After going through Titanic: the Artifact Exhibit, at the Museum of Science And Industry (MOSI), in Tampa, FL, we went to their Imax theater, in the same complex, and saw the movie Ghosts of the Abyss. James Cameron, who was the award winning director of Titanic, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, produced and directed Ghosts of the Abyss, also about the Titanic. It was a documentary, filmed on location, two and a half miles below the surface of the cold North Atlantic, where the ship ended up after hitting an ice burg and sinking, in 1912.

The movie starts with the Russian research ship, Keldysh, arriving at the site above the Titanic. Two submersibles, Mir I and Mir II were transported to the site aboard the ship. They were lowered into the sea with two robot light/cameras aboard, Jake and Elrood, that were created by Cameron to light the bottom of the ocean because it was completely dark and there was too much pressure that far down for divers with cameras. The robots were released, from special doors, and began to explore the site. The famous bow came into view, but no love scene, and then the robots filmed the top deck, where the helmstand was located, and momentarily a holographic ghost steered the ship.

The robots ventured inside the ship, through the hole in the side of the hull. In a first class bedroom, a ghost picked up a derby hat off a bureau; you can see the real hat and many other items that were used in the movie, in the actual museum exhibit. The luxurious leaded glass windows, of the first class dining hall, were still in place here and there, and suddenly the ghost of the passengers were promenading along the deck in their fine attire. A shot of the actual windows, lit up inside by one of the robots, made that section of the ship come alive, if for only a few seconds. The crank shaft for the life boats came into view, and suddenly the ghost of John Jacob Astor IV was helping his pregnant wife into a life boat, and for a few seconds, the life boat was lowered down the side of the ship. On the deck the brave band played their final performance as hysteria continued all around them.

Dr. Lori Johnson, a female marine biologist, who was involved in researching the conditions of the Titanic, became an actress in the drama, and explained the ship abounds with life; minuscular sea creatures make, what looks like, stalactites that hung everywhere from the sunken ship. Russian Mir pilot, Genya Cherniav, had problems communicating in English. One robot tangled up in the ragged edges of the damaged ship and then was rescued by the other robot.

It was suppose to be in 3-D but we weren’t given glasses on the way into the theater. A video of the movie is available in our local library.