Titanic Expedition Begins and Ends After Capturing Remarkable Images

Few names spark the imagery that "Titanic" can.  The name conjures images of romance, luxury, opulence, tragedy and death.  When the Titanic struck an iceberg and sank on her maiden voyage from England to New York City ninety-eight years ago in 1912, more than 1,500 souls perished in the icy waters of the Atlantic.  Seventy-three years later, some 370 miles (600 km) south-east of Mistaken Point, Newfoundland, Dr. Robert Ballard of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute and Jean-Louis Michel of Ifremer discovered the wreckage of the Titanic 2 1/2 miles (4 km) beneath the Atlantic's surface.

The ship has always been at the center of interest for researchers.  Before Ballard and Michel discovered the ship, many wanted to do just that.  Some even wanted to raise it.  There have been several visits to the site with submersibles being dispatched to collect artifacts, video or photographs.

Ninety-eight years later, yet another expedition to the Titanic site has come and gone.  Plagued by both Hurricanes Danielle and Igor, the research expedition was conducted in two parts.  The first ended in August of 2010 when Hurricane Danielle forced the expedition to return to port in St. John's, Newfoundland.  The goal of the expedition is to document little-known areas of the wreckage before it completely disintegrates.  Their focus is the stern of the ship.  It hasn't been studied since the Titanic was discovered in 1985.  Once all danger of Danielle had passed, the expedition on the research vessel Jean Charcot returned into the cold Atlantic waters to continue their work.