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3d “digital twin” showcases wreck of titanic in unprecedented detail, “this is a new phase for underwater forensic investigation and examination.”.

Jennifer Ouellette - May 17, 2023 8:43 pm UTC

The RMS Titanic sank to the bottom of the North Atlantic in 1912, but the fate of the ship and its passengers has fascinated the popular imagination for more than a century. Now we have the first full-size 3D digital scan of the complete wreckage—a "digital twin" that captures Titanic in unprecedented detail. Magellan Ltd, a deep-sea mapping company , and Atlantic Productions (which is making a documentary about the project) conducted the scans over a six-week expedition last summer.

“Great explorers have been down to the Titanic ... but actually they went with really low-resolution cameras and they could only speculate on what happened," Atlantic Productions CEO Andrew Geffen told BBC News . “We now have every rivet of the Titanic , every detail, we can put it back together, so for the first time we can actually see what happened and use real science to find out what happened." 

Further Reading

Titanic  met its doom just four days into the Atlantic crossing, roughly 375 miles (600 kilometers) south of Newfoundland. At 11:40 pm ship's time on April 14, 1912,  Titanic hit that infamous iceberg and began taking on water, flooding five of its 16 watertight compartments, thereby sealing its fate. More than 1,500 passengers and crew perished; only around 710 of those on board survived.

Titanic remained undiscovered at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean until an expedition led by Jean-Louis Michel and Robert Ballard reached the wreck on September 1, 1985. The ship split apart as it sank, with the bow and stern sections lying roughly one-third of a mile apart. The bow proved to be surprisingly intact, while the stern showed severe structural damage, likely flattened from the impact as it hit the ocean floor. There is a debris field spanning a 5-by-3-mile area, filled with furniture fragments, dinnerware, shoes and boots, and other personal items.

As reported previously , we've seen images and video footage of the wreck since it was discovered in the mid 1980s. That includes the  footage shot by director James Cameron in 1995 for sequences featured in his  blockbuster 1997 film —although much of the latter was actually miniature models and special effects filmed on a set, since Cameron couldn't get the high-quality footage he needed for a feature film.

Last year, a private company called OceanGate Expeditions released a one-minute video showcasing the first 8K video footage of the wreck of the Titanic , showing some of its features in new, vivid detail. One could make out the name of the anchor manufacturer (Noah Hingley & Sons Ltd.), for instance, and the footage also gave us a better look at the bow, hull number one, the number-one cargo hold, solid bronze capstans, and one of the single-ended boilers. The footage was shot during the company's 2022 descent, with guests forking over $250,000 apiece for a seat on the submersible. A second OceanGate expedition to the Titanic wreckage was planned for this year.

The joint mission by Magellan and Atlantic Productions deployed two submersibles nicknamed Romeo and Juliet to map every millimeter of the wreck, including the debris field spanning some three miles. The result was a whopping 16 terabytes of data, along with over 715,000 still images and 4K video footage. That raw data was then processed to create the 3D digital twin. The resolution is so good, one can make out part of the serial number on one of the propellers.

"This model is the first one based on a pure data cloud, that stitches all that imagery together with data points created by a digital scan, and with the help from a little artificial intelligence, we are seeing the first unbiased view of the wreck," historian and Titanic expert Parks Stephenson told BBC News . “I believe this is a new phase for underwater forensic investigation and examination.”

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A remarkable new view of the Titanic shipwreck is here, thanks to deep-sea mappers

Rachel Treisman

Scientists were able to map the entirety of the shipwreck site, from the Titanic's separated bow and stern sections to its vast debris field. Atlantic/Magellan hide caption

Scientists were able to map the entirety of the shipwreck site, from the Titanic's separated bow and stern sections to its vast debris field.

A deep sea-mapping company has created the first-ever full-sized digital scan of the Titanic, revealing an entirely new view of the world's most famous shipwreck.

The 1912 sinking of the Titanic has captivated the public imagination for over a century. And while there have been numerous expeditions to the wreck since its discovery in 1985, its sheer size and remote position — some 12,500 feet underwater and 400 nautical miles off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada — have made it nearly impossible for anyone to see the full picture.

