First full-size 3D scan of Titanic shows ship’s sinking in a new light
Researchers spent 6 weeks in the North Atlantic mapping wreck
Deep-sea researchers have completed the first full-size digital scan of the Titanic, showing the entire wreck in unprecedented detail and clarity, the companies behind a new documentary on the wreck said Thursday.
Using two remotely operated submersibles, a team of researchers spent six weeks last summer in the North Atlantic mapping the whole shipwreck and the surrounding five-kilometre debris field, where personal belongings of the ocean liner’s passengers, such as shoes and watches, were scattered.
Richard Parkinson, founder and chief executive of deep-sea exploration firm Magellan, estimated the resulting data — including 715,000 images — is 10 times larger than any underwater 3D model ever attempted before.
“It’s an absolutely one-to-one digital copy, a ‘twin,’ of the Titanic in every detail,” said Anthony Geffen, head of documentary maker Atlantic Productions.
The Titanic was on its maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City when it hit an iceberg off of Newfoundland in the North Atlantic on April 15, 1912.
The luxury ocean liner sank within hours, killing about 1,500 people.
The wreck, discovered in 1985, lies some 3,800 metres under the sea, about 700 kilometres off the coast of Newfoundland.
Geffen says previous images of the Titanic were limited by low light levels, and only allowed viewers to see one area of the wreck at a time. He said the new photorealistic 3D model captures both the bow and stern section, which had separated upon sinking, in clear detail.
Researchers have spent seven months rendering the large amount of data they gathered, and a documentary on the project is expected out next year. But, beyond that, Geffen says he hopes the new technology will help researchers work out details of how the Titanic met its fate and allow people to interact with history in a fresh way.
“All our assumptions about how it sank, and a lot of the details of the Titanic, comes from speculation, because there is no model that you can reconstruct, or work exact distances,” he said. “I’m excited because this quality of the scan will allow people in the future to walk through the Titanic themselves ... and see where the bridge was and everything else.”