Ken Marschall [left, against pole] James Cameron [seated on chart], and Don Lynch [far right]

Don Lynch is historian of the Titanic Historical Society and an authority on the Titanic's passengers and crew. As a member of James Cameron's team on the Ghosts of the Abyss expedition, he made several dives down to the wreck and kept careful notes and a daily journal which were invaluable in the writing of the text for this book. He is also the author of Titanic: An Illustrated History, which was a source of inspiration to James Cameron in the making of his award-winning movie Titanic.

Ken Marschall is the world's leading Titanic artist and an acknowledged expert on the ship. His work first became well known through the haunting images of the Titanic wreck he created for Robert D. Ballard's 1987 bestselling book, The Discovery of the Titanic. His work is also featured in Titanic: An Illustrated History, Ken Marschall's Art of Titanic and in several children's books. He served as visual consultant for the Ghosts of the Abyss movie and oversaw the creation of the visual content for this book.

James Cameron is one of Hollywood's foremost movie directors. But he has now made more dives to the Titanic wreck than anyone else, spending 220 hours there - more time than Captain Smith had on the ship.

There has been a lot written about the Titanic. What makes this book different?

Don: The interior of the Titanic had never been explored to such an extent. Previously existing equipment just couldn't venture that far into the ship. With the development of the Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs), the 3-D camera equipment, and the Medusa lighting platform, the wreck could be explored and filmed like never before.

Ken: I can't add much to that, other than to note that I'm not aware of another book that tells the personal experience of what it's like to participate in such a historic and important Titanic expedition.

What are some of the most newsworthy items you reveal for the first time?

Don: Almost everything we saw we feel was newsworthy. The wrought-iron grillwork over the first class entrance gangways had never been photographed, and no one knew until now what they looked like. Finding the beautiful leaded-glass windows in the dining saloon and reception room intact was exceptional. In the staterooms, discovering upright washstands with drinking glasses still in their racks where the passengers had left them, despite the destruction which occurred during the sinking, was a huge surprise.

Ken: The most historically important thing we discovered was the virtually intact remains of the Marconi wireless "silent room." This is where the 5kW motor and alternator (and much other equipment) are located that generated the spark that signaled other ships to Titanic's plight. It is that spark that saved all those lives that night. No photographs are known showing the interior of the silent rooms on any of the Olympic-class ships (Olympic,Titanic or Britannic), nor do deck plans reveal any details of these rooms whatsoever.

The eight-foot square cabin was discovered with all of its floor-mounted equipment still in their original positions and wall-mounted fittings fallen just below their original locations. Several vital, heavy pieces of Marconi equipment always assumed to have been in the Marconi room as on all other ships of the era were, to our astonishment, found to be in the adjacent silent room instead, still attached to the wall.

The control levers on this equipment are still in the positions left by Junior Wireless Operator Harold Bride in the last few minutes of the sinking. The actual machine that produced the lifesaving spark is plainly visible, contained within its sound-suppressing teak box, the lid of which is still open as Bride left it that night. Other discoveries added to our knowledge of the ship's structure and Interior design and were equally unexpected.

We were surprised to find six columns on D-Deck adjacent to the staircase and elevator lobby, supporting C-Deck above, that her sister ship Olympic never had. We saw for the first time that Titanic's elaborate wrought-iron elevator doors have a subtly different design from those of her sister ship, and different ceiling lights were used in the elevator lobby.

Other questions were answered, too. For example, no photographs are known showing the pattern of the leaded-glass windows in Titanic's dining saloon or reception room. Were they identical to Olympic's or did they have a fresh, different design? For the first time we had our answer--they are the same. And there were so many discoveries that were not only unexpected but wonderfully evocative.

To add a few more examples to what Don said, there were all the gilt-brass bedsteads, most still standing; numerous upright stateroom doors, their white paint and hardware intact; the mahogany washstand cabinet in stateroom A-11 used by well-known first-class passenger Edith Rosenbaum, its unbroken mirror above and her drinking glass still in its plated metal rack; crystal-beaded chandeliers still attached to the entrance foyer ceiling; more surviving paneling than we ever expected and gilt-brass letters spelling "A DECK" still mounted to this woodwork; a green,stoppered medicine bottle in the "crew surgery," resting in its rack exactly where it had been left; and Henry Harper's bowler hat in stateroom D-33, lying at an angle atop the remains of his wardrobe cabinet at the foot of his bed.

How many unpublished photos and illustrations are featured in your book, and what are some of the more unusual or rare ones that we've never seen before?

Ken: Obviously all of the color images taken on the expedition are new, whether aboard the research ship "Keldysh," inside the "Mir" submersibles, or of the wreck. There are over 25 archival photographs that have either never been published or seen so clearly.

