Meriwether Lewis and William Clark Public Domain (Wikipedia)
On September 23, 1806, amid great public excitement, the expedition of William Clark and Meriwether Lewis returned to St. Louis, Missouri. They were the first to record an overland journey from the Mississippi River to the Pacific coast and back. Setting out in May 1804, they returned with extensive knowledge of the Louisiana Purchase territory.
In 1803, under President Jefferson, the United States purchased the Louisiana Territory for 3 cents per acre, totaling 828,000 square miles—one of the best land deals in history. Jefferson commissioned Lewis and Clark to explore this territory. The expedition, with about 48 men, traveled up the Missouri River in six canoes and two longboats, wintered in Dakota, and crossed into Montana, where they first saw the Rocky Mountains. They met the Shoshone Indians, who sold them horses, and journeyed through the Bitterroot Mountains, down the Clearwater and Snake rivers, reaching the Columbia River and the Pacific Ocean on November 8, 1805—the first European explorers to do so overland from the east. They wintered there before returning to St. Louis in spring.
Modern map of United States showing the Louisiana Purchase of 1803 Sources: Natural Earth and Portland State University Uploaded by William Morris to Wikimedia Commons at request of author.
Their journals recorded longitude, latitude, soil, climate, animals, plants, and native peoples, identifying new species like the grizzly bear and naming geographic locations after themselves, loved ones, friends, and their dog. Despite diseases and injuries, only one person died. Their expedition, one of the most consequential in U.S. history, helped establish U.S. territorial claims in Oregon.
There are two equinoxes in the year, Autumn (September) and Spring (March). When these equinoxes occur, the sun is directly on the equator, and the length of day and night is almost equal. In the Northern hemisphere, the September Equinox heralds autumn but the opposite below the equator where it heralds the beginning of spring. Go here to see the time it begins in your area.
Solstices and Equinoxes Image: NASA
For those of us in the North, it means a transition from summer to winter. During this period days start getting shorter and nights longer. Depending on where you live, you will likely have moderate warm days followed by long and cooler nights. Harvests of many crops often take place during the fall and in the old days you would prepare to store food for the winter. Harvest festivals are very popular and in particular Halloween. Pumpkins begin appearing along with all kinds of Halloween decor culminating, of course, in All Hallows Eve (Halloween) on October 31.
On September 177, 1949, the SS Noronic while docked in Toronto, Canada suffered a catastrophic fire that killed at least 119 people that ended the golden era of Great Lakes passenger cruise ships.
The SS Noronic was launched in 1913 for the Canadian Steamship Company. It was built for passenger and freight service on the Great Lakes. With five decks and the capacity to hold 800 passengers and 200 crew, and 360 feet (110 meters) long, she was the largest and fastest ship on the Great Lakes when launched. And she had many luxuries that other ships did not have. She had her own ice plant, wireless telegraph, bandstands, restaurants, bars, decks lined with mahogany and lounge chairs upholstered with Spanish leather earning her the nickname Queen of the Great Lakes. With fourteen lifeboats in case of emergency, she was considered quite safe as well after the Titanic sinking. However the only entrances and exits to the ship were on the bottom E deck, a fact that would play a major role in the disaster of 1949
She began a seven-day pleasure cruise of Lake Ontario on September 14, 1949. She was carrying 524 passengers and 171 crew. Most of the passengers were American and only twenty Canadians. This voyage would be the last voyage of the season as the ship would be laid up for winter. The captain for this voyage was Wiliam Taylor. Pulling into Toronto Harbor on September 16, she docked at Pier 9 at 7 pm and was scheduled to depart the following day. Many passengers and crew, including the captain, spent the evening in Toronto. Most passengers had returned to the ship before the fire broke out. Only fifteen crew members were aboard the ship that night as many had gone ashore to be with family or friends.
