Science: After 73 Years, A Titanic FIND

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They are the artifacts of extravagance, as flawlessly preserved as those in the tomb of King Tutankhamen. Five cases of wine with corks seemingly intact. Delicate china plates, wash basins and chamber pots, pristine and unchipped. Plump and elegant luggage that could have been packed yesterday. Seventy-three years after the "unsinkable" Titanic plowed into an iceberg and slowly slipped beneath the waves, the luxury liner has at last been found sitting nearly upright on the frigid Atlantic floor, 500 miles south of Newfoundland and more than 13,000 ft. below sea level. At that depth, the great ship and its trove of Edwardian-era relics have been shielded from the destructive effects of sunlight, heat, algae and parasites. "If you had your wildest dream of how you were going to find that ship, that is exactly how we found it," said an ebullient Robert Ballard, expedition leader and a marine geologist with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts. "It is a museum piece."

In a sense, it was a dream fulfilled for all seafaring scientists. To locate one of the most technologically advanced vessels of its day, the researchers employed the most advanced technology of today. A team of 13 Woods Hole investigators sailing on the U.S. Navy research vessel Knorr joined forces with a contingent of French scientists aboard the Suroit, operated by the Paris-based Research Institute for Exploitation of the Sea (IFREMER). The two ships bristled with several million dollars' worth of sophisticated equipment. It included a high-resolution sonar device that can trace precisely the contours of the ocean floor, and a compact submersible vessel towed like a sled on a cable, which relayed photographs and videotape confirming the Titanic find. For some of the investigators, the biggest thrill was that their experimental equipment worked. "This allows us to open up deep-sea exploration on a much, much larger scale than before," says Woods Hole Director John Steele. "We couldn't ask for more."

The discovery was also a triumph for romance. The sinking of the Titanic on its maiden voyage, and the death of more than 1,500 of the 2,200 passengers on board, had signaled the end of the Edwardian era in all its cocky opulence. Last week's unexpected reappearance of the great ship was a welcome touch of vintage nostalgia, like the sight of a top hat or a long white glove. For his part, Ballard was willing to share with the world only a portion of his great discovery. Fearing an onslaught of treasure-seeking vandals, he refused to divulge the exact position of the Titanic. "If I give you the depths," he said good-humoredly, "a good oceanographer will know how to get at it."