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Since 1987, eight expeditions have traveled to the Titanic site. Five of the expeditions– 1987, 1993, 1994, 1996 and 1998– were organized by RMS Titanic, Inc., the company that was awarded sole guardianship rights to the Titanic and all materials raised from the wreck. All four of these missions were partnered with IFREMER, the French oceanographic institute that co-discovered the wreck.
The joint team has extensively photographed the wreck site and carefully recovered nearly 5,000 artifacts from the Titanic debris field.
All of the recovery missions have relied on IFREMER's deep-diving submersible, Nautile, which has completed 96 successful dives to the Titanic site– the equivalent of spending six months at the bottom of the sea.
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The U.S. Navy submersible Alvin was used in 1986 to explore and film the wreck. A free-falling submersible takes about 2-1/2 hours to reach the depth of the Titanic. |
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Alvin used a tethered robotic camera, Jason Jr., that was able to enter the Titanic's broken skylight and grand staircase where this crystal chandelier was still hanging. |
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A French research vessel lowers the Nautile into the North Atlantic during the 1996 expedition. The Nautile's nimble mechanical arms have helped in the recovery of nearly 5,000 artifacts.
The Nautile is one of only a few manned submersibles that can withstand the 6,000 pounds per square inch pressure at the Titanic wreck site. |
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