Around 2:30 am (some sources say 1:30 am) passenger Don Church saw smoke on C deck and followed the smell to a locked linen closet. After finding smoke coming from it, he informed bellboy Earnest O’Neill. O’Neil did not raise alarm and instead went to the steward’s office on D deck to get the keys. Upon opening the closet, fire exploded into the hallway spreading quickly. Church ran to get his family. Meanwhile O’Neill and another bellboy along with another passenger attempted to put out the fire. Unfortunately, the fire equipment did not work. He notified Captain Taylor of the fire, and the ship’s whistle was ordered to be blown. Unfortunately, either because of the fire or some other reason, the whistle only gave one blast. By 2:38 a.m., half of the ship’s decks were ablaze and noticed by people ashore alerting the fire department. However, no ship officer or crew member called them. Additionally there was no attempt by the crew to awaken the sleeping passengers.
Donald Williamson, aged twenty-seven, was the first rescuer. He had just come off a late shift and, as a former freighter deckhand, wanted to see the Noronic. He arrived just as the whistle sounded and could see the fire was spreading. He could also see people were frantically trying to get off the ship and jumping into the water. Acting quickly, he moved a large painters’ raft to the port bow and was able to pull people from the water onto the raft. Two police constables who arrived on the scene saw the ship ablaze and encountered survivors in shock and suffering from injuries and burns. Constable Ronald Anderson stripped off his uniform and assisted Williamson on the raft. Fireboats soon arrived to help rescue people in the water. Firefighting equipment arrived at the dock along with ambulances and other police to assist survivors and put out the raging fire.
Noronic Burns Photo by Norman James, September 17, 1949 Public Domain in US/Canada via Wikimedia Commons
Aboard ship, people were desperate to get out. Portholes were broken by either crew members or passengers to get off the ship. Since the crew had failed to awaken the passengers, most only found out something was wrong when they heard screaming and running in the corridors. With most of the stairwells on fire, few could reach E-deck to escape using the gangplanks. Panic ensued and many were trampled to death. Many used ropes to climb down or to jump into the water. Those trapped on the upper decks–some on fire–jumped to the pier below and died. Others were unable to escape their cabins as the fire consumed the ship rapidly.
Noronic fire September 17, 1949 Unknown Author City of Toronto Archives via Wikimedia Commons Public Domain US/Canada
Attempts to get people off by rescue ladders were not always successful. One ladder was extended to the B deck and was swamped with passengers causing it to snap in two resulting in them being rescued by a lifeboat. Other ladders to C deck were successful and held up as people were able to get off. Despite a tremendous amount of water used to fight the fire, it was quickly realized that the fire would not extinguish. The high amounts of water used though, temporarily caused the ship to list to the pier resulting in firefighters having to retreat until it corrected itself.
By 5 am, the fire had gone out and an astonishing 1.7 million gallons of water had been used by 37 hoses. The ship was cool enough by 8 am to be boarded. Firefighters and others accompanying them found gruesome scenes. The fire burned so hot that instead of corpses they found mostly skeletons with little, or no flesh left. Some were found embracing each other while others were found in their beds. Identification of the remains proved difficult and a new technique, dental forensics was used. Additionally, all the glass fittings were melted, steel fittings warped, and only the bow stairwell survived. Due to a lack records, the exact death toll is unknown, it is estimated between 119-139 may have died, Suffocation was the main cause of death for most, followed by severe burns, being trampled to death in the corridors, jumping to the pier, and one drowning. Initially it was 118 dead by one crewmember would die later from burns suffered on her body bringing the estimated death toll to 119.
Evening Star (Washington, D.C.), September 17, 1949, Library of Congress Public Domain
The disaster was well covered in the Toronto newspapers and on the American side as well since most of the passengers were American. The question everyone wanted answered was simple: how did this happen? The answers came from the official inquiry that took place later. Investigation showed that the fire had started on the linen closet on C deck and spread rapidly when it was opened by the bellboy. What started the fire is uncertain. A report that some laundry staff were seen smoking near the linen closet led some to believe that a carelessly dropped cigarette was the cause. Interviews of the crew members did not confirm this. Canadian Steamship believed it was arson. Another one of their ships a year later would have a similar fire in a linen closet but it was contained, and no loss of life occurred. The inquiry found that several major issues contributed to how the fire spread so quickly and was so hot. The mahogany wood deck linings had been coated with lemon-oil which the flames fed upon. Additionally, the structure of the ship-as the ship decks were placed close together-spread the fire fast. Improperly maintained fire equipment and extinguishers meant little water could be used on the ship to put it out.
