Foundations Reading 4B

Chap 8

Reading 4B MY DESCENT TO THE TITANIC by Corey Jaskolski In 2001, I was part of an expedition to explore the Titanic. Our team used two small deep-sea robots, one blue and one green. My job was to make sure the robots' batteries worked well. Three days into the expedition, the green robot got stuck inside the Titanic. Even worse, one of its batteries was damaged. That was dangerous, as the battery could explode. It could harm the robot and the ship. We had to find a way to get it out. In the middle of the ocean, though, there are no stores to buy supplies. So, we had an idea. We took a coat hanger and put it inside the blue robot. The plan was to use the hanger's hook to pull out the green robot. Two crew members and I got ready to go down in a three-man submarine. A crane lifted us and placed us in the water. Then we started to sink—12,500 feet to the ocean bottom. If anything went wrong, we were totally on our own. At about 9,000 feet, a crewmate accidentally touched some wires. Suddenly, all the sub's lights went out. We were in complete darkness. It was terrifying, but the pilot was able to fix it, and we carried on. Finally, we reached the Titanic's wreckage. First, we could just see pieces of metal. Then we started to see suitcases and shoes. Over a thousand people fell here, but their bodies disappeared long ago. For about 12 hours, we tried to pull the robot out with the coat hanger. Finally, we got it and brought it to the surface. There was no way we were going to leave it behind. That little robot was part of our team.

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