Jack Grimm wasissuedan ultimatum from his group of scientists : It was either them or the rascal .
It was 1980 , and Grimm , an rock oil magnate , was organizing yet another of his ostensibly impossible quests . After searching for the cadaver of Noah ’s Ark , evidence ofBigfoot , and proof of theAbominable Snowman , Grimm had set his sight on witness the wreckage of theTitanic , which had sunk to the depths of the North Atlantic in 1912 . No one had located the ship . Grimm believed he could — with the aid of a monkey diagnose Titan .
Titan , Grimm insist , would be able-bodied to divine the location of theTitanicthrough some kind of primate extrasensory perception . ( It would also be in effect publicity . ) The scientists hired for the expeditiousness , who were used to more hardheaded methods , considered the gimmick“bizarre ” and “ circus - like . ” But their protest — and the decision to leave Titan on land — didn’t deter Grimm from funding the expedition . In fact , he would fund a total of three attempts to chance theTitanic , at a cost of millions , and later take a firm stand he had been the one to actually discover it .
Through it all , he made grand proclamations , promoted half - Truth , and mythologized himself as a West Texas rendering ofDon Quixote . In retrospect , enlisting a monkey to discover theTitanicwas in all likelihood one of his least arresting adventure .
Search Party
Jakob Grimm wasbornin Wagoner , Oklahoma , on May 18 , 1925 . Anincidentat historic period 11 portended his future as a curious creative thinker who was mostly untroubled by obstacles : After becoming fascinated by stories of fall back treasurestoldto him by his grandfather , George Washington Grimm , he became confident something valuable lurked nearby . fit in to some sources , he thought it was in a nearby brook layer ; others say it was in a tree . Regardless , he decided to blow it up using dynamite , and retrieved a few arrowheads and a frying pan in the procedure . This practice of chasing legends using extravagant excess would prove to be a metaphor for his intact life .
After serving in the Marines duringWorld War II , Grimm study oil color geology at Oklahoma University and would likely have entered the industry as an employee were it not for his friend Nelson Bunker Hunt . His father was famed fossil oil billionaire H.L. Hunt , andhis unbelievable wealthinspired Grimm to go into occupation for himself : He go to persist a dry spell that reduced both him and his wife Jackie to poverty before striking crude oil in a spot that poured out $ 1000 a day . By long time 31 , he was a millionaire .
For a time , petroleum prospecting seemed to fulfill Grimm ’s appetence for find . He aged into whatThe Washington Postonce describedas a look in the vein of Ed Asner , a passably burly man with fatheaded eyebrows and the vague mien of an insurance policy salesman . But by 1970 , his ambitions turned esoteric . After read about a planned Gallic expedition to call back remnant of Noah ’s Ark on Mount Ararat in Turkey , Grimm resolve to connect up and lend his resources .
There was , of form , the thrill of the hunt , but his motivations had a deeper meaning — the somewhat oxymoronic opportunity to validate faith . “ It had always inconvenience oneself me that communism was a godless society , ” Grimm told thePostin 1981 . “ I think if you could demonstrate that there was a flood , an Ark and eight subsister then you would have to accept the Bible . ”
The expedition happily welcome Grimm and his fiscal resources to the trek , which Grimm joined in someone . But the Ark was nowhere to be found . Undaunted , Grimm tried again 1974 , this meter subsidize his $ 20,000 investment by selling a television infotainment about the hunting . This , too , was futile , though Grimm never admitted it . Instead , he would wave a musical composition of hand - carved timbre he said was find from Mount Ararat and would not broker any doubt as to its legitimacy .
“ This is the Ark , ” he said . “ That ’s my story , and I ’m going to stick to it . ”
The Ark expedition intelligibly whet Grimm ’s appetite for trafficking in avocation that garner care . He stake effort to find evidence of the existence of famed timber creature Bigfoot , offering$500,000 for a definitive photo . He also pursued theLoch Ness Monster . That these creatures lacked scientific credibleness did n’t seem to deter him .
" I am inclined to consider the animate being exist,“hesaidin 1975 . " We love they live millions of years ago , why not now ? " ( His attack for finding Nessie , which ask using " experimental " plastic film from Eastman Kodak and need ethereal shots by whirlybird , fail to produce grounds of the aquatic monster ’s macrocosm . )
Grimm ’s objectives went beyond the fantastic . In 1977 , heattemptedto win the World Series of Poker , sinking $ 10,500 a mean solar day into the tourney .
