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Beyond Reach: The Search for the Titanic

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Ever since the Titanic plummented to the bottom of the Atlantic in April of 1912, a great many people have been fascinated by the tale of her short life and in her ultimate fate. Over the years there had been many theories as to how and exactly where the majestic ship had foundered and an equal number of proposals for locating and salvaging the remains. In 'Beyond Reach' author William Hoffman tells the story of the first serious expeditions to look for the ship. Beginning in 1980, entrepreneur and Texas showman, Jack Grimm, financed 3 such expeditions. Although there were other various sponsors of the search, it was Grimm--who had also backed other endeavors to find the Loch Ness Monster and Noah's Ark among other things--who was determined to be the discoverer of the legendary passenger liner, and by such to write his name in the history books. Hoffman, who was on board the research vessel Gyre during the second expedition, tells an interesting-enough story about life on board a small oceanographic ship for weeks on end as it dragged sonar and camera rigs back and forth beneath the rough seas on the north Atlantic, 'discovering' only a 'thing that looked like a coffin, George Washington's skull, an old bottle, and a tin cup'. The cast of characters on the Gyre included Dr. Carl Lowenstein, 'more at home in a chair and a desk at the back of the lab then with people', Dr Fred Spiess, the 'father of deep water research', Bill Ryan of the Lamont Geological Observatory, and even the actor James Drury, most notable for his role on TV as 'The Virginian'. But it is Jack Grimm who commands the most interest in this narrative: gambling with the crew, prodding his scientific party, orating to his captive audience, cajoling his reluctant sponsors for more money to continue the search, and for trying to turn the event into a media extravaganza (which is what the eventual discovery would become anyway years later when the ship was actually found by Bob Ballard). There is a hilarious scene at the conclusion of the expedition where Grimm is shown brow beating Titanic survivor, Eva Hart with underwater photos of a propellor they found which Grimm claimed to have come from Titanic. Ultimately, though, the book disappoints because Grimm never did find the Titanic. That event would have to wait until years later and it would be another discoverer whose name would be written in the permanent annals of Titanic lore.