This is our series of supplemental logs that were taken from our scientific research expedition to RMS Titanic earlier last month. I hope that you enjoy!
Time to revisit my old friend Titanic today. It has been two years since my initial dive to visit the wrecksite and I have spent many long hours thinking about what I would see, how could I film her better and what neat science that we could do to analyze her deterioration process and protect her from the ravages of the sea. Being a biological scientist, I had to collaborate with many different scientists of various diverse backgrounds to examine the relationship between plankton and microbes, microbes and the steel, microbes and the thriving community of rusticles. With this dive, I will have my first true data point comparisons that we have directly taken from the wrecksite; albeit, would take many data point comparisons over many years to conclusively deduce quantitatively the effects of the sea and bacteria are having on Titanic.
This morning was quite beautiful and a large pod of pilot whales were seen very close to Keldysh. The night before the dive, I had very little to eat and drink and got to bed at a fairly early 11 pm. Previously, the MIR team's "chief", affectionately called Mother, gave me the official MIR dive coveralls to be used on the dive. Because we will be in the MIR's enclosed nickel-steel capsule, and the atmosphere will remain at a constant one atmosphere, it is very important to wear non-flammable items and apparel. No perfumes, colognes, make-up, lip balm etc can be worn inside this atmosphere. No shoes are allowed in the MIR and it is best to dress in layers as the temperatures within the dive change very drastically from the surface to the deep depths.
This morning I was up around 6:30 am and felt quite relaxed and excited. I got together with my dive partner Rob Goldsmith from the UK and the History Channel producer/videographer named Andrew Brooking to discuss today's dive, what we plan on seeing and what filming expectations would be needed for today's shoot on Titanic. At 8:00 am, I met with Anatoly Sagalevitch, Victor Nescheta, Genya Cherniev and the remainder of the MIR submersible team for the official briefing and the signing of the famous MIR log book. This meeting takes only 10 minutes and I was back into the dining room speaking with other expedition members - however had no breakfast or liquids. Once breakfast was over, I went up into my room to dress for the trip to Titanic. My apparel for this trip includes polypropylene thermal underwear, three pairs of socks, two hats-one knit and one baseball cap. Things to bring in my bag, other than 3 cameras were a log book for scientific observations, a pair of gloves (probably did not need them), a sweat shirt, small towels (to wipe off any condensation from the MIR's portholes), tissue, plastic bags, extra batteries and digital tape etc. With a large list of items checked off, I was ready to report down to the MIR launching station at 9:30 am.
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