The Olympic class of liners were envisioned to be the pinnacle of luxury and to set records for the fastest oceanic transatlantic crossing of the time. The ships were indeed luxurious that afforded the White Star Line much success and prestige until that fateful night Titanic sank on her maiden voyage.
The R.M.S. Titanic, captained by veteran sailor Edward J. Smith set sail from Southampton after completing her sea trials, onto Cherbourg in France and finally picking up the last of her passengers in Queenstown, Ireland before setting off on her historic journey across the Atlantic bound for New York. After two days of sailing at full speed in relatively calm conditions setting an impressive record, being well of ahead of her projected schedule to arrive in New York.
The Titanic began receive warnings of Icebergs over the top of the line Marconi wireless system, which its believed that Captain Smith ignored and choose to continue on course. Unfortunately this decision would prove to be disastrous for ship and crew, at 11:40pm on April 14th 1912 the Titanic collided with an iceberg in the mid-Atlantic which punctured 5 of her forward watertight compartments. The Titanic was built to survive the flooding of the first 4 watertight compartments which lead to the water spilling over the top of the watertight bulkheads.
The Titanic took over two hours to sink before she finally disappeared beneath the surface at 2:20am on April 15th, plunging over 1500 left onboard into the frigid waters.
Incredible images of the ships bow.
In 2022 Magellan Ltd., a deep sea mapping company, took extensive scans of the wreck of the Titanic while making a documentary about the project have released the first images to public showcasing the incredible detail they've managed to capture over 4000m (2½ miles) below the ocean surface.The wreck looming in the darkness, has held up after 111 years.
The scan took over 200 hours to complete in multiple trips by deep water submersibles surveying the entire length of the ships debris field taking over 700,000 images to compile into the most accurate picture of the wreck ever taken.Magellan's Gerhard Sieffert said: "The depth of it, almost 4000m, represents a challenge, and you have currents at the site, too - and we're not allowed to touch anything so as not damage the wreck," he explained. "And the other challenge is that you have to map every square centimetre - even the uninteresting parts, like on the debris field you have to map mud, but need this to fill in between all these interesting objects."
The BBC recently published an article about the project which includes a gallery of the other images released which you view by clicking here. The wreck of the Titanic has been sitting on the bottom of the Atlantic ocean for 111 years, while the bow was remained relatively intact the stern of the wreck was completely demolished during her final plunge to the ocean floor.
During the final moments of the Titanic's sinking, it is believed the ship's stern was pulled out of the water at a roughly 15° angle as the bow was pulled down, before the ships back finally gave out from the strain and she broke in two with the stern settling back into the ocean before it finally flooded and sank beneath the water.
The most common theory on why the Titanic's stern is so badly damaged compared to the bow is that, during the sinking the bow had time to flood evenly, equalizing the pressure throughout. When the ship broke in two the stern flooded and sank rapidly before she had to evenly distribute the flooding.
As a result the stern underwent an implosion when the pressure became too great as she sank causing the stern to literally tear itself apart as it rocketed down the ocean floor.
You can view the full BBC report video below:
What do you think of these incredible scans of the ship? Let us know below!
WRITTEN & EDITED BY Solace
IMAGES SOURCED FROM Rare Gallery.com - BBC.co.uk - education.nationalgeographic.com
