Titanic Diary
In June 2000 it was announced that a new international discovery and salvage expedition would return to the site of Titanic in the North Atlantic ocean in July and August 2000.
Combining the scientific and diving skills of Russian and American teams, "Titanic 2000" hoped to retrieve artifacts and historic items by entering the ship's cargo hold.
The Dive Safety Operations was awarded to us; Flagship Scubadiving Ltd, or more specifically to our own Rory Golden. Rory's job was to oversee the safe retrieval of the submersibles MIR 1 and MIR 2 from the sea after surfacing from the irregular trips to the sea bed.
Before embarking on the voyage, Rory was presented with a memorial plaque from the people of Cobh with the intention of placing it on the bridge of the Titanic in memory of the Irish people who died on board in 1912.
The Diary reports in the following pages were originally written for The Gerry Ryan Show by Rory as he kept the Ryan Show up to date during the expedition via Satellite phone. Here is an account of the adventure Rory had on his trip two and half miles under the North Atlantic.
Click here to view all the titanic photos.
Click here to view all the titanic photos.
26th July 2000 17.30
We arrived in St. John's, Newfoundland on the morning of the 24th. Eagerly anticipating a glimpse of land after 9 days at sea, I was up at 0600 having been woken by a distinct lack of motion of our ship, SV Explorer. Speed had been reduced in order to make the rendezvous at 0900 with the pilot, and we were now crawling along at a mere 3 knots. Arriving on deck, I was welcomed with a typical Newfoundland Banks morning - fog. A lot of it.
The previous 9 days had been eventful. A peaceful crossing, we sailed out of Liverpool on the evening of the 15th. Cruising down the Irish sea, in calm conditions, the feeling was good for the voyage. Sean O' Connell, my diving partner, and I spent the next few days sorting out the new dive kit and compressor, getting familiar with the gear and each other. We've known each other for a few years, from his role as a diver in the Garda Water Unit, but this was the first time that we were working together. Pretty soon it became apparent to us that we had the same warped sense of humour, something the ship's British crew would get used to. They had no choice.
After 3 days at sea, a pattern of waking, eating, working, eating, chilling, eating, had set in. Having been a fan of Patrick O'Brien's sea based novels for years, I have now come to realise the significance of mealtimes at sea. Life revolves around them!
During this period my wife, Anne, had her birthday (did she get the present?) we were escorted by a large pod of dolphins, met an oil/gas rig in mid Atlantic being towed, possibly to the new fields off Belmullet, and I spent a significant amount of time preparing our Dive Safety and Risk Assessment Plans on my newly purchased laptop which I'm now getting to grips with. Each morning Sean and I would have a loud conversation discussing our plans for the day which ranged from stripping down the brand new compressor, much to the captain's anguish, to building a nuclear missile, and digging an escape tunnel from our cabins in "steerage" using spoons nicked from the mess. And this was only after five days at sea, with another five weeks ahead of us…
The day before we landed, Captain Gary decided to stop the ship and test run the launching and recovery of the Rigid Inflatable boat, or RIB. I decided to use this opportunity for Sean and I to have a test dive. With a certain feeling of trepidation we entered the Atlantic Ocean off the Grand Banks with 2,000 metres below us. This is where buoyancy control becomes a big issue! A shot line of 40 metres was suspended from the surface marked off in 1 metre increments. Having discussed the plan beforehand, we checked each other out and descended down the shot, attached to each other by a buddy line. The water was a sharp blue colour and bloody cold! At ten metres we stopped, exchanged signals and carried out a few exercises. We then descended to 15 metres and 20 metres, repeating the exercises, which were simple buoyancy control exercises, buddy breathing, swimming away from the shot and signal recognition. This was the first time we had dived together, not in familiar Irish waters, but in Lat 48, N 51 W, (find that on the chart) and we worked well. The plankton life was abundant, and quite a few jellyfish drifted by. The overcast day dulled things somewhat, but we could see the line dropping away from us to the depths below. It occurred to me that the next time we would be doing this would be in deeper water, but more significantly, over the site of the world's most famous wreck. A sobering thought in many ways. The memorial plaque that we brought was in my cabin. Would we actually get to place it on the bridge of this ship?
After 15 minutes we commenced our ascent up the shot line. Once we hit 12 metres, a visible thermocline was to be seen. This is where two different layers of water temperature meet and the effect it causes is akin to oil and water mixing in a container. The increase in the water temperature was also very noticeable and welcome, as we had five minutes to spend on the shot line as a safety stop. Soon we ascended to the surface and were quickly picked up and returned to the ship for a hot shower.
