Scan of Titanic reveals wreck as never seen before - BBC News

The world's most famous shipwreck has been revealed as never seen before.

The first full-sized digital scan of the Titanic, which lies 3,800m (12,500ft) down in the Atlantic, has been created using deep-sea mapping.

It provides a unique 3D view of the entire ship, enabling it to be seen as if the wayer has been drained.

The hope is that this will shed new light on exactly what happened to the liner, which sank in 1912 - killing 1,500 people.

Image credit: Atlantic Productions/Magellan

#Titanic #History #BBCNews

[storytime]

My grandfather told me that he saw the Titanic.. and that from the beginning he warned all the people that the ship would sink, but nobody listened to him. He was a brave man. He did not give up. He warned them again and again on several occasions.... until they kicked him out of the cinema.

[hadenman]

Crazy how we’re still exploring this ship even to this day

[fasteddy]

My mothers, father was in charge of installing the lighting in the Titanic. I'm 79 now but when I was 16 I went up to see my grandfather who lived with us and I asked him what the Titanic was like. The look of horror mixed with anguish that came over his face told me never to ask again. He was in his 70's at the time. My grandmother told my mom that when he heard that the ship had sunk, he cried. The only time that he cried in the 50 years they were married. Mom was 3-1/2 months old at the time. They lived in Birmingham. I wish I could have talked to him about what he saw but he didn't want to relive the memories.

[Krystal_Kitty]

People foget that the Titanic was only discovered in 1985, 38 years ago. Even after all this time have we really explored the Titanic at its entirety? No. Explorers in the past have only barely touched the surface, this 3D imagine will really bring so much more to life. I'm excited to see what new discoveries are made. Those who worked on this project and are finding new things every day are truly lucky how amazing to be part of this exploration.

[Alex-ugwx]

There’s something so eerie about the shoes or the bed frames or even the chairs that these people once used. What an incredible testimony to science and history.

I edited to add that I have absolutely no inkling as to why people are implying I should have watched the video, I did. Nothing in my comment contradicts said video in any way whatsoever.

[ledzeppelin]

Titanic will NEVER die, the ship may disappear but the legend lives forever!!!

[raggedblossom]

After all the documentaries and movies, the sinking of the Titanic has become almost a mythic event, so it felt a little strange so see the wreck in such detail, and realise again that the actual remains are still down there where they fell. Familiar, and yet not. May those who perished rest in peace.

[DaDancin]

The recent Titan disaster brought me here. Their five souls unfortunately joined the ones of Titanic on the ocean floor. Both absolutely tragic. May they all rest in peace.

[Breznak]

This is really impressive. Capturing this kind of detail would be hard enough on dry land. The clarity is also great

[juslewissr]

It's almost impossible to imagine what the ship would have looked like sitting on the ocean floor when it first sank; We see rust, rot, etc, decades later but the ship was brand new when it sank and therefore she would have obviously been her original colors of red, black and white when she hit the sea floor, and her interior still incredibly lavish. It's just really hard to imagine such a beautiful thing sitting there with no rust and far less collapsed and tattered than what we see now. Having watched plenty of models and digital renderings of the sinking, I've seen what the ship would have looked like, yeah, but it's still extremely difficult to picture it in real life just sitting there rust and rot-free, long before the "rusticles" started to devour the ship and all the other things that have taken place in the years since, causing her to look the way she does over a century later.

[Swissswoosher]

RIP to all the people who died. Truly fascinating pictures!

[Wafaloo]

What’s amazing is how accurate Ken Marschall’s paintings of the Titanic wreck were, many of which done decades before we had complete pictures like this

[Galejro]

You know a ship is the most iconic in human history when it is used as a unit of measurement as a scale comparison of any other big ship.

[katrish]

That is amazing. Seeing personal items laying there undisturbed all this time is haunting.

[ThatJeepGuy]

I've always had this strange fascination about the Titanic, almost an attachment.
To know that there is now a digital scan allows so much more evidence based conclusions to be made, and even more preservation of the wreck.
Truly astonishing.

[MrBetc]

Was visiting our brother who is retired Navy in Halifax Canada about 15 yrs ago, he took us to all the gravesite where some of the Titanic victims are buried so we could pay our respects. It was very humbling to say the least. May they all rest in peace.

[jakeprice]

One can truly never cease to be amazed by the haunting images of the Titanic wreckage. In many ways it’s like going back through time to 1912, but seeing it through today’s lens. Could you imagine seeing this tragedy unfold as a passenger aboard the ship? Watching from a lifeboat (if you were lucky enough) to see the unsinkable Titanic disappear into the depths of the ocean whilst being amongst so many passengers screaming for their lives? It’s absolutely chilling.

[stephaniecarrow]

"Lost Voices From the Titanic" is a great book for anyone interested in this subject. It traces all the mistakes that led up to the final mistake. It was not just the iceberg. It began with the ship's design, building materials, the use of cheaper coal (requiring higher burning temperatures affecting integrity), and lack of binoculars. Plus more. It also tells the stories of all who lost their lives.

Edit: I've become aware that there are several books on this subject with similar titles. The one I'm recommending is "Lost Voices from the Titanic" by Nick Barratt.

[Ghaemiz]

This is incredible! Love how they scaled it digitally into the stadium.

[trekkiec]

"We don't even know if she hit on the starboard side, she could have grounded"

The ship had a double bottom specifically to prevent damage from grounding allowing water in, as grounding was a really common way for ships to sink (White Star Line had actually lost a ship that grounded off of Halifax not long before Titanic's design process started). And if you look at the wreck, you can actually see some of the iceberg damage as a line on the starboard side of the hull (near the bottom of the ship, under the bridge) which is where boiler room's 5 and 6 were. (Oddly, that line is missing from this model, despite being really clearly visible on photographs of the wreck).

Also even if there were grounding damage, this model doesn't actually capture the bottom of the ship so you'd not be able to tell anything about that anyway.