That’s a Wrap. Indeed.
16 September, 2010
by Michael Dessner
Last night, as we were draggin up our gear, the sun set on Expedition to Titanic.
Well folks, that’s a wrap. We’re underway for St John’s and home. I’ll be writing this and perhaps one other to talk about the post project clean up and feelings of accomplishment, but first I’d like to say something about the folks working out here.
While my writing has mostly been confined to the work my team did with a few looks into the other aspects of the expedition, I want to take a moment to thank and recognize all the people who did not make into these entries. There are countless unnamed heroes in work of this kind. I myself work with a dedicated staff of people in our offices who never see the first thing of our expeditions beyond reports like this, yet their support for me and the work that I help move along for my boss, Ted Waitt, is unflagging. So to Allie, Ann, Anya, Cherie, Chris, Dawn, Dom, Jacob, Joe, Kathy, Marria, Nicole, Rosa, Sarah, Stan, Tamara, Tiana and Tracy, many thanks for all the support and the hard work you do every day that makes it possible for me to participate in something like this. A special shout out to my good friend and editor, Tommy Grueskin, for his work in getting all this out to the world. And last but certainly not least I’d like to thank Dave Russell for his support and trust in me, and without a doubt the man who makes it possible for everyone above to be a part of this very special work, Mr. Ted Waitt, whose generosity and foresight brought this all to fruition. Ted, I can never repay you for what you’ve helped me to become. You the man.
Everyone out here has a similar story, the great and talented people from Woods Hole, the folks at Phoenix, Andy’s supporters at HBOI, the people at RMST, the Hays shipping group, all of them played a part and there are many, many people out on this ship whom I never mentioned who simply worked their butts off to make it work. Of those folks, Bob Sitrick is one I need to thank personally, he handled media out here for RMST and was a huge help; thanks Big Bad Bob, yer a peach. And to everyone else on the ship and those in the rear who support them, we thank you all. Job well done. A big round of applause folks, for the Expedition Titanic team and support staff! Yaaaaaaay ! ! Hooooorraaaaay !
Alrighty skids, here we are hauling ass for the beach. Last night at around 8 PM the AUV’s Mary Ann and Ginger were both happily ensconced in their huts after being successfully recovered from their final missions. By all accounts their performance was exceptional, and kudos to the team from Woods Hole who runs them. Every single person on board who witnessed their performance and the team that runs them doing their thing commented how smoking hot both were. Last night, Remora was successfully recovered after which we picked up our Deep Ocean Transponders and hit the road. We’ve been making fine time since then. I’m almost afraid to say it for fear of challenging the ocean deities to reverse the situation but we are sailing home with FAIR WINDS AND FOLLOWING SEAS! OK, there. I just likely whistled up a storm but, I don’t care! We are done, successful, no one hurt, all the gear on deck. Man, you just don’t know how good a feeling that is. After a month of getting banged around we have stowed the girls and are in giddy up mode. Vootie!
Last night there was a little wrap party aboard, everyone was in high spirits and the celebrations were exceptionally happy with a huge sense of accomplishment and what, by any measure, was a job well done. The party was not too boisterous because pretty much everyone is exhausted.
The rest of the world is boiling up and reminding me I have other projects which have languished, damn BlackBerry is turned back on and pinging like a Russian boomer on the sniff. I’ll be honest with you, I think I’m gonna keep this one short and perhaps get one more out before I leave town.
Thanks for following along.
Dessner
