quote:
This is probably a stupid question but do these guys get paid for finding these wrecks? If so are they just paid in funds for future research projects? Or do they bring up valuable items from the wrecks and auction them off? Seems like a couple of those are too deep to do anything other than to photograph them.

In the case of the Titanic they were testing a towed sonar array for the Navy who was paying the bills, and what better way to test the equipment than use it to try and find the Titanic. Other discoveries have probably also been in conjunction with some type of research, but after he gained some fame with Titanic some ventures were privately funded for ther value as a documentary that could be sold to the History Channel or something like that.

This post was edited on 4/2/18 at 12:04 am

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Posted by DavidTheGnome

Monroe

Member since Apr 2015

29234 posts

Posted on 4/2/18 at 12:07 am to EA6B

Sub he used

DSV Alvin

Alvin (DSV-2) is a manned deep-ocean research submersible owned by the United States Navy and operated by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. The vehicle was built by General Mills' Electronics Group[2] in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Named to honor the prime mover and creative inspiration for the vehicle, Allyn Vine, Alvin was commissioned on 5 June 1964. The submersible is launched from the deep submergence support vessel RV Atlantis (AGOR-25), which is also owned by the U.S. Navy and operated by WHOI. The submersible has made more than 4,400 dives, carrying two scientists and a pilot, to observe the lifeforms that must cope with super-pressures and move about in total darkness, as well as exploring the wreck of Titanic. Research conducted by Alvin has been featured in nearly 2,000 scientific papers.