In one of the most peculiar chapters of maritime history, declassified government files have revealed a truly outlandish British plan to raise the wreck of the RMS Titanic from the Atlantic seabed. The ambitious, if not utterly bizarre, salvage operation involved filling the legendary liner with 27 million ping pong balls and smothering it in Vaseline.
The extraordinary proposal, detailed in documents from the National Archives in Kew, London, was presented to none other than Prime Minister Winston Churchill. The plan was the brainchild of retired civil engineer Charles 'Chuck' Haskins, who passionately believed his method was the key to recovering the world's most famous shipwreck.
The Eccentric Blueprint for Recovery
Haskins' scheme was as simple as it was strange. The core idea was to send a remote-controlled mini-submarine down to the Titanic's final resting place, nearly 13,000 feet below the surface. This sub would then be used to drill hundreds of holes into the ship's hull.
Through these holes, an estimated 27 million ping pong balls would be injected into the decaying chambers of the ocean liner. The theory was that the incredible buoyancy of the vast quantity of plastic spheres would create enough lift to slowly and gently float the 52,000-ton vessel back to the surface.
To ensure the balls remained contained and the hull was protected, Haskins proposed coating the entire wreck in 180,000 tons of industrial-grade Vaseline, a plan that would have created a truly surreal spectacle in the North Atlantic.
Official Consideration and Eventual Rejection
Remarkably, the proposal was not immediately dismissed as fantasy. The files show it was given serious consideration at the highest levels of government before being formally reviewed by the Royal Navy's top marine salvage expert.
The expert's assessment, however, was a crushing blow to the plan. He delivered a scathing verdict, stating the idea was 'not worthy of any further consideration' and was fundamentally flawed. The immense water pressure at that depth would have instantly compressed or crushed the ping pong balls, rendering their buoyancy useless. Furthermore, the technical challenge of drilling into the hull and distributing the balls was deemed utterly impossible with the technology of the 1960s, or even today.
Despite this definitive rejection, the files reveal that the determined Haskins continued to lobby the government with revised versions of his plan for several more years, his letters eventually fading into archival obscurity.
This curious episode offers a fascinating glimpse into the lengths to which some were willing to go to solve one of the 20th century's greatest maritime mysteries, proving that even the most audacious ideas can find their way to the Prime Minister's desk.
