A new technique for illustrating drowning

Not much is known about the sinking of the Titanic. Now the new 3D model should help answer previously unanswered questions.

The wreck of what is probably the most famous ship in the world has been sleeping at a depth of nearly 4,000 meters since 1912: the Titanic. Little is known about the exact circumstances of the sinking. The 3D model should help with that.

Some 111 years after the sinking of the Titanic, high-resolution 3D images provide the most accurate depiction of the wreck yet. Scientists hope the footage will help determine the exact cause of the shipwreck. Titanic Parks expert Stevenson told the BBC the model represented a huge step in moving the passenger ship’s story “in the direction of evidence-based research rather than in the direction of speculation”.

In the disaster of April 1912, about 1,500 passengers and crew died when the luxury liner struck an iceberg in the North Atlantic Ocean while en route from Southampton, England, to New York. The wreckage of the plane has been lying at a depth of about 3,800 meters since then.

So far, Stephenson said, not much is known about the Titanic’s collision with the iceberg. “We don’t even know if it hit him on the right side like all movie shows — it could have landed on the iceberg.” The stern can provide information about how the ship hit the sea floor.

The ship can be clearly seen on the 3D images: it is divided into two large parts, the stern and the clear bow 800 meters apart. A huge debris field surrounded the steamer, which was considered “unsinkable”. The survey, conducted by the deep-sea mapping company Magellan, consists of 700,000 photographs taken by submarines. You can also see subtle details, such as the fan serial number.

“At about 4,000 meters depth is a challenge, and there are also currents at this point – and we weren’t allowed to touch anything so as not to damage the wreck,” said Gerhard Seifert, leader of the Magellan expedition. Every square centimeter, including the mud, had to be mapped so that the space between the debris could be filled.