Until now, that is. Using technology developed by Magellan Ltd., scientists have managed to map the Titanic in its entirety, from its bow and stern sections (which broke apart after sinking) to its 3-by-5-mile debris field.

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The result is an exact "digital twin" of the wreck, media partner Atlantic Productions said in a news release.

"What we've created is a highly accurate photorealistic 3D model of the wreck," 3D capture specialist Gerhard Seiffert says. "Previously footage has only allowed you to see one small area of the wreck at a time. This model will allow people to zoom out and to look at the entire thing for the first time ... This is the Titanic as no one had ever seen it before."

The Titanic site is hard to get to, hard to see and hard to describe, says Jeremy Weirich, the director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Ocean Exploration program (he's been to the site).

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"Imagine you're at the bottom of the ocean, there's no light, you can't see anything, all you have is a flashlight and that beam goes out by 10 feet, that's it," he says. "It's a desert. You're moving along, you don't see anything, and suddenly there's a steel ship in front of you that's the size of a skyscraper and all you can see is the light that's illuminated by your flashlight."

This new imagery helps convey both that sense of scale and level of detail, Weirich tells NPR.

Magellan calls this the largest underwater scanning project in history: It generated an unprecedented 16 terabytes of data and more than 715,000 still images and 4k video footage.

"We believe that this data is approximately ten times larger than any underwater 3D model that's ever been attempted before," said Richard Parkinson, Magellan founder and CEO.

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Experts in Titanic history and deep-sea exploration are hailing the model as an invaluable research tool. They believe it could help scientists and historians solve some of the ship's lingering mysteries — and learn more about other underwater sites, too.

Longtime Titanic explorer and analyst Parks Stephenson described the model as a "game changer" in a phone interview with NPR.

"It takes [us] further into new technology that's going to be the standard, I think, not just for Titanic exploration, but all underwater exploration in the future," he adds.

The effort yielded 16 terabytes of data and more than 715,000 still images, in what Magellan calls the largest underwater scanning project ever. Atlantic/Magellan hide caption

The effort yielded 16 terabytes of data and more than 715,000 still images, in what Magellan calls the largest underwater scanning project ever.

A project years in the making, featuring Romeo and Juliet

Explorers and artists have spent decades trying to depict the Titanic wreck, albeit in lower-tech ways.

After Robert Ballard — along with France's Jean-Louis Michel — discovered the site in 1985, he combined all of his photos to form the first photomosaic of the wreck, which showed the ship's bow and was published in National Geographic. Those efforts have been replicated in the years since.

"But the problem with all that is it requires interpretation," Stephenson says. "It requires human interpretation, and there are gaps in the knowledge."

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Flash forward to the summer of 2022. Scientists spent six weeks capturing scans of the site, using technology that Magellan says it had been developing over the course of five years.

The expedition deployed two submersibles, named Romeo and Juliet, some 2.3 miles below the surface to map every millimeter of the wreck site.

They didn't go inside the ship, let alone touch the site, in accordance with existing regulations, and paid their respects to the more than 1,500 victims with a flower laying ceremony.

And they describe the mission as a challenge, with the team fighting bad weather and technical challenges in the middle of the Atlantic.

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"When we saw the data come in it was all worth it," Seiffert says. "The level of detail we saw and recorded was extraordinary."

The scientists spent months processing and rendering the data to create the "digital twin," which the company says it's looking forward to sharing publicly.

Stephenson saw an early version of the model, when Atlantic Productions brought him on to consult on its validity. So did Ken Marschall, the maritime artist known for his Titanic paintings.

"We've both seen it with our eyes. We've both seen thousands of digital images of the wreck in imagery, moving imagery," Stephenson said. "But we'd never seen the wreck like this. It was different, but at the same time you just knew it was right."

Experts say the model will be a valuable tool for future Titanic research and deep-sea exploration in general. Atlantic/Magellan hide caption

Experts say the model will be a valuable tool for future Titanic research and deep-sea exploration in general.

