See the First ‘Jaw-Dropping‘ Composite Map of Titanic’s Watery Grave 100 Years Later
- Posted on March 9, 2012 at 7:26pm by
Liz Klimas
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Titanic's bow and stern shown broken apart in the first comprehensive, composite map of the wreck's debris field. (Photo: RMS Titanic Inc.)
SOUTH PORTLAND, Maine (The Blaze/AP) — Director James Cameron may have shown us Titanic in its final resting place as we had never seen it before in his 1999 Academy Award-winning film, but now researchers are giving us a new perspective. They have pieced together what’s believed to be the first comprehensive map of the entire 3-by-5-mile Titanic debris field.
(Related: ‘Supermoon’ and optical illusion suggested as possible trigger for Titanic’s sinking)
In doing so, the researchers hope it will provide new clues about what exactly happened the night 100 years ago when the superliner hit an iceberg, plunged to the bottom of the North Atlantic and became a legend.
Marks on the muddy ocean bottom suggest, for instance, that the stern rotated like a helicopter blade as the ship sank, rather than plunging straight down, researchers told The Associated Press this week.
An expedition team used sonar imaging and more than 100,000 photos taken from underwater robots to create the map, which shows where hundreds of objects and pieces of the presumed-unsinkable vessel landed after striking an iceberg, killing more than 1,500 people.
Explorers of the Titanic – which sank on its maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City – have known for more than 25 years where the bow and stern landed after the vessel struck an iceberg. But previous maps of the floor around the wreckage were incomplete, said Parks Stephenson, a Titanic historian who consulted on the 2010 expedition. Studying the site with old maps was like trying to navigate a dark room with a weak flashlight.
“With the sonar map, it’s like suddenly the entire room lit up and you can go from room to room with a magnifying glass and document it,” he said. “Nothing like this has ever been done for the Titanic site.”
The mapping took place in the summer of 2010 during an expedition to the Titanic led by RMS Titanic Inc., the legal custodian of the wreck, along with Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Falmouth, Mass., and the Waitt Institute of La Jolla, Calif.
They were joined by the cable History channel and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the National Park Service is involved in the mapping. Details on the new findings at the bottom of the ocean are not being revealed yet, but the network will air them in a two-hour documentary on April 15, exactly 100 years after the Titanic sank.
Clockwise: Kirk Wolfinger, Rushmore DeNooyer, and Tony Bacon mapped Titanic's debris field (Photo: AP)
The expedition team ran two independently self-controlled robots known as autonomous underwater vehicles along the ocean bottom day and night. The torpedo-shaped AUVs surveyed the site with side-scan sonar, moving at a little more than 3 miles per hour as they traversed back and forth in a grid along the bottom, said Paul-Henry Nargeolet, the expedition’s co-leader with RMS Titanic Inc. Dave Gallo from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution was the other co-leader.
The AUVs also took high-resolution photos — 130,000 of them in all — of a smaller 2-by-3-mile area where most of the debris was concentrated. The photos were stitched together on a computer to provide a detailed photo mosaic of the debris.
(Photo: RMS Titanic Inc.)
The result is a map that looks something like the moon’s surface showing debris scattered across the ocean floor well beyond the large bow and stern sections that rest about half a mile apart.
The map provides a forensic tool with which scientists can examine the wreck site much the way an airplane wreck would be investigated on land, Nargeolet said.
For instance, the evidence that the stern rotated is based on the marks on the ocean floor to its west and the fact that virtually all the debris is found to the east.
Debris of Titanic's stern. (Photo: RMS Titanic Inc.)
“When you look at the sonar map, you can see exactly what happened,” said Nargeolet, who has been on six Titanic expeditions, the first in 1987.
The first mapping of the Titanic wreck site began after it was discovered in 1985, using photos taken with cameras aboard a remotely controlled vehicle that didn’t venture far from the bow and stern.
The mapping over the years has improved as explorers have built upon previous efforts in piecemeal fashion, said Charlie Pellegrino, a Titanic explorer who was not involved in the 2010 expedition. But this is the first time a map of the entire debris field has looked at every square inch in an orderly approach, he said.
“This is quite a significant map,” he said. “It‘s quite a significant advance in the technology and the way it’s done.”
Where Titanic rests in the Atlantic Ocean. (Image: White Star Ships)
At Lone Wolf Documentary Group in South Portland, producers are putting the final touches on the History documentary. Rushmore DeNooyer, the co-producer and writer of the show, points out the different items on the map, displayed on a screen.
They include a huge tangle of the remains of a deckhouse; a large chunk of the side of the ship measuring more than 60 feet long and weighing more than 40 tons; pieces of the ship’s bottom; and a hatch cover that blew off of the bow section as it crashed to the bottom. Other items include five of the ship’s huge boilers, a revolving door and even a lightning rod from a mast.