The crew failed to alert the passengers as most were asleep. The one blast of the ship’s whistle before it died was not enough. Many did not know how serious the situation was until they were awakened by noise in the corridors. Some of the crew just fled rather than assist. The lack of clear exit signage and what to do was another factor. Passengers had to make their way down, if they could, to E deck where two planks were available to exit the ship. The rapid movement of the fire made that difficult and later impossible leading to mass panic. Without other exits, many were simply trapped forcing them to find whatever means they could. The fact that the crew mostly abandoned the ship and never had any emergency drills brought condemnation down on both the line owner, Canadian Steamship Lines, and Captain Taylor. Taylor had his master’s license revoked for a year; he would resign before it was made active. The company was sued in court and ended up paying out over two million Canadian dollars.
New regulations were enacted by both Canada and the United States to ensure this would never happen again. Ship design was altered, and new safety regulations were put in place regarding the use of flammable materials aboard passenger ships. Many ships were taken out of service as the cost of retrofitting was too high. The days of the Great Lakes luxury cruises came to an end as a result. With fewer passengers, there was not much profit anymore. Knowing that Canadian Steamship had allowed ships to sail without properly maintained fire equipment and a crew that did nothing to help the passengers, all contributed to the demise. By late 1960’s the last of these old passenger cruise ships were retired from service never to return.
As for the Noronic, it was partially disassembled at the pier and the rest of it towed away to be scrapped. A memorial was erected in the cemetery were many were interred and a memorial plaque put up near where the disaster had occurred. It remains to this day one of the deadliest fires in Toronto history.
SS Noronic Memorial at Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Toronto Photo: Nick Number, 9 September 2024 Wikimedia Commons
Battle of Lake Erie by William Henry Powell (1823–1879) U.S. Senate Art Collection, U.S. Capitol, Washington D.C. Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons
During the War of 1812, control over Lake Erie and the Northwest were crucial to both the British and the United States. The War of 1812 between the British and the United States resulted from simmering tensions between the two since the end of the American War of Independence. Though long over by this time, tensions existed between the two. The British had attempted to restrict U.S. trade. During the Napoleonic Wars, the U.S. was neutral, but the British were not happy with American merchant ships supplying the French with supplies. Another issue was the forced impressment of American seamen. To fill out their crews, the British Royal Navy would stop merchant ships and take some of their crews forcing them into Royal Navy service. Additionally, tension over the U.S. desire to expand its territory led to clashes with the British as well.
These and other things led President James Madison to declare war on Great Britain on 18 June 1812. While it passed Congress (barely), it was not popular in New England since they heavily relied on trade. Western and Southern states generally supported the war. However, the realities of war would soon set in. The attempt to take Canada was a failure and resulted in a humiliating defeat on 16 August 1812 with Detroit being surrendered without firing a shot. The American Navy was aided early on with the fact the British were also fighting Napoleon so not all their ships were committed. One notable naval battle was at Lake Michigan in 1813. At stake in this battle was control of Detroit, Lake Erie, and nearby territories the U.S had claims on.
The American naval forces were led by Captain Oliver Hazard Perry, who had nine ships. The British had six warships led by Commander Robert Heriot Barclay. Barclay was an experienced naval officer who had served under Nelson at Trafalgar. The British were armed with long gun cannons that gave them a range of about a full mile, while the Americans used carronades that had half the range of the British cannons. This meant that Perry would inflict a lot of damage but at closer range. At first the wind was against Perry in the morning and then shifted giving him an advantage. He would raise a famous navy-blue banner written with the words “DON’T GIVE UP THE SHIP” as the slogan to rally his officers.
The ensuing battle would last for hours, and Perry would lose his flagship Lawrence. He transferred his flag over to the Niagara and then sailed straight into the British line firing broadsides that ultimately gave him the win when they surrendered. Perry lost 27 sailors and 96 wounded, while the British lost 40 dead and left with 94 wounded. Perry sent a famous dispatch to U.S. General William Henry Harrison that said, “We have met the enemy, and they are ours.” The British were forced to abandon Detroit after the Battle of the Thames resulting in American control of the area.
