It was nearly two hours past midnight on Sept. 1, 1985, and ocean explorer Bob Ballard was trying to rest aboard the Navy-owned research vessel Knorr — unaware that he and his team were minutes away from discovering one of the most iconic shipwrecks in history .

The RMS Titanic .

He hadn't originally come to that remote stretch of the North Atlantic to find a famous shipwreck . Officially, he was on a classified U.S. Navy mission. But the expedition had quietly pivoted to a second goal — a hope, really — that had eluded explorers for decades.

The Knorr hummed steadily around him. Far below the ocean's surface, Argo , a pioneering, remotely operated vehicle with video cameras and side-scan sonar, was slowly peeling back layers of darkness, revealing a debris field entombed in f

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