There's still a lot left to learn about the Titanic

Can there really be that much left to discover about the Titanic, more than 110 years on?

Stephenson says "at the end of the day, none of this matters." But there's a reason people keep visiting and talking about the wreck, he adds, and it's not because of any buried treasure.

"It's fame, I guess," Stephenson says. "People can't get enough of Titanic. And as long as people can't get enough of the Titanic, people will keep going to ... these mysteries."

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In Stephenson's case, it's the unanswered questions that keep drawing him back.

"I've been grinding away at this for a while, and I'm not on a crusade to dismantle the Titanic narrative that has grown since 1912," he says. "But ... I have had enough experience and seen enough evidence that makes me seriously question even some of the most basic aspects of the Titanic story."

One example: Stephenson says there's reason to doubt the long-accepted conclusion that the ship hit the iceberg along its starboard side. He points to a growing body of evidence that suggests it actually grounded briefly on part of the iceberg that was submerged underwater instead.

Just looking at the preliminary modeling has helped Stephenson bring a lot of his evidence and questions into focus — it may be early days, but he says he already has a better understanding of how the ship's stern came to be in such bad shape.

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Stephenson sees this moment as a paradigm shift in underwater archaeology.

"We're essentially getting to the end of the first generation of Titanic research and exploration, and we're getting ready to transition into the next generation," he says. "And I think this tool basically signals a shift from that generation to the next."

Stephenson wants to use the model to document the extent of Titanic exploration up to this point, from Ballard to James Cameron and beyond. He says a "massive project" is underway, and will hopefully result in a scientific paper and online archive. Then, he plans to use the tool to answer whatever questions remain.

There have been "photomosaics" and other renderings of the shipwreck over the decades, but this is the first such 3D model. Atlantic/Magellan hide caption

There have been "photomosaics" and other renderings of the shipwreck over the decades, but this is the first such 3D model.

The Titanic is a gateway into deep ocean exploration

As a maritime archaeologist, Weirich is most interested in what the ship's condition can teach us about how to better preserve deep-sea shipwrecks in general. For example, how has it impacted the environment since it sunk, and how have the visits since its discovery impacted the site?

The Titanic site has been designated as a maritime memorial, which makes preservation even more important. And Weirich says research on everything from its rate of deterioration to the microbial environment can be applied to other such sites worldwide.

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There are estimated to be hundreds of thousands of wrecks in the world, from ancient wooden ships in the Black Sea to World War II vessels in the Gulf of Mexico, Weirich says.

And this kind of technology could play a crucial role in learning more about deep-sea environments in general, from undersea resources to geological features to unknown species.

Weirich says he hopes these images of the Titanic will give people a greater appreciation for the deep ocean, and a better understanding of just how much is left to explore.

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"The story of Titanic and the shipwreck itself is extremely compelling, but it is a gateway for people to understand what we know and don't know about the deep ocean," he adds.

Weirich remembers being personally captivated by those first images of the shipwreck in National Geographic when he was just 10 years old. That sparked his lifelong interest in ocean exploration — and he hopes young people seeing these latest images are inspired too.

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‘Digital Twin’ of the Titanic Shows the Shipwreck in Stunning Detail

Researchers hope new 3-D images will provide clues about what happened to the ocean liner when it sank on its maiden voyage in 1912.

By April Rubin

An ambitious digital imaging project has produced what researchers describe as a “digital twin” of the R.M.S. Titanic, showing the wreckage of the doomed ocean liner with a level of detail that has never been captured before.

The project, undertaken by Magellan Ltd., a deepwater seabed mapping company, yielded more than 16 terabytes of data, 715,000 still images and a high-resolution video. The visuals were captured over the course of a six-week expedition in the summer of 2022, nearly 2.4 miles below the surface of the North Atlantic, Atlantic Productions, which is working on a documentary about the project, said in a news release.

The researchers used two submersibles, named Romeo and Juliet, to map “every millimeter” of the wreckage as well as the entire three-mile debris field. Creating the model, which shows the ship lying on the ocean floor and the area around it, took about eight months, said Anthony Geffen, the chief executive and creative director of Atlantic Productions.

