Robert Ballard: After finding the Titanic in September of 1985, I had to wait an entire year before I could go back. The longest year of my life waiting to go back for the weather window to open up. We got back out there. We went out with ALVIN and our little JJ, the vehicle I wanted to send inside to investigate the Titanic. Beautiful weather — gosh, it was gorgeous. It was the summer season, the perfect time to dive. We went out. We had satellite navigation. We knew exactly where the Titanic was. We put in our tracking network, and I got into ALVIN, buttoned up, put it over the side, pulled the valves, to vent it, and down we went. We now began to fall like a big rock for two-and-a-half hours; we’re falling towards the Titanic with all this great anticipation. For the first time seeing it, landing on its deck, tasting it, having it pop into reality from the myth that it was living in, to make it real. Falling through total darkness, and then everything started to go to hell. Everything. We started to have our maiden voyage. The first thing that started to happen was the sonar stopped working, so we couldn’t sweep out and find the ship. Well, that’s okay, because I’ve got my tracking, and I know where I am, and I’ll just drive over there. Then the tracking went out. So now I don’t know where I am. I can’t reach out. All I am is a ball somewhere in the ocean, with a little window. Am I a mile from the Titanic? Is it behind me? Is it in front of me? Is it right or left? Then the submarine starts to take on water into the battery systems, and the alarms start coming on. And, the pilot’s looking at me. We haven’t got sonar, we haven’t got tracking, we are becoming deaf, dumb, and blind down there, and on top of that, the submarine is taking on water, and it’s penetrating into the batteries, and it’s starting to short circuit the batteries. It’s just turning into a disaster, and the pilot says, “Look, we are going to have to abort.” “No! No, no, no. Come on, I’ve waited so long for this moment. Don’t abort the dive.”