The Knorr is now officially retired, and employees of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution will gather Tuesday afternoon to bid the vessel a final farewell.
Ballard famously used the ship to pinpoint the Titanic's location in 1985, and it logged more than 1 million miles' worth of explorations over the past four decades.
It was officially decommissioned in 2014.
Woods Hole scientists say the Knorr weathered 70-foot waves, hurricanes and arctic ice. The organisation said in a statement that the ship's final exit will be "bittersweet."