Aftermath
The victory was an important one when many battles had gone against the United States. The Royal Navy was still fighting Napoleon so not of its navy was committed to North America. This would change in April 1814 when Napoleon was defeated. With both ships and troops now freed up, they raided Chesapeake Bay and moved on the capital of Washington D.C. burning it and other government buildings to the ground on 24 August 1814.
On 11 September 1814, the American navy defeated the British fleet at the Battle of Plattsburgh at Lake Champlain, New York. A furious battle at Fort McHenry in Baltimore took place on 13 September 1814 and withstood 25 hours of bombardment by the British navy. After the bombardment had ended, the Americans raised a large flag over the fort to show they had survived the bombardment. Seeing the flag being raised inspired Francis Scott Key to write a poem that later would be set to music called “Star Spangled Banner.” British forces withdrew and prepared to act against New Orleans. Negotiations for a peace settlement were undertaken not long after in Ghent (modern day Belgium). The resulting Treaty of Ghent would abolish the taking of American sailors from merchant ships for British naval service, solidify the borders of Canada as we know them today, and end British attempts to create an Indian state in the Northwest. The treaty was signed on Christmas Eve, 1814. Formal ratification would be in February 1815.
It was during this time that the famous Battle of New Orleans would occur. On 8 January 1815, British forces (unaware of the peace deal yet due to slow communications of the time) launched a major attack on New Orleans. General Andrew Jackson led the Americans in this famous battle and defeated the British soundly. News of the battle was another boost to American morale and likely convinced the British that they were right to get out of this war as well. For Canadians and Native Americans, it ended their attempt to govern themselves. For Americans, it ushered in a new time of good feelings ending the partisan divisions that had grown since the Revolutionary War. National self-confidence would ensue and a growing spirit of expansionism that would shape the rest of the 19th century. The country resulting from it would be comprised of states and territories that went from New York on the Atlantic Ocean to San Francisco on the Pacific making it one of the largest countries in the world.
On September 9, 1910, the SS Pere Marquette 18, bound from Ludington to Milwaukee on Lake Michigan, sank, killing 27 and leaving the cause a mystery.
Pere Marquette 18 passing under the State Street Bridge in Chicago while being towed. Photo: 1910 U.S. Library of Congress digital id# det.4a18153 Public Domain (via Wikipedia)
Originally built as a railroad car ferry by the American Ship Building Company in Cleveland, Ohio, the SS Pere Marquette had four tracks for up to 30 rail cars and 50 staterooms for 260 first-class passengers, with a total capacity of 5,000. Converted to an excursion steamer from 1907 to 1909, it carried people to Lake Michigan events but was unprofitable, leading to its reconversion to a car ferry in 1910. On September 8, 1910, it departed Ludington with 62 passengers and crew, 29 rail cars, and freight. Between 3–4 a.m. the next morning, the helmsman noted steering issues, and an oiler reported seven feet of water in the stern. Captain Peter Kilty activated pumps, but the stern sank lower, with water entering through portholes. Kilty headed for Sheboygan, Wisconsin, jettisoning rail cars for buoyancy, but the ship continued sinking.
Wireless operator Stephen F. Szczepanek sent a CQD distress call. The Pere Marquette 17, Pere Marquette 20, and tug A.A.C. Tessley assisted, rescuing survivors. Neither Szczepanek nor senior officers survived; he was the first wireless operator to perish on the Great Lakes. At 7:30 a.m., the ship sank, followed by an explosion likely caused by trapped air. Two rescuers from Pere Marquette 17 also died.
The sinking’s cause remains unknown, as no senior officers survived. Theories include rough handling by charter captains, loose steel plates, lack of a stern gate, heavy waves, a propeller leak, or stowaway actions. Captain Kilty was criticized for prioritizing the ship over passengers, per inspectors: “His efforts were directed more towards saving the ship than the lives aboard.” The ship, valued at $400,000, and cargo, worth $100,000–$150,000, were lost. Szczepanek is honored in a 1915 Battery Park, New York City memorial for wireless operators, alongside Titanic’s Jack Phillips. Survivors noted his calm, reassuring demeanor as he sent distress calls.
