Wreck of the RMS Titanic of the film, made using a model of "Titanic", it would not have been physically possible. At the time of the book's writing, it was still believed that she sank in one piece. Robert Ballard of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution had long been interested in finding "Titanic". Despite early negotiations with possible backers being abandoned when it emerged that they wanted to turn the wreck into souvenir paperweights, more sympathetic backers joined Ballard to form a company named Seasonics International Ltd. as a vehicle for rediscovering and exploring "Titanic". In October 1977 he made his first attempt to find
Sinking of the RMS Titanic to respond was SS "Mount Temple", which set a course and headed for "Titanic"'s position but was stopped en-route by pack ice. Much nearer was , which had warned "Titanic" of ice a few hours earlier. Apprehensive at his ship being caught in a large field of drift ice, "Californian"s captain, Stanley Lord, had decided at about 22:00 to halt for the night and wait for daylight to find a way through the ice field. At 23:30, 10 minutes before "Titanic" hit the iceberg, "Californian"s sole radio operator, Cyril Evans, shut his set down for the night and went to