“We’re now going to write the proper science of the Titanic,” he said.

Previous images of the wreckage, which was found less than 400 miles off the coast of Newfoundland in 1985, suffered from low light and murky water. The new images have effectively removed the ocean water, allowing the wreckage to be viewed in “extraordinary detail,” Atlantic Productions said, noting that a serial number can be seen on a propeller.

The Titanic, the largest passenger ship built at the time, sank on April 15, 1912, after hitting an iceberg on its maiden voyage. Many details of the disaster, in which more than 1,500 people perished, have remained a mystery ever since.

The models offer new details about the shipwreck that hadn’t previously been known, Mr. Geffen said. For example, he said, one of the lifeboats was blocked by a jammed metal piece and couldn’t be deployed.

The submersibles captured images of personal artifacts, such as watches, top hats and unopened champagne bottles, that were strewn across the debris field. Experts hope they will be able to match personal items to Titanic passengers using artificial intelligence, Mr. Geffen said. He added that people someday would also be able to witness the shipwreck through virtual reality and augmented reality.

“In accordance with tight regulations in place, the wreck was not touched or disturbed,” Atlantic Productions said, adding that the site was treated “with the utmost of respect, which included a flower-laying ceremony in memory of those who lost their lives.”

“This was a challenging mission,” Richard Parkinson, Magellan’s founder and chief executive, said in a statement. “In the middle of the Atlantic we had to fight the elements, bad weather and technical challenges to carry out this unprecedented mapping and digitalization operation of the Titanic.”

April Rubin is a breaking news reporter and a member of the 2022-2023 New York Times fellowship class. More about April Rubin

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Titanic: The Virtual Experience follows Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition 25,000-square-foot journey.

Featuring more than 400 actual artifacts, recovered from two- and one-half miles below the surface of the North Atlantic, this experience tells the story behind the legendary Titanic’s short voyage from construction and destruction to eventual recovery. Walk her decks, peer into her cabins and meet her passengers and crew.

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See the Highest-Resolution Footage of the Titanic Ever Captured

Commercial exploration company OceanGate Expeditions recorded the 8K clip during its 2022 expedition to the wreck of the ill-fated luxury liner

Michelle Harris

A video released last week by OceanGate Expeditions features the highest-resolution footage of the wreck of the Titanic to date. The one-minute clip of the 110-year-old ship, which rests on a seabed 2.4 miles below the surface of the North Atlantic, was captured in 8K resolution—about four times the resolution of the average 4K ultra-high-definition television.

Found less than 400 miles off Newfoundland in 1985, the wreck of the doomed luxury liner has been an enduring source of fascination ever since. The new footage, taken during a 2022 OceanGate expedition to the Titanic , gives viewers a glimpse of the vessel in vivid color, revealing the ship’s bow, portside anchor, hull and massive anchor chain.

“We are seeing new details in this footage. For example, I had never seen the name of the anchor maker, Noah Hingley & Sons Ltd., on the portside anchor,” says Rory Golden, an OceanGate Titanic expert and veteran Titanic diver, in a statement . “… One of the most amazing clips shows one of the single-ended boilers that fell to the ocean’s floor when the Titanic broke into two. Notably, it was one of the single-ended boilers that was first spotted when the wreck of the Titanic was identified back in 1985.”

OceanGate, a privately owned underwater exploration company founded in 2009 , began offering annual journeys to the wreck of the Titanic in 2021 . This year, civilian “mission specialists” paid $250,000 each for the privilege of joining diving experts, historians and scientists on the expedition. Compared with space tourism prices, which can reach tens of millions of dollars, this fee is just “a fraction of the cost,” OceanGate’s president, Stockton Rush, tells the New York Times ’ Amanda Holpuch.

In addition to offering participants the chance to become one of fewer than 250 people to “personally [view] the Titanic and [its] surrounding debris field,” OceanGate’s expeditions conduct scientific research , collecting data on the wreck with the help of laser scanning, photogrammetric and sonar technology, according to the company’s website .

