Titanic as no one has ever seen it before. For the first time, experts have created a highly accurate three-dimensional model of the most famous sunken steamship. The new footage allows people to see the wreck of the ocean liner as a whole, not just parts of it. Thanks to the largest underwater scanning project in history, scientists have also managed to obtain valuable information that will help reveal details about the 1912 tragedy.
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Scientists have completed the first complete 3D model of the Titanic | Video: Reuters
The experts gradually mapped the three-kilometer field of debris down to the smallest detail and thus discovered, for example, the specific serial number of the ship’s propeller, which can be very useful information.
“We have obtained data that engineers can use to investigate the true mechanics of the breakup and sinking, bringing us even closer to the true story of the Titanic disaster,” Parks Stephenson, an expert who has been studying the Titanic for 20 years, told BBC News. He described the project as a “revolutionary act”.
Check out a gallery of historic photos of the Titanic:
The scan of the wreck was carried out in the summer of 2022 by a specialized ship located 700 kilometers off the coast of Canada. The project is backed by deep-sea exploration company Magellan and filmmakers from Atlantic Productions, who are making a documentary about the project.
During the expedition, the underwater remote-controlled devices collected about 715,000 images from all angles and 16 terabytes of data in more than 200 hours, which according to Magellan CEO Richard Parkinson, is about ten times more than any underwater 3D model that has been attempted before.
During the mission, the experts had to fight both bad weather and natural elements, as well as technical problems. “The depth of almost 4,000 meters is a challenge, you’re dealing with currents on site and you can’t touch anything to avoid damaging the wreck,” explained expedition planner Gerhard Seiffert of Magellan.
The new footage of the Titanic is also unique thanks to a new mapping technique. This made it possible to create images of the wreck, which are more detailed thanks to the omitted light and removed water, in contrast to the previous shots of individual disintegrated parts of the ship in the darkness of the depths. The final digital 3D replica of the steamer shows the entire wreck including the bow and stern sections that separated during the 1912 sinking. According to Stephenson, this mapping heralds “the beginning of a new chapter” in Titanic research.
Historians believe a new underwater scanning project may provide answers to some unanswered questions about the tragedy that killed more than 1,500 people.
In mid-April 1912, the White Star Line’s giant steamer struck an iceberg on its maiden voyage from Southampton to New York. The wreck of the Titanic was discovered at the bottom of the North Atlantic at a depth of almost four kilometers in 1985. Scientists have been studying it extensively ever since.
