New photos of the famous Titanic revealed unprecedented features of the wreckage of that iconic giant ship, which may shed new light on how it sank, according to CBS News.
The first full-size digital survey of the shipwreck, which lies 12,500 feet below the surface of the water at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, was developed using “undersea mapping” technology.
Experts hope the images will provide new insight into how the Titanic sank on April 15, 1912, after hitting an iceberg during its ill-fated maiden voyage.
The disaster, which has been immortalized through documentaries, books and famous Hollywood films, caused the death of more than 1,500 people on board the giant ship, or nearly 70 percent of the passengers and crew.
The survey was carried out last year by Magellan Ltd, a company specializing in deep-sea mapping, in collaboration with London-based Atlantic Productions, which is currently working on a documentary about the project.
“I felt there was something much bigger here that we could get from the Titanic, if we could scan (the wreckage),” said Atlantic Productions CEO Anthony Geffen.
He continued: “If we can capture all the details, then this may enable us to discover how the ship sank, and find out how different parts of it were destroyed, not to mention finding a lot of personal stories related to it.”
The scan provides a three-dimensional view of the entire wreck, allowing the ship, which was previously described as “unsinkable”, to be seen as if it had been drained of water.
While the Titanic has been examined in detail since the discovery of the wreck, in 1985, the sheer size of the ship, and before the use of digital scanning, precluded the possibility of obtaining snapshots from various angles and directions of the remains of the wreck.
Mini-submarines, controlled remotely by a team aboard a specialized ship, spent more than 200 hours analyzing the entire wreck.
The team took more than 700,000 images from every angle, creating an accurate 3D reconstruction of the boat.
The rusty wreck consisted of two parts, separating the bow and stern of the ship more than 2,600 feet in opposite directions, and surrounded by an “enormous field” of rubble.
The iconic arch is still easily recognizable despite facing underwater for over a century.
In the ruins surrounding the ship, there are various items including ornate metalwork from the ship, statues and unopened champagne bottles, as well as personal belongings, including dozens of shoes.
Geffen told CBS News the digital scan came at a critical time as the Titanic’s condition continues to deteriorate.
He concluded by saying, “What we have now is devoted to the historical record, before it literally collapsed, a record of everything related to the wreck of the Titanic, which will remain immortal forever.”