By examining the debris, investigators can now answer questions like how the ship broke apart, how it went down and whether there was a fatal flaw in the design, he said.
The layout of the wreck site and where the pieces landed provide new clues on exactly what happened. Computer simulations will re-enact the sinking in reverse, bringing the wreckage debris back to the surface and reassembled.
Some of those questions will be answered on the show, said Dirk Hoogstra, a senior vice president at History. He declined to say ahead of the show what new theories are being put forth on the sinking.
“We’ve got this vision of the entire wreck that no one has ever seen before,” he said. “Because we have, we’re going to be able to reconstruct exactly how the wreck happened. It’s groundbreaking, jaw-dropping stuff.”
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Comments (67)
Archstone
Posted on March 10, 2012 at 11:21amememberrA to alktA in our ecretsA odecA. They’re upersA umbdA.
Report Post »I can see them scratching their heads now. “We have a new cypher!”
britttkdgirl
Posted on March 10, 2012 at 11:18amShouldn’t it be in two pieces…?
Report Post »BostonHarold
Posted on March 10, 2012 at 1:21pmIt is Britt. Look at the pictures. It was also the world‘s most expensive ship at the time and there’s speculation that the steel of the hull was cheap low quality white metal crap to keep costs down. Bean counters rule my friends. It became brittle in the cold North Atlantic and split open like an aluminum beer can on the hard jagged ice. The Shuttle Challenger’s O-Rings also became brittle and shrunken in the cold and split open when the heat and pressure of ‘throttle up’ were applied.
Report Post »NOTALOTTAYITTAYADDA
Posted on March 10, 2012 at 11:04amCorrection, the Olympic’s watery grave! Lot’s of evidence to support the fact of insurance fraud, and easier to do in that era.
Report Post »pennswoods
Posted on March 10, 2012 at 11:00amAs terrible as the sinking of the Titanic was with 1,500 souls lost the greatest maritime disaster of all time was the sinking of the German cruise ship the Wilhelm Gustloff in the Baltic Sea on the night of January 30, 1945. A Soviet submarine launched at least three torpedos ino the side of this cruise ship filled with at least 12,000 people. The ship was crammed with mostly civilians and normally held about 3,000 passengers. These refugees were fleeing Danzig and the advance of the Soviet Army. The Gustloff sank in about 45 minutes taking at least 10,500 people to their watery graves in the cold stormy Baltic Sea. What a night that must have been. No Hollywood movie will ever be made about that event.
Report Post »BostonHarold
Posted on March 10, 2012 at 1:03pmThe Nazis also filled ships with Jews and sunk them. The death toll is still unknown.
Report Post »pennswoods
Posted on March 10, 2012 at 11:38pmIn the case of the Wilhelm Gustloff you are 100% wrong. It was crammed full of German civilians fleeing Danzig and the approaching Red Army in East Prussia. It is the greatest maritime loss of life in history. Almost two months later on April 16, 1945 the German cruise ship the Goya was also sunk by a Soviet torpedo attack with a loss of over 7,000 German civlilian lives. I hate the Nazi’s but facts are facts and there is nothing you can invent that can deny these two catastrophic maritime disasters involved German civilian refugees killed on German cruise liners in the Baltic Sea sunk by Soviet submarines. Google both please and you will discover that you are wrong.
Report Post »yohannbiimu
Posted on March 12, 2012 at 2:19pmThe worst maritime disaster on our shores was the SS Sultana, which burned and sank in 1865, just prior to the end of the Civil War. Over 1800 people were lost in that disaster, which was worse than the Titanic. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Sultana
Report Post »crispycritter
Posted on March 10, 2012 at 10:42amI love this. The mystery. I think finding out the cause and what happened after any event is great. I don’t go along with it has been done before. All those people who died. We will never forget. Any scientific understandoing is welcome. Especially if it makes ships safer today in modern time. I wish we could have info somewhere about the passengers and what happened to them. To me they are the big story here. Imagine having to lose your husband because you both knew there was not enough room in the life boats. Parting must have been torture knowing one will die. I would love to find out more about every passenger who died and what became of the family that was saved. Maybe a book could be written.
Report Post »Kawohlus
Posted on March 10, 2012 at 10:37amIt sank becase they didn’t let Jack Johnson on board, and the 1st Mate had his 146 and a half feet of rope with him. So the Captain did it with a little help from the 1st Mate.
