The 1987 Titanic recovery dives

Nautile · 1987 CE · Earth

The 1987 Titanic recovery dives — Nautile · 1987 CE · Earth — Recorded expedition route · schematic map

Dive the wreck from the support ship Nadir and recover objects from the debris field.

Historical context

Ballard had left the Titanic untouched and asked that others do the same. Two years later Ifremer returned with Nautile and a consortium of investors, made thirty-two dives from the support ship Nadir and raised more than 1,800 objects from the debris field. The artefacts were conserved and exhibited; the argument about whether a grave can be a museum has run ever since.

The voyage, step by step

  1. Nadir sails from Toulon

    July 1987

    In July 1987 the Ifremer support ship leaves the Var coast with a titanium submersible rated to six kilometres in her cradle.

  2. Out through Gibraltar

    1987 CE

    The ship threads the fourteen-kilometre gate between two continents and turns north-west for the Grand Banks.

  3. On station over the wreck

    25 July 1987

    On 25 July 1987 Nadir takes up position above 3,800 metres of water and begins a campaign of thirty-two dives.

  4. Along the bow

    1987 CE

    The submersible flies down the hull past the anchor, the bollards and the bridge, where rusticles hang from every rail.

  5. The debris field

    1987 CE

    Between the two halves of the ship lies a plain strewn with crockery, coal, shoes, brass fittings and the contents of the cabins.

  6. A safe and a leather valise

    October 1987

    Among the 1,800 objects raised are a purser's safe and a passenger's case, still holding papers and banknotes.

  7. Grave or museum

    10 September 1987

    Nadir comes home on 10 September to a quarrel that has not finished: whether anything should ever have been lifted.

Outcome

Thirty-two dives between 25 July and 10 September 1987, more than 1,800 objects raised, and a lasting quarrel about whether any of it should have been touched.

Nautile

French submersible rated to six kilometres, which made thirty-two dives on the Titanic in 1987 and brought back more than 1,800 objects.

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