You’d be hard-pressed to find anyone who hasn’t heard of the Titanic, whether it’s the actual 1912 ship or the 1997 superhit movie based on the tragedy. It’s inarguably one of the most famous peacetime catastrophes at sea.
Over the years, through many diving expeditions, marine archaeologists have pieced together details about the shipwreck, from how it looked to everything that led to its unfortunate drowning.
But the recently released footage by OceanGate Expeditions has provided the world with the first and only 8K resolution underwater video that has revealed previously unknown details about the shipwreck in “amazing detail”, as per Stockton Rush, president of OceanGate.
Veteran Titanic diver and an expert at OceanGate, revealed that the new footage has captured details that previous cameras and expeditions had failed to notice.
“For example, I had never seen the name of the anchor maker, Noah Hingley & Sons Ltd., on the portside anchor,” said Golden, in a press release, “I’ve been studying the wreck for decades and have completed multiple dives, and I can’t recall seeing any other image showing this level of detail.”
Another astonishing detail uncovered by the Titanic2022 Expedition video is that one of the single-ended boilers fell to the ocean’s floor when the ship split in half at the time of the accident.
“Notably, it was one of the single-ended boilers that were first spotted when the Titanic wreck was identified back in 1985,” he added.
Built in 1909, the Titanic was the largest ship of the time and was considered unsinkable because of the unique construction style that had a series of compartment doors that could be closed if the bow was breached. Tragically, the ship and 1,500 of its 2,240 passengers met their end mid-Atlantic after the ship crashed into an iceberg.
Other details captured in the video include the crane that was used for deploying the 15-ton anchor and a shackle that was attached to the now collapsed main mast of the ship. It also documents the condition of the ship’s iconic bow, its deck, hull, cargo hold and other areas.
The five crewmembers aboard the Titan, the submersible used for the expedition, also managed to use a laser scaling system to work out the size of objects they were viewing through this high-quality footage. Titan is the world’s only deep-diving carbon fibre submersible which OceanGate designed and engineered in collaboration with NASA.
The footage will allow marine archaeologists to study the rate of decay of the Titanic like never before. It will also give marine biologists and scientists a rare opportunity to identify and study the sea life thriving in and around the wreck which sits 12,500 feet underwater.
OceanGate is planning another diving expedition in May 2023 to capture more footage of the wreck. The upcoming trip would also allow citizen explorers to accompany the divers, only for a small price of $250,000 (about INR 2 crores approx).