A 1977 memorial in Ludington, Michigan, commemorates the 27 lost. The wreck, discovered in 2020, lies 25 miles off Sheboygan, Wisconsin, in 500 feet of water, previously the largest undiscovered Great Lakes shipwreck. The replacement ship, also named Pere Marquette 18, operated until 1952 and was scrapped in 1957.
S.S. Pere Marquette 18 Historical Marker Erected 1977 Ludington, Michigan. Photo: William Fischer, Jr. 2016
Beginning with a descent to the ocean floor, participants can relive the ship’s journey in its full glory – walk through bustling third-class cabins, marvel at the grandeur of the famous staircase, and stand in the captain’s cockpit as the collision unfolds. Featuring authentic monologues and accounts from real-life passengers – from the overlooked voices of third-class travelers seeking a new life to the untold stories of the ship’s workers – this experience sheds light on those who lost their lives aboard the Titanic. This immersive 30-minute journey serves as both an educational tribute and a heartfelt commemoration of the passengers and crew whose stories still resonate today.
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Titanic Wreck Bow Image: Public Domain (NOAA:http://www.gc.noaa.gov/images/gcil/ATT00561.jpg)
That changed when Nargeolet began collaborating with OceanGate Expeditions, which funds science missions in part by selling limited passenger seats on dives. He persuaded the team to investigate the decades-old sonar anomaly. “We didn’t know what we would find,” he recalled in an OceanGate statement. “On sonar it could have been almost anything — even another wreck.” What they found instead was a broad volcanic formation in a plain otherwise dominated by mud and sediment, alive with sponges, deep corals, squat lobsters, and fish. At a depth where life is typically sparse, this looked like an oasis.
Ballard became the first person to visit the wreck that year using Alvin, a crewed submersible he had previously piloted. The journey to the seafloor took more than two hours. He saw moving objects there, such as silverware, uncorked champagne bottles, and a child’s doll, but no human remains. Since then, the prototype technology that enabled the discovery has revolutionized deep-sea science and exploration, greatly advancing our understanding of the ocean. However, this historic discovery was, in fact, a “cover story” for a covert operation conducted by the United States Navy.
The 38-year-old, who’s obsessed with both the epic romance and the vessel that inspired the film, first took a page from Manhattan’s former interactive “Sleep No More” exhibit to decorate her home like the Titanic for a party, but it never materialized because she could “never finish this apartment.” “I’d never wanted to show anyone because in my mind, I’m like, this isn’t good enough and I need to be better,” she told People. But Boll’s ambitions — which included portholes, as well as a fully realized “iceberg room” and the Veranda Café — “completely got out of control.”
You have just spent close to a million dollars US for an 85-foot premium yacht named Dolce Vento (Sweet Wind). Now the construction is over and is taken to a location for its first sea trial. Just after launch the new ship starts tilting and then capsizes forcing the crew aboard to quickly jump into the water. The yacht was built by Med Yilmaz Shipyard, and an investigation is underway as to what happened. No official cause yet, but maritime experts believe it is a stability error relating to its metacentric height that caused the sinking. The metacentric height is a calculation done to make sure a ship has a positive height above its center of gravity. Most ships are designed this way especially cargo ships to prevent capsizing in rough seas.
Warning! Technical Jargon Ahead!
When the calculation is done wrong and the ship height is below the center of gravity it is unstable. Tilts will be accentuated and without the ability to correct will likely capsize at some point. Improperly loaded cargo ships, where cargo is stacked too high, can cause this as well. You can even have a zero metacenter where the height and the center of gravity are the same.
Flat bottomed barges are like this and have no ability to correct if waves, winds, or issues with the cargo emerge. If your metacentric height is too high meaning the center of gravity is low, then you get another problem. Ship handling will be tough as the ship will be stiff to handle and will have rapid, sharp movements. This can occur when a ship is underloaded or cargo unevenly distributed with most of the weight on the bottom.
It is a big mistake for a shipbuilder to make. Whether or not this happened here, we will have to wait and see. The good news is that everyone got off, including the owner, and no one was injured.