(A few of these images have been seen before but were copied out of old White Star Line brochures. For the first time, original negatives have been found and utilized.) Notable among these new archivals is the image of Titanic leaving the White Star Dock in Southampton (seen in the book's endpapers), the period photograph of Edith Rosenbaum, a view inside the enclosed A-deck promenade as it appeared on Titanic, and a computer composite of several different stateroom photos to create a new view showing how the Harper's D-deck stateroom appeared. There are eight new, meticulously researched computer-generated recreations of various interiors showing how these areas inside the wreck used to appear.

Each is an amazing feat in its own right, but the most significant—never before attempted—is the careful reconstruction of Titanic's Marconi and silent rooms. Working in concert with Marconi authority Parks Stephenson who painstakingly analyzed the ROV footage taken within these spaces, each piece of this historic equipment is seen as it once looked, positioned in exactly the place it is now believed to have been or was actually found within the wreck. There is also a painting of the wreck that I did a few years ago, which I updated specially for this book to reflect its current state and added the "Mir" submersibles and "Medusa" vehicle.

Did you encounter any special challenges in documenting and assembling the material for the book?

Don: Perhaps the biggest challenge was having to decide what could not be included in the book, simply because of space limitations. There is such a huge story to tell and we were only able to bring to the reader the highlights.

Ken: My challenges were many. I provided reference material to the computer artists to recreate Titanic's interiors as they once looked. It fell to me to make sure they understood all the material, including the subtle differences between Titanic and her sister ship Olympic, and to oversee their work. I delved into my archive of Titanic and related photos to find the best archival matches for an effective "then-and-now" treatment throughout the book. I scrutinized every second of ROV video, looking for new details not noticed earlier and carefully selecting hundreds of candidate stills for inclusion

By far the most laborious contribution to the book was the compositing of numerous adjacent frames of wreck video, blending them together in order to smooth and enhance the images. (Single frame grabs would be too grainy, too "noisy.") I was greatly assisted in this work by Ellen O'Brien. Once the selected video stills were cleaned up, I mosaiced many of them together to create wider views, an exciting challenge that proved very satisfying and sometimes yielded eye-opening results.

Have you collaborated together in the past?

Don: We have collaborated on a number of varied projects, both big and small, over the years, from putting together slide presentations to planning a 100th birthday celebration for one of the survivors of the Titanic. Ironically our biggest project, the 1992 book Titanic: An Illustrated History, involved working almost entirely independently of one another. I wrote the text while Ken worked on the illustrations, and there wasn't much interaction at the time.

What did each of you bring to the project?

Don: I brought my knowledge of the sinking, while Ken brought his knowledge of the ship itself. Ken's exhaustive research of the Titanic enabled him to identify what the ROVs were seeing, after which Don would then add the human drama by identifying who occupied the particular staterooms the ROVs explored or what significant events occurred in the various public rooms. Once the book was in production, Ken's visual and artistic skills enabled him to select the best illustrations for the various chapters, while Don used his skills as a writer to complete the text.

How long has this project been in the works?

Don: It began about six years ago when Jim Cameron began development of the ROVs and other equipment necessary to explore the wreck. The book was created over a few months of intense, dedicated effort in order for it to be available to the public at the same time the 3-D film was released.

Tell us about your experience working on the movie?

Don: Our work on the film "Ghosts of the Abyss" began with our participation in the expedition to the wreck, nearly every minute of which was recorded by some type of camera. This included diving to the Titanic, identifying target areas to explore, reviewing the footage obtained and describing what was seen.

Once we were back home, we were interviewed at length for narration of the film and were always available to answer questions about the shipwreck or what was seen. We also were among those invited to portray the ghosts which appear on the wreck—Ken as White Star Line Director J. Bruce Ismay and I, as shipbuilder Thomas Andrews. In all, our experiences were extremely varied but always interesting and often fun. One of the best parts of the entire experience was the wonderful people we had the privilege of working with, both at sea and ashore.

Ken: I had worn the hat of "Visual Historian" working with Jim Cameron on his film "Titanic," doing my best to oversee the accuracy of the sets and miniatures built for the movie. I thought at the time that nothing could ever top such a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Then I was invited to dive to the ship itself (four times), exploring deep inside via our ROV's "eyes" and being a part of such a different—and important—chapter in Titanic's legendary history.

It was tough, a lot of work. We were aboard "Keldysh" for nearly seven weeks. I doubt there were more than three nights when I got more than five hours sleep. But I've never been so excited by any Titanic project in which I've participated, nor by any book on which I've worked—and they have been numerous. The results of our collective labors over several years, on both the 3-D film and the book, are hugely satisfying to me. I am very proud. This Titanic exploration, and the technology used, is truly groundbreaking. To paraphrase what Howard Carter said after peering into King Tutankhamun's tomb, "We have seen wonderful things."