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Titanic expedition captures footage of ship’s deterioration

VaselineSeptember 5, 2024

0 3 minutes read

Titanic expedition captures footage of ship’s deterioration

The remains of the Titanic lie on the bottom of the North Atlantic Ocean, showing signs of decay. During a new expedition, researchers discovered that a section of railing had fallen off the ship’s iconic bow, where characters Jack and Rose “fly” in the 1997 film “Titanic.”

The expedition was the first to venture to the wreck site since the Titan submarine disaster, which killed five people last summer. RMS Titanic Inc., which has legal rights to salvage the ship’s wreck, launched a team of videographers, photographers, scientists and historians in July to document the wreck’s condition.

The ship sank after striking an iceberg in the early hours of April 15, 1912, during its maiden voyage. More than 1,500 people on board died. Since then, public fascination with the wreck has continued, with researchers making several trips to the bottom of the sea to photograph and study the ship, the last in 2010.

More than 2 million images taken during the 20-day expedition in 2024 revealed new evidence of deterioration of the wreck, the researchers said.

The ship’s bow railing was missing a 15-foot section on its port side, the team discovered July 29. It was intact in 2010. Photos from previous expeditions showed the development of “rusticles and sea life” on the bow railing. The missing piece now lies on the seafloor.

“While the sinking of the Titanic is inevitable, this evidence reinforces our mission to preserve and document as much as possible before it is too late,” RMS Titanic Inc. said on its website.

Titanic images: There are still secrets to be found on the sunken ship

‘Lost’ statue rediscovered

The team hoped to find a statue that once “embodied the Titanic’s regal design” as the centerpiece of the ship’s first-class lounge. When the ship sank, the lounge was torn apart, and the Diana of Versailles disappeared into the debris field.

The 2-foot-tall bronze statue depicts the Roman goddess of wild animals, Diana. The statue was spotted in photos taken during a 1986 expedition, “but a tradition of secrecy surrounding the Titanic wreck meant her whereabouts would remain unknown,” according to RMS Titanic Inc. After days of searching, the team finally found the statue on the last day of the expedition and was able to photograph it in detail “not seen in 112 years.”

“The discovery of the Diana statue was an exciting moment,” said Tomasina Ray, director of collections at RMS Titanic Inc., in a press release.

The RMS Titanic researchers announced before their voyage that they would send remotely operated vehicles, or ROVs, to collect data and take photographs, but that they would not send manned vehicles.

Famed Titanic explorer, missing in submarine disaster, honored

RMS Titanic said it was holding a memorial service for Paul-Henri Nargeolet and all the lives lost on the Titan submarine and on the Titanic. Nargeolet was a renowned Titanic expert and deep-sea explorer who dived the wreck 37 times.

Nargeolet, 73, was aboard the submarine when it imploded on June 18, 2023, during a voyage to the wreck. He was due to be part of this summer’s expedition as director of underwater research for the RMS Titanic.

Titan’s disappearance drew international attention during a frantic four-day search of the waters after a support ship lost contact with the submarine. The submarine was scheduled to make a two-hour, 2½-mile journey to the wreck site, but it never surfaced. On board were Stockton Rush, CEO of OceanGate; Nargeolet, the French explorer; British pilot and adventurer Hamish Harding, 58; Shahzada Dawood, 48, a Pakistani-British businessman; and his 19-year-old son, Suleman Dawood.

On June 22, the U.S. Coast Guard announced that they had found a pile of debris and that the Titan had imploded, killing all aboard.

Last month, Nargeolet’s family filed a wrongful death lawsuit, seeking $50 million from OceanGate, the submarine’s operator.

VaselineSeptember 5, 2024

0 3 minutes read