He did n’t get ahead , but another , immensely more important pot of gold was look him .
A Titanic Struggle
By 1979 , Grimm had set sights on a new and vaguely more hard-nosed objective — locating theTitanic .
The ship , which had strike an berg and was subsequently withdraw whole by the water inthe early morning hoursof April 15 , 1912 , had yet to be rediscovered . It was n’t as elementary as simply diving in the spot where it went under , as the recondite - diving technology was still steel new . Earlier attempts to find it had not produced any supporting leads .
Grimm , however , had religion in a humankind discover Michael Harris , an expedition leader and documentary film producer who believe theTitaniccould be let on if someone had $ 1 million to cover what he felt were the necessary expense . ( He and Harris had something else in rough-cut : The latter had once supervise a separate expedition to regain Noah ’s Ark , too . )
In front of reporters that Grimm had summoned for the social occasion , the two men met and hammered out an arrangement for an expedition . Grimm solicited investment funds from his oil diligence peers , while frame up a tail of the amount himself . He also partnered with oceanographer Dr. William Ryan of Columbia University ’s Lamont - Doherty Geological Observatory as well as investigator from the University of California ’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography , lending the entire affair real legitimacy .
In expectancy of discover something , Grimm pose the basis for a triumph lap . He signed a Scripture deal and hired Orson Welles to tell a documentary , Search for the Titanic ; he flirted with theideaof hit a pot with a cruise line so rider could come see what the expedition was up to ; and enlisted singer Kenny Starr to show “ Ballad of theTitanic , ” a state air about the fate ship . Even his enlisting of Titan the scamp seemed orchestrated to maximize press .
The first attempt , in 1980 , was a broke — bad weather intervene with sonar butt . But Grimm was hearten by the exploit . Heannounced“phase II ” for summer 1981 , which also netted niggling in the way of life of evidence he had situate the wreck .
The three expeditions ( 1980 , 1981 , and 1983 ) fail to happen upon the wreck . As a result , both Grimm ’s 1982 book , Beyond Reach : The hunting for the Titanic , and the 1981 documentary film did n’t get the expected attention . ( The movie appeared to have been limited to local screenings in his hometown of Abilene , Texas . )
But still , Grimm take a more affirmative perspective . As with Bigfoot , the squad had taken a fuzzy sonar image Grimm interpreted to be one of the ship ’s propellers .
When Robert Ballard actually located theTitanicin 1985 , Grimmarguedthe photo was proof that he , not Ballard , had been the one to distinguish it and that Ballard ’s team had used Grimm ’s data to help oneself inform their own search . Othersbelievedthe " propellor " in the blurry photo was a rock candy .
“ I ’ll assume a spate with you , ” Grimm told Ballard . “ We attain the behind in 1981 and you strike the bow in 1985 . ” Ballard was amuse — but unaffected — by the delivery .
Theatrics apart , Grimm ’s interest in theTitanicdid have real welfare . His grant of $ 330,000 to Columbia University yield the team employment of a sonar machine that could handle wide areas in less time — equipment the shoal could also make use of . The press he receive also appeared to stimulate a newfound fascination in theTitanic , one that piqued the interest of grownup and schoolchildren , who wrote to Grimm inquiring about what he might get . Grimm would often react , at one gunpoint fielding questions from kids on the telephone set about the ship ’s potential contents .
" It feed me a heavy deal of pleasure to do these projects and partake in them with the world , " he said . " A lot of masses inhabit vicariously through my adventure . I enjoy that . To me , life story is a series of risky venture . "
TheTitanicefforts were state to have put a dent in Grimm ’s finances for a metre . They also marked his last major wave of promotion . ( His planned search for the fabled lost city of Atlantis — whichhe announcedshortly after his finalTitanicexpedition — fail to garner the same levels of medium care . ) He give out in 1998 at years 72 having never backed down from his claim regarding Noah ’s Ark or theTitanic . But Grimm ’s most fantastic tarradiddle was n’t really about mixed-up treasure : It was the tale of Jack Grimm , indomitable explorer .
