CAPTAIN’S BATHTUB
More than two decades ago, Zaller travelled to the site, 400 miles (650km) from the nearest land as part of a research trip, aboard a Russian vessel with two submersibles.
“The sub is a 2m wide pressured sphere,” he said. “There’s a pilot seat in the centre, and then two benches on either side, with three portholes.
“On top there’s an entry portal, and when you climb down inside the sub you then close it from the inside and there’s another trap on the outside and once you’re in, there’s no going back. It’s quite a commitment.”
The sub is hoisted off the deck of the ship into blue waters which quickly turn dark as the vessel begins to sink.
For two and a half hours there is virtually nothing to see, with the sub conserving its power to use at the seafloor.
Then you reach the bottom, where the sub kicks up silt.
“When you look out the portal, it’s a little cloudy. And then as you start to fly, when you get your buoyancy, you start to travel forward, you kind of come through this cloud.
“And then imagine coming through that cloud and being in this perfectly still environment on the bottom of the ocean, you know 3,800m below the surface and then you see a piece of debris, a giant piece of the Titanic.
“And then you see a cup or a teapot, and then at other moments you can see where the side of the ship is removed and you can see Captain Smith’s bathtub full of water.”
Source: CNA