The original plan was to sweep the surrounding seafloor using their sonar equipment, but this failed to deliver any results. In their next move, the team decided to take on a new approach of following the trail of debris released by the Titanic when it sank and split apart. After less than a week of searching, the breakthrough came. In the early hours of September 1, the cameras captured an image of what appeared to be one of Titanic’s massive boilers resting on the seabed. In the footage, the team can be heard exclaiming: “GOD, THAT’S THE BOILER!”, “YES! YES!”, “FANTASTIC!” Chasing the debris field northward, the team soon came upon the wreck of the Titanic itself.
Lord, Walter, A NIGHT TO REMEMBER, Holt Rinehart and Winston, New York, New York, 1955. Multiple revisions and reprints, notably Illustrated editions (1976,1977,1978 etc.)
Lord, Walter, THE NIGHT LIVES ON, Willian Morrow and Company, New York, New York, 1986 (First Edition)
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On 8 Sep 1941, German forces began their siege of Leningrad that would last 872 days making it one of the most grueling sieges in modern warfare.
The fire of anti-aircraft guns deployed in the neighborhood of St. Isaac’s cathedral during the defense of Leningrad (now called St. Petersburg, its pre-Soviet name) in 1941. Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons
Leningrad, known previously as St. Petersburg and the Russian capital before the Communist Revolution of 1918, was a major industrial center. As the second largest Russian city, it was a strategic city for the Germans to conquer. When war started with Germany in 1941, most of the industrial plants and their workers were relocated to safer areas to prevent capture. However, this left approximately two million to face the rapidly moving German army. Everyone from old to young was conscripted to build anti-tank fortifications around the city. In July, the railway to Moscow was cut off by and German forces began besieging the outer fortifications. By September 8, they were outside the city but unable to enter due to both the fortifications and about 200,000 Red Army soldiers. German bombers destroyed warehouses and other infrastructure to making holding out more difficult. With all highways and rail lines cut off, the city was encircled with Finnish forces supporting the Germans.
Food had to be carefully rationed with most eating one slice of bread a day causing widespread starvation. And it was one of the coldest winters on record. Many still worked to build arms to defeat the Germans despite the intense deprivations of both warmth and food. Everything that could be eaten –cats and dogs, animals from the city zoo, wallpaper paste, leather boiled to make an edible jelly–was used. Various plants, grasses, and even weeds were consumed to add vitamins. And, taking a page from the unfortunate Donner Party, many started cannibalizing the dead as well. This was such a major issued that the police department had to create a special unit to handle this. Some supplies were able to be brought over Lake Ladoga, but the amounts were small and unable to alleviate the situation. Some evacuations of elderly and children were able to be done, but most starved or died. Thankfully by June 1943, Soviet forces were able to break the German blockade and establish a better supply line to Lake Ladoga.
This helped the inhabitants and with an oil pipeline and electricity being supplied as well during the siege, things were better than at the outset. Also, with spring there came the use of land to grow produce that would help many as well. Finally, by January 1944 the German Army was forced to retreat ending the siege. However, the death toll was staggering with at least one million dead. It would not be until the 1960’s when the population reached pre-siege levels of three million. Those who survived were all awarded the Order of Lenin. Today the city has fully recovered and there is no trace of this dark period in its history. It is a very popular tourist destination not only for Russians but others as well. The city is very spread out requiring the use of cars for even the shortest of destinations.
An old travel guide before 1918, advised people to pack warm clothing for the nights. While spring and summer days are often pleasant, cool nighttime temperatures required warm clothing. Raingear is recommended as well. As for the winter, bring lots of warm clothing Also, it advised people to make sure you knew there was a significant calendar change. Russia, until 1918, used the Julian calendar. And that meant you needed to subtract 13 days for the correct date in old Russia when you crossed the border. Christmas was not on December 25th, but on January 6. Today that is not a problem since Russia now uses the Gregorian, but the other advice is still sound. And to avoid getting into vodka challenges especially if it involves lots of caviar as well.
