It was ‘haunting’: Ballard recalls mission to Titanic site

This image provided by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution shows the bow of Titanic 12,500 feet below the surface of the ocean, 400 miles off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada in 1986. Rare and in some cases never before publicly seen video of the dive was released on Wednesday by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution via AP)

This image provided by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution shows the bow of the Titanic 12,500 feet (3.8 kilometers) below the surface of the ocean, 400 miles (640 kilometers) off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada in 1986. Rare and in some cases never before publicly seen video of the dive is being released on Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2023, by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution/ via AP)

This image provided by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution shows the deck of Titanic 12,500 feet below the surface of the ocean, 400 miles off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada in 1986. Rare and in some cases never before publicly seen video of the dive was released on Wednesday by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution via AP)

This image provided by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution shows the deck of Titanic 12,500 feet (3.8 kilometers) below the surface of the ocean, 400 miles (640 kilometers) off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada in 1986. Rare and in some cases never before publicly seen video of the dive is being released on Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2023, by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution via AP)

FALMOUTH, Mass. — The sheer size of the vessel and the shoes were what struck Robert Ballard when he descended to the wreckage of the RMS Titanic in 1986, the year after he and his crew from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution helped find the ocean liner that struck an iceberg and sank in the North Atlantic in 1912.

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