Argo was the system of television cameras and sonars that helped find the Titanic, was named by Titanic expedition leader Robert Ballard for the mythical Greek vessel that carried Jason on his quest for the Golden Fleece. In 1985, Argo represented a newneration of exploration vehicles for ocean scientists.
Argo was developed at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution with funds provided by the Office of Naval Research as part of a dual vehicle Argo/Jason system for ocean bottom research. It could acquire wide-angle film and television pictures while flying 50 to 100 feet above the sea floor, towed from a surface vessel, and could also zoom in for detailed views.
Unmanned or tethered systems like Argo can operate 24 hours a day, doing the basic reconnaissance necessary for Jason or other towed systems or human exploration in research submersibles like the Deep Submergence Vehicle Alvin, operated by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and owned by the U.S. Navy.
Argo was designed to operate in the rugged terrain of undersea mountain ranges. The towed sled, capable of operating depths of 6,000 meters (20,000 feet), meant 98% of the ocean floor was within reach. The original Argo used to find Titanic was 15 feet long, 3.5 feet tall, and 3.5 feet wide and weighed about 4,000 pounds in air. It had an array of cameras looking forward and down, and strobes and incandescent lighting to illuminate the ocean floor.
This new tool, built largely with commercially available components and specially developed software and cable systems, was designed to enhance our ability to explore the ocean floor. Dr. Robert Ballard, leader of the Deep Submergence Laboratory which developed Argo, is a geologist who spent most of his 30-year research career at WHOI investigating the Mid-Ocean Ridge, the largest single feature on earth's surface, some 45,000 miles long and covering more than 20 percent of the globe. Since the first detailed exploration of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, part of the system of ridges that make up the Mid-Ocean Ridge, began in 1973 (and in which Dr. Ballard was a participant), scientists had managed by 1985 to accumulate only 120 miles of data in 12 years. In the first scheduled scientific use of Argo in December 1985, Ballard and his colleagues covered nearly 120 miles of the East Pacific Rise in just 20 days.
With its enhanced images and ability to operate in the dangerous undersea mountain ranges, Argo found many more uses. Geologists and geophysicists were able to explore large areas and inspect smaller features at a closer range. Biologists conducted surveys of seafloor populations. Geochemists used Argo for studies in the hydrothermal vents where chemicals spew forth from deep within the earth to support unique forms of marine life.
Argo made another historic discovery in June 1989 when it located the sunken World War II German battleship Bismarck in nearly 15,000 feet of water off the coast of France. In 1985, plans called for Argo to carry Jason, a robotic vehicle under development by the Institution’s Deep Submergence Laboratory, to inspect seafloor features close-up and collect samples with a manipulator. At-sea tests with Jason in 1989 altered that plan, and the two vehicles are now used separately. The original Argo was retired in the 1990s. Today, the Institution has improved on this technology, and uses several uniquely designed towed vehicles for oceanographic missions across the globe.