The world’s fascination with history’s most famous wreck continues, as sophisticated scanning technology offers the first chance in over 100 years to see the Titanic in its entirety. The footage captured every millimeter of the ship’s surface, leaving viewers in awe of this unprecedented level of detail.
The ship has remained at 12,500ft deep since it sank in 1912 after hitting an iceberg en route from Southhampton, UK to New York. The wreck was first discovered in the North Atlantic in 1985 and has already been extensively explored. Yet its full form has remained a mystery until now, being far too large to be captured by a single camera.
According to BBCthe researchers were finally able to offer a full view of the decaying ship thanks to a partnership between media company Atlantic Productions and Magellan Ltd, which specializes in deep-sea mapping.
The digitization process took place over six weeks in the summer of 2022. It involved the use of two remote-controlled submersibles named Romeo and Juliet to produce over 700,000 images documenting the ship from all angles. These were then sewn together to show the ship in three dimensions.
“The depth of [the ship] is a challenge,” said offshore data manager Gerhard Seiffert, a member of the Magellan team. “You also have currents on the site, and we are not allowed to touch anything so as not to damage the wreckage.”
As the scans show, the ship lies in two halves about 2,600 feet apart and is surrounded by a plane of debris. Despite considerable decay, the main architecture of the boat is still clearly recognizable: its stern appears to have been crushed by the seabed during its descent but the bow is largely intact.
But that’s just the macro view. Titanic enthusiasts will be delighted to be able to zoom in on details like where the grand staircase once stood or even the serial number still stamped on one of the propellers. And as for the evidence of the passengers of the ill-fated voyage? Personal effects, including several pairs of shoes, can be found among decorative items and even bottles of champagne that no one has ever had a chance to pop.
More importantly, the scans offer historians the chance to study the wreckage even as it continues to disintegrate. It is hoped that they will support new analyzes of how the ship sank.
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