St. Petersburg, Russia. View from the visitor’s gallery at the Colonnade of the St. Isaac’s Cathedral. 2012 A.Savin via Wikimedia Commons
In history circles, there is a sort of a trivia game that is played over the city name. The city has had three names. It was St. Petersburg from 1703 to 1914. Because of its German sounding name, it was changed to Petrograd in 1914. Up until the Communist Revolution of 1918, the city was the cultural center as well as the capital of Russia. After that, the capital was moved to Moscow primarily to prevent any invasion that would take down the government. When Lenin died in 1924, the city was again renamed to Leningrad. After the fall of Communism, in 1991 the citizens decided in a referendum to restore the original name to St. Petersburg. So, the game is this: what is the real name of the old Russian capital? Is it St. Petersburg, Petrograd, or Leningrad? To make it tougher, sometimes a year is used: “What was the name of the former Russian capital in 1922 (or 1941)? The Jeopardy answer, if no year is specified, is all three.
The Titanic wreck, resting nearly 12,500 feet beneath the ocean’s surface, has become more than just a historical site. It’s a living laboratory for scientists studying one of Earth’s most extreme environments. Despite the cold, darkness and crushing pressure, the wreck has transformed into an artificial reef supporting a surprising range of marine life: from sponges and starfish to colonies of bacteria that feed on the ship’s iron. These microbes produce “rusticles” or icicle-like formations of rust that slowly break down the steel. They are showing how life persists even in the harshest conditions.
Ballard had what he called a “light-bulb moment” while mapping the debris of the Scorpion sub that was pivotal to the mission success. Its debris field was a mile-long trail, not in a small circular area as expected. Heavier objects sank straight to the seafloor, but lighter debris went down at a slower rate, and ocean currents carried them farther away. He realized that the Titanic, which fell to a similar depth as the Scorpion sub, would have a similar, if not larger, debris field and that looking for this stream of detritus would be easier than finding the hull and other heavy parts of the vessel. “It was the technology and the knowledge of how to use it,” Yoerger said. But also “the big thing that led to our success was Ballard’s strategy. He wasn’t trying to find the ship, he was trying to find the debris field, which is a much bigger target, and one that’s particularly well-suited to finding with your eyeballs.”
In September 1985, the wreck of the Titanic was discovered around 400 nautical miles off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada, during a joint American-French expedition. In 2010, Louise Hidalgo spoke to some of the explorers and listened to archive recordings. Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there.
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New York Times Front Page 16 April 1912 Public Domain (Wikimedia Commons)
Forty years on from the discovery of the wreck, the disaster is still remembered in communities affected by it across the UK, the USA and beyond. The landlocked county of Northamptonshire, for instance, lost a squash player, two shoemakers – and a man who seemingly did not exist.
Drop explosives to blow up the ship to release the body of John Jacob Astor. Abandoned after his body was found. (1912)
Magnets to pull Titanic to the surface using a submarine to first locate and then raise and tow to New York. Charles Smith, an engineer from Denver, raised money to do it but it was pointed out that he would need 3,000 magnets to do this. Idea abandoned. (1914)
Attempt to locate wreck using underwater explosions so that sonar waves would bounce off the hull and be detected. Unsuccessful. (1953)
Danish inventor Karl Kroyer, who had successfully raised a sunken freighter using ping-pong balls, was interested in doing the same for Titanic. However, the extreme depth of Titanic made it unfeasible. (1964)
Douglas Wooley, who famously claimed to own the wreck, came up with the idea using an ultrasonic blast to free Titanic and use nylon bags filled with hydrogen to lift it to the surface. Abandoned when it would take ten years to inflate all the nylon bags. (1975)
After the wreck was found (in two pieces), several other ideas emerged. One was to pump the ship full of Vaseline which would make the ship buoyant. Another was to use liquid nitrogen to encase the wreck in ice to bring it up.
It appears the only successful raising was done in the fictional novel Raise The Titanic by Clive Cussler. An excellent novel but a terrible movie (they truncated the story so badly that Cussler never signed a movie deal again). However, seeing Titanic raised to the surface made for great visual. The only real highlight of that now forgotten movie.
