Sinking of the RMS Titanic cultural phenomenon, commemorated by artists, film-makers, writers, composers, musicians and dancers from the time immediately after the sinking to the present day. On 1 September 1985, a joint US-French expedition led by Robert Ballard found the wreck of "Titanic", and the ship's rediscovery led to an explosion of interest in "Titanic"s story. Numerous expeditions have been launched to film the wreck and, controversially, to salvage objects from the debris field. The first major exhibition of recovered artefacts was held at London's National Maritime Museum in 1994–95. In 1997, James Cameron's eponymous film became the first movie ever to take $1
Wreck of the RMS Titanic over the wreck site, and the "Remora" ROV was caught in a piece of wreckage. This same year saw the discovery of the new bacteria living in the rusticles on the "Titanic", "Halomonas titanicae". Tourist and scientific visits to "Titanic" are still continuing; by April 2012, 100 years since the disaster and nearly 25 since the discovery of the wreck, around 140 people had visited. On 14 April 2012 (the 100th anniversary of the ship's sinking), the wreck of the "Titanic" became eligible for protection under the 2001 UNESCO Convention on the Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage. In the same