Report Post »TROONORTH
Posted on March 10, 2012 at 10:28amThere are some really interesting similarities between Titanic and the United States.The Captain at sea is the ultimate authority just like the President. The vessel is like a small country. Both ‘countries’ were heavily damaged when the ‘captains’ swerved to the left. Both ‘Captains’ issued stupid and conflicting orders. Both ‘Captains’ waited too long before admitting that their ‘countries’ were in danger of sinking. Both ‘Captains’ issued orders for a massive ‘bail-out’ ( sorry couldn’t resist). Let’s hope, for the sake of the ‘ship’ that only one of the ‘Captains’ has the opportunity to go down with his ship.
Report Post »katrinka45
Posted on March 10, 2012 at 10:43amAnd Bammy even gave the iceburg a name……Bush…LOL!!!
Report Post »Better Dead Than Red
Posted on March 10, 2012 at 11:06amand all these years later, we can see the massive amounts of debris left over..
Report Post »Archstone
Posted on March 10, 2012 at 11:35amAnd Glenn was in the crow’s nest yelling “ICEBERG – RIGHT AHEAD!!!”
Geithner hid all the red flares, so we had to shoot up white flares. Everyone thought it
was just another party at the White House.
And the band plays on like nothing’s wrong. That of course would be the left-wing media.
They of course, will go down with the ship. :)
Help will arrive too late for most, and for the rest of time, like the Titanic, all will wonder how
Report Post »the arrogance of one man could cost so many so much, while he escapes unscathed, disguised
as someone else….
Bible Quotin' Science Fearin' Conservative American
Posted on March 10, 2012 at 12:56pmI guess the Teatards would be the captain of the other ship that was told of the distress and decided to roll over and go back to sleep.
Report Post »lukerw
Posted on March 10, 2012 at 2:36pmNostradamus had a verse about… the Captain sailing the Ship of State into the Tar Pits!
Obama?
Report Post »TomArmstrong
Posted on March 10, 2012 at 3:35pmAFter my insane fellow Californians voted to return Jerry Brown to the Governor’s office, the joke was that the difference between California and the Titanic was that the passengers on the Titanic didn’t vote to hit the iceberg…
Report Post »felix
Posted on March 10, 2012 at 10:23amBushs fault !
Report Post »txjb
Posted on March 10, 2012 at 10:19amI had no idea that icebergs floated down that far south of St. Johns . There’s a doc out about how iron was made into metal in those days, and it would crumble under pressure . New science and tech makes metal stronger to handle stress, temperture changes. One thing for sure the sinking cannot be blamed on texting , maybe telegraphing .
Report Post »c.foster4722
Posted on March 10, 2012 at 9:39amThe answer to the question of who said not even god could sink titanic! It was the captain! There’s just some thing about Titanic, that grabs you and just won’t let go. Maybe she still has some thing to say, and won’t rest untill her voice is heard. I know this sounds a bit strange, but I think the sperits of Titanic are trying to tell us some thing that is bigger than any one ever thought, and when it finally comes to light then and only then will she be able to rest in peace!
Report Post »ScreaminEagle
Posted on March 10, 2012 at 10:10amThe Universe conspired from the time it was created, to place that chunk of ice and that ship in the same place at the same time. Gods will.
Report Post »ZeroOff4impact
Posted on March 10, 2012 at 9:13amunsinkable yet there she lay. God rest the souls of the voyage.
Report Post »lukerw
Posted on March 10, 2012 at 9:30amThe Altar… to Human Arrogance!
Report Post »BostonHarold
Posted on March 10, 2012 at 1:06pmNo mariner in his right mind would declare a vessel unsinkable. The Titanic got that moniker from a newspaper reporter in Belfast.
Report Post »piper60
Posted on March 10, 2012 at 7:57amWell—anything that helps decipher what happened so long ago.
Report Post »Gonzo
Posted on March 10, 2012 at 8:13amThey hit an iceberg and sunk…that will be 18 million dollars. No checks.
Report Post »LOTO
Posted on March 10, 2012 at 9:30amCan get you a big a discount on The Lusitania.
Report Post »LegionOfOne
Posted on March 11, 2012 at 11:24amHow about the Brittanica? Discount on her too?
Report Post »mauijonny
Posted on March 10, 2012 at 3:17amAs a nerd, I thought this was a cool story. I also thought that it broke in two…apparently not.
Report Post »@ DAR – we wouldn‘t need a deep space probe to find 0blahblah’s humility, we’d need an alternate universe probe.
Stevsea
Posted on March 10, 2012 at 4:52amIt did break in two. Read it again. The bow and stern sections are about a half mile apart.
Report Post »COFemale
Posted on March 10, 2012 at 1:43amA distant cousin of mine died on the Titanic. He was a science fiction writer named Jacques Futrelle. He comes from my mom’s side of the family. I am not sure how many times removed, but I am guessing maybe 2 or 3. I’d have to go check my genealogy records. His wife Lily May got off the ship. So this whole story is fascinating to me.
