Posts Tagged ‘RMS Titanic’

On April 15 of this year it will have been exactly 100 years since the Titanic sank on its maiden voyage from England to New York. It’s legend has captivated our hearts and minds and has been subject of many movies and literature. Now the remains of the Titanic wreck have been captured in stunning detail through the use of sonar imaging. Researchers used underwater robots to scan the wreckage area taking more than 100,000 high-resolution images that have been combined on a computer to form a detailed map of the wreck. The team hopes to get a better idea of how the luxury passenger liner broke apart after hitting an iceberg and killing more than 1,500 people.

Marks on the ocean bottom suggest the stern rotated like a helicopter as the ship sank two and a half miles down at considerable speed while the bow plunged straight down and landed relatively gently. The two halves settled almost half a mile apart. Previous maps of the wreckage were incomplete but Paul-Henry Nargeolet believes that “when you look at the sonar map, you can see exactly what happened.” Other items mapped out include the remains of a deckhouse, a large chunk of the side of the ship, a hatch cover, boilers, a revolving door as well as a lightning rod from the mast.

The story of the of the photograph will be subject of a two-hour documentary airing on the History channel in April.

Read more: Titanic Sonar Images