The newly captured footage supports earlier reports that the Titanic , which famously sank on its maiden voyage in April 1912, is steadily decaying. Metal-eating bacteria and deep-sea currents are the main culprits behind the deterioration, reported Ben Finley for the Associated Press in June 2021.

“We’ll have some better data next year, but it definitely is in worse condition this year than it was last,” OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush tells GeekWire ’s Alan Boyle. “It’s going through its natural consumption by the ocean.”

For some historians and archaeologists, disturbance of the wreck site—in particular the removal of artifacts—raises ethical concerns . OceanGate didn’t alter the wreckage in any way, but other private companies have or plan to in the future. In May 2020, a j udge ruled that the salvage firm RMS Titanic, Inc. (RMST) would be allowed to recover a Marconi telegraph machine from the Titanic . Though the pandemic and ongoing legal battles stymied this mission, RMST reiterated in a 2021 court filing that the expedition will “take place as soon as reasonably practicable,” per the Guardian .

“I don’t object to [OceanGate’s] kind of commercial exploitation because they’re not touching or damaging the wreck,” Paul F. Johnston , curator of maritime history at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, tells the Times . “And it brings attention to the underwater world and to shipwrecks in general.”

Still, he adds, “[I]n my opinion, there’s not that much to be learned from Titanic that we don’t already know.”

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Michelle Harris | READ MORE

Michelle Harris is a freelance writer based in New Jersey. Her work has appeared in Atlas Obscura , Mental Floss , and Audubon Magazine .

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Here’s How You Can Visit the Wreck of the Titanic—for $125,000

A series of expeditions will take tourists down to the ill-fated ship in 2021

Courtesy of NOAA/Institute for Exploration/University of Rhode Island (NOAA/IFE/URI)

You’re probably familiar with the RMS Titanic: in 1912, the world’s largest ocean liner of the day embarked on her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York, during which she struck an iceberg, sank, and ultimately took more than 1,500 lives. The Titanic’s final resting place remained a mystery until 1985, when American marine geologist Robert Ballard and French oceanographer Jean-Louis Michel discovered the wreck in the crushing depths of the frigid North Atlantic, nearly 2.5 miles beneath the surface of the sea. 

Rather unsurprisingly, visiting the Titanic has become a bucket-list trip for maritime historians, oceanographers, and, well, anyone who has deep enough pockets to go. However, expeditions are rare: only one team has visited the site in-person in the last 15 years. But all that’s about to change.

OceanGate Expeditions , a company that provides well-heeled clients with once-in-a-lifetime underwater experiences, has announced a series of six trips to the Titanic via submersible in 2021. Each has space for nine paying tourists, whose $125,000 tickets will help offset the cost of the expeditions (and put a pretty penny in the pocket of OceanGate owner Stockton Rush).

OceanGate’s expeditions will each run for 10 days out of St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada. Nine tourists, who are actually dubbed “mission specialists” on this expedition, will join the expedition crew on each sailing, and they’ll be expected to participate in the research efforts—this isn’t just a sightseeing affair. OceanGate’s goal is to extensively document the Titanic wreck before it disintegrates entirely due to a deep-sea bacteria that eats iron, which researchers are concerned might happen within the next few decades. As this is a scientific project, mission specialists will have to meet certain physical criteria to ensure their compatibility with the expedition, not to mention training, which includes a test dive.

On each expedition, each mission specialist will be able to partake in a single six- to eight-hour dive to the Titanic via the private Titan submarine, which includes the 90-minute descent and 90-minute ascent. The sub seats five—a pilot, a scientist or researcher, and three mission specialists—and it does have a small, semi-private bathroom for emergencies, in case you were wondering.

Now, it should be known that this isn’t OceanGate’s first attempt to visit the iconic wreck: two previous expeditions had to be scrubbed. (In 2018, the sub was hit by lightning, and its electrical systems were fried, and in 2019, there were issues with sourcing a ship for the expedition.) But hey, perhaps the third time's the charm!

