘ Telepresence’ project – a combination of permanently mounted cameras and satellite technology that would allow shore-based scientists, teachers and students to access data and images from a shipwreck in real time – sadly, this concept would not come to pass. In the end, perhaps it didn’ t really matter, when, seven months later, I unexpectedly found myself in the curious position of having officially acquired the UK government’ s former legal title to the wreck. Suddenly, the responsibility for solving the host of mysteries surrounding the loss of the Britannic was no longer someone else’ s problem; it was now very much my problem, even if at that time I didn’ t have the faintest notion as to the scale of the task I had taken on, and exactly how I would go about resolving the questions that, up to that point, I had been happy to work on from behind the scenes.
Manned expeditions again
It would not be until the spring of 1997 that I was even remotely in a position to start thinking of planning a way forward on the Britannic. As I pondered on the reality of following in the footsteps of luminaries like Jacques Cousteau and Bob Ballard, I instinctively knew that I was totally out of my depth. Not only that, but the financial considerations alone were daunting. Never mind contemplating whether or not it would be better to take the more physical manned approach to wreck exploration à la Cousteau, or instead pursue the safer but more detached use of ROVs as advocated by Ballard. If I was going to be able to realise my plans then not only was it going to cost a ton of money, but I had to face up to the fact that I had absolutely no diving experience, not even the slightest idea about how to go about generating the necessary funding, or even the faintest clue about arranging the underwater logistics that would be required. Apart from that, I was perfect for the job.
Oddly enough, it was the world of
Interior scenes from the 2023 expedition – wreck penetration at 100 metres
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