So much for being informed that one piece wet suits would be suitable, Plan B was about to kick in, not to mention C and D if necessary. If the water 400 miles further South wasn't much warmer, then the dry suit that I decided to bring at the last moment was being broken out. The third back up wetsuit was going to be somewhat altered with a very sharp knife and become part of a new style two piece wet suit that Northern Diver, our suppliers, hadn't thought of…
On board we now have the President of the company, Arnie Geller and his wife Judy, several large shareholders, two journalists, a scientist and historians. Our journey to the site will take 36 hours, and we will be joining the Russian ship AKADEMIK KELDYSH, mother ship to the two MIR submersibles that will descend to TITANIC, and the American ship, Intervention, which has the Remotely Operated Vehicles, ROV's, which will be doing artefact recoveries from debris field.
After two and a half days in St. John's, enjoying the very Irish hospitality, (the accents are scary, you'd think they had only left last week), a lot less money in our pockets, and several hangovers being nursed by all and sundry, we are now looking forward to the main phase of our expedition, TITANIC 2000.
The previous 9 days had been eventful. A peaceful crossing, we sailed out of Liverpool on the evening of the 15th. Cruising down the Irish sea, in calm conditions, the feeling was good for the voyage. Sean O' Connell, my diving partner, and I spent the next few days sorting out the new dive kit and compressor, getting familiar with the gear and each other. We've known each other for a few years, from his role as a diver in the Garda Water Unit, but this was the first time that we were working together. Pretty soon it became apparent to us that we had the same warped sense of humour, something the ship's British crew would get used to. They had no choice.
After 3 days at sea, a pattern of waking, eating, working, eating, chilling, eating, had set in. Having been a fan of Patrick O'Brien's sea based novels for years, I have now come to realise the significance of mealtimes at sea. Life revolves around them!
The day before we landed, Captain Gary decided to stop the ship and test run the launching and recovery of the Rigid Inflatable boat, or RIB. I decided to use this opportunity for Sean and I to have a test dive. With a certain feeling of trepidation we entered the Atlantic Ocean off the Grand Banks with 2,000 metres below us. This is where buoyancy control becomes a big issue! A shot line of 40 metres was suspended from the surface marked off in 1 metre increments. Having discussed the plan beforehand, we checked each other out and descended down the shot, attached to each other by a buddy line. The water was a sharp blue colour and bloody cold! At ten metres we stopped, exchanged signals and carried out a few exercises. We then descended to 15 metres and 20 metres, repeating the exercises, which were simple buoyancy control exercises, buddy breathing, swimming away from the shot and signal recognition. This was the first time we had dived together, not in familiar Irish waters, but in Lat 48, N 51 W, (find that on the chart) and we worked well. The plankton life was abundant, and quite a few jellyfish drifted by. The overcast day dulled things somewhat, but we could see the line dropping away from us to the depths below. It occurred to me that the next time we would be doing this would be in deeper water, but more significantly, over the site of the world's most famous wreck. A sobering thought in many ways. The memorial plaque that we brought was in my cabin. Would we actually get to place it on the bridge of this ship?
After 15 minutes we commenced our ascent up the shot line. Once we hit 12 metres, a visible thermocline was to be seen. This is where two different layers of water temperature meet and the effect it causes is akin to oil and water mixing in a container. The increase in the water temperature was also very noticeable and welcome, as we had five minutes to spend on the shot line as a safety stop. Soon we ascended to the surface and were quickly picked up and returned to the ship for a hot shower.
So much for being informed that one piece wet suits would be suitable, Plan B was about to kick in, not to mention C and D if necessary. If the water 400 miles further South wasn't much warmer, then the dry suit that I decided to bring at the last moment was being broken out. The third back up wetsuit was going to be somewhat altered with a very sharp knife and become part of a new style two piece wet suit that Northern Diver, our suppliers, hadn't thought of…
On board we now have the President of the company, Arnie Geller and his wife Judy, several large shareholders, two journalists, a scientist and historians. Our journey to the site will take 36 hours, and we will be joining the Russian ship AKADEMIK KELDYSH, mother ship to the two MIR submersibles that will descend to TITANIC, and the American ship, Intervention, which has the Remotely Operated Vehicles, ROV's, which will be doing artefact recoveries from debris field.
After two and a half days in St. John's, enjoying the very Irish hospitality, (the accents are scary, you'd think they had only left last week), a lot less money in our pockets, and several hangovers being nursed by all and sundry, we are now looking forward to the main phase of our expedition, TITANIC 2000.
