Who Discovered the Wreckage of the Titanic
The wreckage of the Titanic was discovered in 1985 by a joint American-French expedition led by oceanographer Robert Ballard and Jean-Louis Michel. The team located the ship roughly 12,500 feet below the surface of the North Atlantic Ocean.
The 1985 Expedition That Found the Titanic
Ballard and his team used the research vessel Knorr and the deep-sea submersible Argo to scan the ocean floor. On September 1, 1985, they identified large debris fields and the ship’s boilers, confirming the location of the Titanic wreck.
Why the Discovery Mattered
The discovery provided the first detailed images and access to the Titanic site, allowing researchers to study the ship’s condition and final resting place. It transformed public understanding of the 1912 disaster and supported decades of subsequent exploration and documentation.
