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At 11:40 P.M. on the cold night of April 14-15, 1912, the RMS Titanic struck an iceberg on her maiden voyage from Southampton, England en route to New York City. Two hours and forty minutes later, she sank beneath the waves of the icy North Atlantic, carrying over 1500 souls to her grave some 2.5 miles below the ocean's surface. Only 705 people survived what was considered the worst maritime disaster in history.
The Titanic story is part legend, part myth. Legend because her story is more popular today then when she sank some 90 years ago. There have been several books and articles written about the Titanic, and her story has been the subject of several TV documentaries and major motion pictures. However, the Titanic was more of a myth from the time that she sank due to the fact that she was never seen again after that cold April night until her discovery on September 1, 1985 by Dr. Robert Ballard of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in Boston, Massachusetts. Previous expeditions in the early 1980's by Texas oilman Jack Grimm were unsuccessful in locating the Titanic wreck. Dr. Ballard did initial research and photography of the Titanic wreck upon its 1985 discovery, and returned in the summer of 1986 conducting a manned expedition that included an exploration into the interior of the Titanic wreck. Upon the completion of that expedition, Dr. Ballard urged that the Titanic remain a memorial to those who had died in the disaster, and be left undisturbed. However, in 1987, Titanic Ventures, now the struggling R.M.S. Titanic, Incorporated, gained full salvage rights to the Titanic wreck. Although highly controversial, R.M.S. Titanic, Inc. carried out several expeditions to raise artifacts from the Titanic, arguing that the Titanic is in a state of rapid decay, and raising the artifacts will secure her legacy for future generations. While this may be true, one has to ask . . . is it right? We may never know the answer to that, but we can remember the Titanic for what she was, and that was one of the finest ocean liner's to ever grace the sea.
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