Several international treaties protect the Titanic—the wreck sits in international waters—but their primary goal is to prevent looters and illegal salvage operations from damaging and disrespecting the wreck. However, in terms of tourism, it’s actually perfectly legal to visit the wreck, so long as the expedition doesn’t intrude upon it (i.e., land on the deck or enter the hull.)

“A review of the International Agreement on Titanic, as well as the 2001 UNESCO Convention on Underwater Cultural Heritage, would reveal that non-intrusive visits do not even require a permit or authorization,” said Ole Varmer, a retired legal advisor to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), who was instrumental in negotiating the legal protection of the wreck. “The scope of the prohibition against commercial exploitation of underwater cultural heritage is to prevent unauthorized salvage and looting; it does not include non-intrusive visits regardless of whether they are for-profit or not.”

In terms of OceanGate Expeditions, the company is working with NOAA, the federal agency in charge of implementing the International Agreement on Titanic for U.S.-based Titanic activities, to ensure it follows all protocols set down by that agreement.

There are two major factors to consider regarding ethically visiting the Titanic. First, it’s a memorial site to the lives lost during the disaster, so the wreck should be treated with respect. But that, of course, is true of all memorial sites around the world.

“Speaking as one who visited Titanic’s wreck twice during RMS Titanic, Inc.'s 1993 and 1996 Research and Recovery expeditions, I see nothing unethical about visiting the wreck, nor about helping to defray the significant expense of bringing a visitor to the wreck,” explained Charles Haas, president of the Titanic International Society. “People around the world learn by seeing and visiting. They pay for access to museums, cathedrals, monuments, exhibitions, and, yes, final resting places.”

But second, it’s a fragile piece of cultural heritage. It should be protected—the expedition organizer must take appropriate steps to ensure that it won’t disturb the wreck.

“In the past, submersibles visiting the site by RMS Titanic, Inc. [the only company legally allowed to salvage the wreck], and others have rested on the deck of the hull portions,” says Varmer. “That practice has likely caused some harm and exacerbated the deterioration of the site.  Hopefully, that will no longer be practiced or permitted.”

Per OceanGate’s description of its expeditions, the company’s submersible won’t disturb the wreck, so if you have $125,000 lying around, fee; free to spring for the bucket-list trip of 2021!

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You Can Now Go On An Underwater Tour to See The Titanic

Movies, books, soundtracks, television documentaries and even Titanic II – so much has been dedicated to the ill-fated RMS Titanic that it’s become the stuff of legend. On Tuesday, lux British tour operator, Blue Marble Private announced that it will begin a load of diving trips down to the shipwreck in 2018. Cool, huh?

The once-in-a-lifetime tour gives explorers the opportunity to see the historic ocean liner up close.

Don’t get too excited though, space is very, very limited. So limited in fact, that only one trip is going ahead next year, but have no fear, many more trips are on the cards for 2019. There’s space for 9 lucky titans. The trip lasts 8 days and departs from St. John’s, Newfoundland, off the Canadian coast.

According to The Telegraph , the trip starts via helicopter or seaplane which both travel to the expedition support yacht. Fancy. Once you leave the yacht, you’ll spend your first three days getting acquainted with all the scientists and crew – and if you’re feeling brave, you can even volunteer to operate all the ultra-cool undersea navigation systems.

After, things become a little claustrophobic: three passengers at a time will be guided down by a pilot and crew expert in a specially designed submersible used for ocean exploration. The mini sub plunges 4,000 meters below sea level to see the Titanic (screams JACK AND ROSE). Oh, and you’ll even get to see the ship’s famous deck and sweeping staircase.

How much does it cost? Well, it’s £85,690 ($105,129) per person. WOOF, you’re screaming, but hey, it’s the Titanic, so it’s totally worth it. Interesting fact time: the cost of the ticket is the 2017 equivalent of what a first-class ticket to set sail on the Titanic would have cost in 1912 – £3543 ($4,350), to be exact.

Worth it? We think so. Want more travel news? These are the happiest places to live in the UK !

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Before and after pics reveal sad Titanic truth

Striking new images have revealed a sad truth about the most famous ship in the world, with experts saying its collapse is “inevitable”.