Report Post »NoLongerNonPlussed
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 10:45pmGolly, what a cliff hanger…the computer generated un-sinking or a sunken ship. Yeah, I’m definitely goin to stay up late for that one. This one is just for the nerds….No! Wait a minute… . Take a deep breath…,
I’ll bet Uber Presidente Obama uses this film as an excuse to order the EPA to confiscate the technology by forcing the corporation into bankruptcy, then awarding 50% of the reformed company to the Unemployed Seamen’s Union and 50% to the taxpayers just to improve our economy and generate clean jobs by hiring former TSA pat down and body scanner specialists to use it to scan all the ocean’s floors checking for old wrecks and identifying all those leaking oil, grease, tar, coal, asbestos, lead-based paints, and other harmful chemicals and compounds so that the American taxpayers can pay to have the oceans cleaned up and the materials recycled by poor developing countries just for the respect America will earn by working for a cleaner environment. OK, breath again. LOL
As an added bonus all human remains will be respectfully recovered, identified via DNA testing and then interred on the moon out of respect for the ocean floor and the dead.
All families of missing and deceased persons and all insurance companies seeking further information may apply under the Freedom of Infomation Act at the Department of Davy Jones Locker, Washington, DC.
Report Post »PERSERVERANCE-2012
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 9:59pmHow is it im reading a neat story about the Titanic, which just love by the way…. and im reading posts about ohbummer!!!!!!! God keep oblamer out of the story. Please Theres nothing linking blach oblockhead to the Titanic…. Except hes all wet and hes so under water ya know. and his politics are sinking into the abyss! And the countries split in two…and,,,,,, Well maybe there are a few things in common.
Report Post »TomFerrari
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 9:41pmAwesome technology.
Great task for an enterprising entrepreneurial explorer.
But, I’d like to know why our National Parks Service is spending money and sending people on this sightseeing trip. I can justify NOAA studying the wreckage. But, unless we are about to open a trillion-dollar, undersea, National Park, IN INTERNATIONAL WATERS, then I cannot justify spending tax dollars via the National Parks Service.
Perhaps they are getting ready for the obamas next vacations? We ought to be able to crank out a cool billion on an undersea vacation resort for their majesties. LOL
Report Post »Jenny Lind
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 9:39pmThis poor ship has been worth more dead than alive, seems really sad. I think it should be left to rest in peace. Enough, no one is going to be building a fleet of them so why not let it go?
Report Post »Free2speakRN
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 9:26pmWho was the guy who said something like, “Even God can’t sink her!”?
Report Post »YellowFin
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 9:23pmThings happen the way they happen because of all the things that happen. – yellowfin
Report Post »Razorhunters
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 9:22pmDoes hot mic catch Obama talking about GOP vote fraud election?
Report Post »http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=NQmkdHJRxOo
Razorhunters
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 9:19pmDoes hot mic catch Obama talking about GOP vote fraud election?
Report Post »http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=NQmkdHJRxOo
zoose
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 8:40pm“When you look at the sonar map, you can see exactly what happened,” said Nargeolet, who has been on six Titanic expeditions, the first in 1987.
Really?
Report Post »flyoverbob
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 8:37pmIt’s still a heartbreaking story after all this time.So many people killed,and there were several people who dropped the ball.I know there were people who had to live their lives wishing they had done things different,but that doesn’t give those folks that trusted them their lives back
Report Post »Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 8:34pmNow if we can just find Paulie Shores career, that would be a find.
Report Post »flyoverbob
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 8:45pmAn even bigger find would be Obamas humility
Report Post »Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 8:50pmWe need a deep space probe for that.
Report Post »Jenny Lind
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 9:36pmWell said! LOL deep space or further out!
Report Post »xmilitary
Posted on March 11, 2012 at 7:00amJust had my morning coffee…dropped a deuce….went to flush….looked down and found that career you mentioned.
Report Post »libertymeteor
Posted on March 11, 2012 at 10:43pmtoo soon…..too soon
did’t shore die? i don’t know.
Report Post »TheePolitinator
Posted on March 10, 2012 at 9:34amThere is a complete answer, it sank.
Report Post »cb6352
Posted on March 10, 2012 at 8:32pmmy thoughts are from ballards search where in the debri field there were a pair of shoes side by side in perfect order. by the way he also did a search for the scorpion sub before he went to the titanic. being a sub mariner alot of people from that time believe the russians sank it and we sank one of theres in the pacific in retaliation. a sub left groton and came back missing 2 mark 37′s in there hold after the missing boat was found.
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