Earlier this week, we used two photographs of the Olympic’s grand staircases to examine what those spaces, so grand and iconic, looked like on Titanic. While no known photographs of Titanic’s grand staircases exist, the forward grand staircase location on the wreck has been extensively documented in both video and in photographs.
What was found when the area was first explored by Dr. Robert Ballard, using the submersible Alvin and the early ROV Jason, Jr. (sometimes JJ for short), was both a blessing and a curse. The curse was that the staircase structure itself, from the wrought iron balustrades to the intricately-carved clock to the marvelous woodwork, was missing. Instead, a cavernous abyss opened beneath the ROV as it descended through the massive opening that was once covered by the wrought iron dome. Tantalizing reminders of the space’s former glory, particularly light fixtures dangling from wires, were all over.
The blessing, however, was that the large opening provided ready access to the ship’s interior spaces. Much as the staircases had been a functional space for getting passengers from deck to deck, they now were a right of way for the submersibles.