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New images reveal just how much the Titanic has changed over the years, with its famous bow now missing part of its railing.

This week, RMS Titanic INC, the company which holds the salvage rights for the ship, released striking footage and images from a recent mission showing the effects of slow decay, with a large section of railing now on the sea floor.

In James Cameron’s 1997 film, it is where Jack had his memorable “King of the World” moment and taught Rose to “fly” with the duo standing tall with their arms wide open.

“After 13 days focused on the debris field, the expedition team was excited to get their first glance at the bow on July 29,” RMS Titanic Inc said in a statement, revealing it used underwater robots.

“However, the moment of excitement and anticipation was immediately shaken by a significant change to the familiar silhouette. The once miraculously intact railing surrounding the bow’s forecastle deck was missing a 15-foot-long section on the port side.”

Multibeam imagery from two days prior was confirmed the section of railing had fallen as one piece and was lying on the sea floor directly below.

“We are saddened by this loss and the inevitable decay of the ship and the debris,” the site continued.

RMS Titanic said the next months will be spent conducing a more thorough review of Titanic’s condition and her changes over time.

It shared images from 1987 to 2010 showing the ships “tremendous” change over the decades.

Tomasina Ray, director of collections at RMS Titanic Inc, said of the dramatic change: “The bow of Titanic is just iconic. You have all these moments in pop culture – and that’s what you think of when you think of the shipwreck. And it doesn’t look like that anymore.

“At some point the metal gave way and it fell away.”

The 2024 expedition involved hundreds of hours documenting the debris field, with the company’s first mission 75 years after the Titanic sank.

#TITANIC has changed tremendously over the decades, and so has the technology we use to image her. Here is a blast from #RMST expeditions past…What do you notice about TITANIC in these photos? 🔎 Dive into the latest #Expedition2024 discoveries! 👉 https://t.co/W1rwPb6g0o pic.twitter.com/jwRFaNupGv — RMS Titanic, Inc. (@RMSTitanic_Inc) September 3, 2024

“It has been almost 40 years since then, and we have watched her change throughout the years,” the statement read.

The 2024 expedition also uncovered the discovery of a two-foot-tall bronze statuette of the Roman goddess Diana - known as ‘Diana of Versailles’.

According to RMS Titanic, she served as the centrepiece of the First Class lounge and embodied Titanic’s palatial design.

“The lounge was torn open during Titanic’s sinking and Diana was thrown to the debris field where she rested for over a century.”

Ms Ray told ABC that Diana Versailles hadn’t been photographed since 1986 she was considered “lost”.

“No one knew where she was in the debris field and so we were so happy to rediscover her on this expedition.”

Ms Ray explained the technologies used over the years to help map the wreckage.

“In 2010 we did a comprehensive map of the wreck using sonar. Technology has just evolved os much in the last 14 years,” she told ABC News.

“This time we were able to go with two ROVs (Remote operate underwater vehicle).”

She said the first one focused on photogrammetry and imagery and the second focused on all sorts of scanning from lidar to sonar.

“We even used our hyper magnetometer to really understand the condition of the metals and how the ship is deteriorating.”

Since 1994, RMS Titanic Inc has owned the exclusive salvage rights to the wreck, making it the only organisation legally allowed to remove objects.

While many of these expeditions are done in the name of studying the Titanic, it’s understood constant visits to the site are only hastening its eventual demise.

“Unfortunately, human agency is probably the thing that is damaging the site most,“ Dr Rodrigo Pacheco-Ruiz, archaeological data manager for HMS Victory and maritime archaeologist from the University of Southampton, told the Daily Mail .

“We are very destructive in our visits because we don’t really understand the fragility of these types of wrecks.”

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RMS Titanic Inc said while Titanic’s collapse is “inevitable, this evidence strengths our mission to preserve and document what we can before it is too late”.

Titanic, then the largest and grandest ship liner in the world, sank after hitting an iceberg on its maiden voyage from Southampton to New York in April 1912.

The wreck has since lain 350 nautical miles off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada

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