A Question About Attempt to Find The RMS Titanic

[ralph124c]

I recall that a few years before the successful Ballard expedition (which located and photographed the wreck), a Texas millionaire had an attempt to find the Titanic. They released what they said was a sonar scan of thh ship, which showed on outline that looked like an intact ship on the bottom-complete with all 4 smokestacks intact (which we now know to be incorrect).
I can’t remember the name of this guy-but obviously, he faked the whole thing. Was the position he reported even close to where the wreck actually sits?
I have had no luck on Google-anybody know more?

[aldiboronti]

Sounds like Texas oilman Jack Grimm, who also funded an expedition to find Noah’s Ark.

By far his most ambitious quest began in 1979 when he was approached by Michael Harris, a Florida film maker who had made documentaries of searches for Spanish treasure in the Caribbean and wanted to find the Titanic. Mr. Grimm all but took over the project, raising several million dollars, arranging for reputable scientists to accompany the expedition with advanced sonar equipment and even hiring the William Morris agency to promote what became three expeditions to the North Atlantic.

Although the scientists acknowledged that the expeditions produced invaluable data about the configuration of the ocean floor, Mr. Grimm alone maintained that they had actually found the Titanic.

Whether or not a grainy undersea photograph taken in 1981 was a picture of the Titanic’s anchor, as Mr. Grimm, who helped write a 1982 book, ‘‘Beyond Reach: The Search for the Titanic,’’ maintained it was, after a 1985 French-American expedition led by Robert Ballard found the full remains of the sunken ship, Mr. Grimm’s claims were swept aside by the courts.

[ralph124c]

Thanks for the info…a related question: some years ago, I saw a ridicupous attempt to cash in on the Tiatanic film’s success-somebody was packaging little pieces of coal, that had been recovered from the wreck.
I wonder if anybody actually bought this? As i recall, you got a little chunk of coal (in a plexiglass cube), with a statement of authenticity.
Just the think to put on your mantelpiece!

[Elendil_s_Heir]

I remember when an exhibit by these guys, http://www.titanic-online.com/index.php4?page=42, came to the Great Lakes Science Center in Cleveland. You could buy little vials of Titanic coal (I didn’t).

[Rodd_Hill]

I remember the Titanic coal being offered for sale.

Thought the whole thing was pretty slack.

[Max_Torque]

I went to the Titanic exhibit at the Luxor in Las Vegas last fall. They sell the coal there, too, as well as jewelry made from the coal. As I recall, it was mentioned somewhere (sign in the gift shop, maybe?) that coal is the only “recovered Titanic artifact” that can be sold; everything else is of historical significance, I suppose.