"LIFEBOATS! I SAID EXCITEDLY TO JEAN-LOUIS, pointing at the map on the plotting table. "We know that the Carpathia picked up the lifeboats right about here. The Titanic must be north of that point. If we start there and work north, we're bound to find her." My French partner and friend Jean-Louis Michel and I huddled over the maps and charts spread out before us. We were aboard the Woods Hole research ship Knorr. Out in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, in August, 1985, we were plotting a new strategy in our search for the Titanic.
-Exploring the Titanic, Robert D. Ballard
What tone does the author convey in this passage?
A. fearful
B. surprised
C. discouraged
D. hopeful
?