Rare video of 1986 dive in Titanic wreck released

And then we came in on the starboard side of the beam of the bridge. And the first thing I saw coming out of the gloom at 30 feet was this wall, this giant wall of riveted steel that rose over 100 and some feet above us. I never looked down at the Titanic. I looked up at the Titanic. Nothing was small. But then as we rose up its side, because we had to abort the dive at that point, because we were taking water into our batteries. And as we rose up after that first dive that lasted just minutes, we began to see the pour holes.

And it was like people looking back at us. It was pretty haunting actually. Titanic lies in a part of the ocean that you would describe as an abyssal plane. It's over 13,000 feet deep in the ocean. The water is near freezing temperatures. And probably the biggest challenge is the remoteness of the location. And in particular the harsh environment with regard to the pressure that our equipment is exposed to.

So every square inch or centimeter is being pressed into smaller space by the crushing pressures of the ocean in this kind of depth. And I think everyone wonders in their own mind, if I were there, what would I have done? Would I have done anything to save my life? Or would I have, like the builder of the Titanic, Andrew, gave up his life jacket to a female passenger and went and sat in the smoking room and sat there and never budged till the ship went down with him. So it was just amazing play of humanity.