Titanic discoverer locates Turkish pilots shot down by Syria Turkey recruited the services of Robert Ballard, a renowned oceanographer who discovered the wreckage of the Titanic in 1985, to locate the remains of the F-4 Phantom and its two missing crew members. Mr Ballard, who was in the Mediterranean on a scientific mission before being recruited by Turkey, has located the wrecks of many famous vessels, including - Titanic, German battleship Bismarck and the 29 allied ships lost during the Battle of Guadalcanal in 1942-3.