8:00 a.m. — Like the best of hosts, Dr. Anatoly Sagalevitch opens the morning Mir meeting by congratulating the Americans on the ship on Independence Day. "Seventeen-seventy-six," he says. "You have a very young state." He reminds us that his homeland of Russia is more than 1,000 years old.

Overnight, the ROV team has done its best to renovate our only remaining bot. Because this ROV has yet to function on Mir 1, the plan is to place it for this dive on Mir 2, giving James Cameron the possibility of continued ROV exploration. This will also be a full fiber-optic cable dive. The hope is to get in a live dive with ROV exploration for the first time on our last chance on Leg 1. Tomorrow we steam back to St. John's with or without the footage we set out to acquire.

Anatoly says today we can dive at 11 a.m. Genya suggests noon. From experience we all know that if we say noon, it will likely be 2 p.m., which means the crew is most likely in for another late shift.

6:00 p.m. — After further delays, Mir 1 is put over the side and launched.

7:00 p.m. — Mir 2 is launched. Diver Kelvin Magee retrieves the fiber-optic cable and establishes the link with Prime RHIB. The radio frequency (RF) transmitter comes alive and the signal appears in mission control. We are go for descent.

7:30 p.m. — Pilot Genya Cherniaev takes on ballast and Mir 2 begins to dive. The live link works fine but there is a communications mix-up. Engineers scramble to the ship's pilot door with wiring schematics and shuttle out to the RHIB. In 10 minutes, all communications are re-established as planned.

9:00 p.m. — A tense moment. Without warning, the officers on the bridge of the Keldysh begin a repositioning maneuver. Our RF signal drops out. James Cameron can't hear us, but we can hear him debating whether to cut the cable. In unison, everyone in control screams, "NO! DON'T CUT THE CABLE!" After 60 seconds, the signal returns with the cable still intact and we all breathe a sigh of relief.

11:00 p.m. — Mir 2 reaches the bottom. There is some difficulty locating the wreck.

11:30 p.m. — Tension mounts as the spool continues to turn, paying out more cable than necessary. The race is on between the distance from the wreck and the amount of cable remaining. When they reach the bow it appears that the crew of Mir 1, which has been waiting for Mir 2 to arrive, apparently fires its thrusters, creating a cloud of silt that stops Mir 2 in its tracks. The cable spool continues to spin, paying out valuable cable.

James Cameron pleads with Dr. Anatoly Sagalevitch to drive to the Titanic's Grand Staircase so that he can attempt bot operations. With limited visibility, Anatoly proceeds cautiously. The cable spins. Mir 2 goes past the bow and approaches Hatch 1, which is forward of the mast. As they approach the bow crane, Cameron warns Anatoly to move left. With the cable spool now empty Cameron asks Anatoly to go high above the wreck and pull the slack cable forward.

11:52 p.m. — Total signal loss. Just a few hundred feet from his destination, Cameron has lost contact with the surface. The team is left to explore what they can without the live television link to mission control.

1:15 a.m. — Spotty reports from the Russian crew in the Mir navigation lab indicate that the single robotic ROV James Cameron still has at his disposal is flying well and he continues to explore the wreck. In an unusual moment of bravado, I pronounce to the crew that all is not lost. The link between Mir 2 and that ROV, although we can no longer see it, is our single fiber of hope that we will reach the targets we set out to reach when we first sailed from Newfoundland. On top of that, if we could place that fiber of hope in anyone's hands, I would choose James Cameron above all. His knowledge of the wreck, the story behind it and the technology that brought him to this moment is unparalleled. In my heart of hearts, I know he will get his story.

3:00 a.m. — Sketchy reports from the Mir navigation lab indicate that the remaining bot on Mir 2 is flying well for the moment and exploring the wreck. Moments later indications are that this bot also has failed. Our single fiber of hope for this leg of the mission is now spent. While the TV crew participates in a deserved but somehow artificial celebration of the conclusion of Leg 1, Cameron remains at the bottom of the ocean, doing his best to direct the sub crew to get the best images he can under the circumstances.

I am left to put my faith in the individual who has dedicated much of his adult life to this single story of ambition and tragedy.

To the best of my late-night knowledge, the two Mir subs now begin their long ascents. Their expected arrival is sometime around daybreak.

Stephen Reverand is Executive Producer and Vice President of Special Projects for Discovery Channel.

More Expedition Logs: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6 | Day 7 | Day 8 | Day 9 | Day 10 | Day 11 | Day 12 |