“We don’t want to give them hopes of surviving the icy cold conditions,” said a spokesperson for The White Star Line. They went on to defend the wait for policy announcements, saying, “it was right that whoever got the top job, after the Captain locked himself in the wheelhouse, would want to look at all of the options, properly costed” when they take charge. “They will do more – you don’t have long to wait,” Tom the Cabin Boy told BBC Radio Four’s Today programme, while slipping into a low-cut evening gown and announcing, “Women and children first!” through a loud hailer. “It is clear that this will be absolutely at the top of their in tray,” he went on, as he snatched a cork Life Preserver from a passing child.
The mission specialist argued the sub’s design was sound, noting that Titan successfully reached the Titanic multiple times over a decade of testing. “The hull went down at least 15 times to Titanic. The design worked. They reached the Titanic,” they told the Post. Instead, they suggested maintenance could have been at fault: “Probably what happened was a maintenance issue. They have to blame something.”
[The Coast Guard report, which is quite lengthy, points out that many safety standards were violated. And the material used for it was, according to the Coast Guard, lighter and more susceptible to damage. He also used the very regulations on such craft against each other since there were different and contradictory regulations. And the workplace climate was such that anyone who pointed out safety and other flaws would soon be out of work.]
Lord, Walter, A NIGHT TO REMEMBER, Holt Rinehart and Winston, New York, New York, 1955. Multiple revisions and reprints, notably Illustrated editions (1976,1977,1978 etc.)
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RMS Titanic pictured in Queenstown, Ireland 11 April 1912 Source:Cobh Heritage Centre, Cobh Ireland/Wikimedia Commons
On the early morning of 1 Sept 1985, the wreck of the RMS Titanic was found 400 miles east of Newfoundland in North Atlantic by a joint U.S.-French expedition. The liner lay 13,000 feet below the surface of the ocean and its finding would excite the world that continues to this day.
Ever since Titanic sank in 1912, there have been many attempts in locating the wreck. However, the depth of the ocean, the vastness of the search area, and technological limitations made that impossible. Robert Ballard, a former Naval officer and oceanographer at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts had tried in 1977 without success. In 1985, Ballard along with French oceanographer Jean-Louis Michel, decided to set out in search of the wreck using more sophisticated technology to help locate the wreck.
This time they were equipped with more sophisticated technology to aid them in seeing what was on the ocean floor. The Argo, an unmanned and experimental submersible sent photographs up to the research vessel Knorr. And on the morning of 1 September, while investigating debris on the ocean floor, it passed over a massive boiler that came from Titanic. The following day the wreck of the ship was found and that it had split in two with a debris field between the stern and forward sections, The ship and much of the debris was in good shape despite being down there since 1912. The discovery electrified the world and confirmed (but was discounted in the British enquiry) that Titanic had split in two. Unmanned submersibles were sent down to look at the wreck giving us the first look at the ship in its watery grave. The images are just as haunting today as they were back then.
The use of the submersibles for this type of deep diving to wrecks opened up a new world of exploring shipwrecks outside of the normal diving depth humans could endure. Ultimately manned submersibles would be developed to allow researchers to slowly descend to those great depths and study the wreck of Titanic and other ships as well. While genuine controversy exists over the later salvage of Titanic (Ballard was not part of that and opposed it), the discovery of the wreck and the technology used to find it has opened up new worlds in seeing the fascinating world in our oceans.
“Titanic: The Untold Story – a National Geographic Museum Exhibit Tells the Previously-classified Tale Behind Its Discovery,” CBS News, last modified December 9, 2018, accessed August 31, 2025, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/titanic-the-untold-story/.
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Labor Day Postage Stamp (1956) United States Post Office Public Domain
Labor Day is a U.S. federal holiday observed on the first Monday in September. It became a federal holiday in 1894 to celebrate workers and their achievements. It has also become the unofficial end of summer as schools have reopened, and summer vacations have ended. As a federal holiday, all federal offices are closed as are banks and the stock market. All states celebrate it as well, so state, county, and city offices are closed as well. Nearly all professional offices are closed, and most construction workers have the day off as well. Retail and fast-food employees do not get the day off except in areas where due to the holiday they get virtually no business.
Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28)
