Robert Ballard Interview (page: 6 / 7) Discoverer of the Titanic	Print Interview

Did the discovery of the Titanic change your life in any way?

Robert Ballard: Dramatically, in good ways and bad ways. Mostly good ways.

I had a chance to warm up to success. I had that ego thing that you go through of being on television and newspapers, and all of that sort of thing when the media has their meal with you. I had done that on a smaller scale. So, when this big thing came, I think I had a proper frame of mind about it. A lot of people who succeed, the ones that do it overnight, it can ruin them. But the ones that work at it for a long, long time, like some stars who get discovered after a 30-year career, they tend to handle it better than the people that are a star in their first movie. I'm thankful that I was prepared, as much as you could be, for something like that. It still was quite an experience, but I think I kept my feet on the ground through it all. You can't take it too seriously when the spotlight, to some degree arbitrarily, says "Now you are famous." You say, "Well I don't feel any different." The key is: don't act any different then.
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It's one thing to climb to the top of the mountain, it's another thing to stay there. To stay there, you have to be pretty stable about it, and know what you are up against, and use it in a productive way. I think finding the Titanic has helped my career because people believe me when I say I have a new dream. Some people say "Why did you find the Bismarck?" To some degree, to prove it wasn't luck.

Was it anticlimactic, in a way, going for the Bismarck?

Robert Ballard: The Bismarck was more difficult technically, not anticlimactic. I didn't expect the Bismarck to be on the Richter scale of the Titanic, but it registered pretty strong. I think the television special we created on the Bismarck -- which won an Emmy for the best documentary -- was a better film. I think the book we did on the Bismarck was a better book. It was more difficult, but I accept the fact that it isn't the Titanic.

I don't want on my gravestone: "Bob Ballard, Discoverer of the Titanic." I want "Bob Ballard, Explorer."
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I've got many years ahead of me to prove that point. The Titanic is going to help me, but I don't want to stop right now.

Presumably the Bismarck helped you too, in some ways, didn't it?

The Bismarck helped with the momentum. It showed it wasn't luck. I am now embarked upon several major programs of that ilk, that are being funded by National Geographic. I can't wait to get started. I am looking into the future, not the past. I can't wait to get going in the next project.

You're 48 now, what are you planning to do in the next 48 years?

Robert Ballard: Survive. I have so many things that I want to do. I have my own company that builds robots. I want to be a successful businessman. You only come on this planet once, so I'm trying to live six or seven lives simultaneously, just in case I don't get to come back. I like all aspects of life. I love writing. I just wrote my first spy thriller. That was a lot of fun. I started doing children's books, because I love children. We did the Jason Project for kids. I'm still a naval officer, very proud of that. I just recently got married, and I'm all excited about that. There are a million things to do.

Looking back on those first 48 years if you will, there was some bad luck, too. There were some tragedies.

Robert Ballard: Yes, I lost my boy. I think that whenever things are going great, you are going to get zinged. I couldn't have been at a higher point in my life. I had already found the Titanic. I was able to add to that point, when I found the Bismarck. Then to have my boy die, who had been with me for three years at sea. I went to the bottom.

How did he die?

Robert Ballard: He died in a car accident. He had been with me in tough, dangerous settings. He worked the deck in storms, where a father wants to not let his son be out there, but he can't say that, because he's got to be out there with everyone else, and to just be terrified that he was going to get injured in the heavy seas, with the heavy equipment. And then to have that all behind you, and take a sigh of relief that he is no longer at risk, and then to have him die the next week, when you weren't looking, when you weren't ready. It's devastating. To try to make that a positive experience -- for you, certainly not for him -- but to make the most out of your son's death is a big challenge.
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What were some of your other setbacks along the way?

Robert Ballard: People not believing me. It's getting a little easier, but it's funny how people will say, "I don't think you can do that." Then you do it, and they say "That was great" and you say, "Well, I've got this other idea." "Naw, I don't think you can do that." So you do it again.

When I said I was going to find the Titanic, no one believed it. When I said I was going to find the Bismarck, everyone believed it, and then I failed in my first attempt to find the Bismarck. So people expect you to succeed, but they don't want to stick their own necks out, and so risk-taking can be very lonely at times. You know that classic saying, which is very true: "Failure is an orphan, but success has many fathers." I'll tell you, when I'm most at risk, I look around, and there are not a whole lot of people there. But as soon as I succeed, they say, "We were always there." And I say, "Yeah, but 500 miles behind me." You have to learn to accept that. You have to know that when it gets dicey, and there is a lot on the line, you are going to find out who your friends are, not at the party afterwards.
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Did these setbacks reaffirm your direction in life, or give you second thoughts? Did you have doubts about your work, your abilities, or your style of living?

Robert Ballard: Yes. A massive failure causes you to rethink everything, but if you thought it out right in the first place, when you review the logic that sent you down that path, you say "Well, that's pretty good logic. I'd better keep going." I always said to my son, before he died, "If you stay in the game, it's never over. It may be a bad inning, but if you don't quit you can't lose. You only lose when you quit. So hang in there, and you will succeed." I am convinced that if you can think it out, and dream it, you can do it. It's just a question of how much you want to do it. What life does is test your determination. That's the important thing. Don't give up. And guess what, you'll make it.

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