This was RMS Titanic, Inc.'s fourth mission and one that conducted groundbreaking scientific investigations into the wreck.  Using the most sophisticated research tools available and advanced techniques of reverse engineering, forensic science, and crash investigation, an international team of naval architects, microbial biologists, metallurgists, and historians from five countries examined the Ship and attempted to solve the mysteries surrounding the disaster.

To determine how fast the Titanic is corroding on the seabed, Canadian microbiologist Dr. Roy Cullimore conducted investigations into the "rusticles," elaborate colonies of iron-consuming microorganisms that cover nearly every surface of the hull. Cullimore concluded that the iron-eating microbes have already consumed as much as 20 percent of the bow.

This was also the year that 1600 people onboard the ships MV Royal Majesty and SS Island Breeze were invited to join the expedition for a cruise built around the history and current condition of the Ship.  They attended lectures given by noted Titanic historians, had a front row seat on the undersea exploration, and witnessed the attempted recovery of the "Big Piece." Perhaps more importantly, they were able to meet survivors of the tragedy who were among those on the cruise: Michele Navratil, Edith Haisman, and Eleanor Johnson Shuman.

The major purpose of the 1996 expedition, however, was to record and document the wreck in detail and to raise a 17-ton portion of the hull.  This was an ambitious agenda and would last from August 1st to August 30th.  IFREMER's Nadir and Nautile were once more employed as well as Ocean Voyager, an oceanographic research ship, which carried four purpose-built Edison light towers, and served as a filming base for the documentary film shot by the Discovery Channel and the Ellipse program of France during the expedition.