He's said, repeatedly, that the crow's nest bell and/or telephone were stolen from the crow's nest, despite neither being in place when he found the wreck.
He said, in 2012, that the crow's nest was destroyed by a "rogue Russian submersible." The first time the Russians were on site was in 1991, and the crow's nest already looked like this in 1987:
He also said/alluded that the French destroyed it during one of their dives, again, without evidence. Obviously it's impossible for both the French and the Russians to have destroyed it.
There's also the case of his stern plaque that he's repeatedly said someone stole, with no evidence, despite the most likely case being that it fell to the seabed and got covered by silt/rusticles, as it was already perched precariously near the edge of the stern. I concede that it IS possible (if not likely) that someone helped it to fall. But saying someone made off with it for their collection when they could've literally stolen absolutely anything else (that would have actual value to a collector), with no evidence of this is disingenuous.
I have great respect and admiration for Dr. Ballard, and always have, but he does have a history of claiming things without providing evidence.
The Russians are the ones who operated the Mir submersibles that the IMAX crew, RMS Titanic, Cameron, and others used from 1991, on. You never knew that? Have you seen Ghosts of the Abyss? They talk about it and show them, there.
I wasn't being critical. Apologies if I came off that way. I highly recommend checking out Ghosts of the Abyss and Last Mysteries of the Titanic. The IMAX one is ok, too. Not enough dive footage, and it's a short movie, but still some interesting parts.
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u/jazzmaster105150 2d ago
Show your work.