The man who found the wreckage of the most famous ship in the world lying at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean visited the city of its birth yesterday.

He located the ship 4,000m under water in 1985.

The oceanographer is in Belfast this week to view the preparations under way for the milestone anniversary on April 14, 2012 when he will unveil previously unseen material from the shipwreck before audiences still hungry for Titanic lore.

Prime among it will be images of the ship’s stern to which hundreds of desperate people clung to as it slipped beneath the waves all those years ago. Dr Ballard also visited the new Titanic Belfast signature building.

Amid the decaying splendour of Harland and Wolff’s Drawing Room where the first plans for the luxury liner were drawn up, Dr Ballard told of the moment the wreck was discovered on September 1, 1985.

Euphoria among the crew over the discovery was short-lived, he recalled.

“It was like someone flicking a switch when we realised we were at the very spot Titanic sank,” he said.

“The mood changed to one of sombre respect. We pulled our vehicles up from the seabed and lowered the Harland and Wolff flag and had a moment of quiet reflection.”

Dr Robert Ballard said he will be back next year to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic with the loss of 1,500 souls.