Wednesday saw the release of extraordinary, never-before-seen film of the Titanic’s wreckage, shedding light on some of the mystery surrounding the doomed ship.
The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution published an 80-minute video of an expedition from 1986 to coincide with the 25th anniversary release of the film “Titanic.”
Robert Ballard, an ocean explorer and crew commander, remembered the trip more than three miles beneath the ocean’s surface and how astonishing the RMS Titanic’s sheer size was.
In an interview with the Associated Press, he stated, “The first thing I saw coming out of the darkness at 30 feet was this wall, this giant wall of riveted steel that rose over 100 feet above us.”
He adds, “I never looked down at the Titanic.” “I observed the Titanic from above. Nothing was minute”
The three-person crew saw the sunken cruise ship for the first time while they were ascending to the surface during the dive. As they inched closer, Ballard observed the portholes of the cruise ship.”It was as if people were staring back at us. It was quite eerie, he claimed, noting that he observed what appeared to be the shoes of a mother and child.
Jason Jr., a remotely-operated underwater research vehicle, explores the ship’s murky bowels in a recently-released film. The cabin of the top officer is glimpsed at one point.
Alvin is also shown approaching the Titanic, inspecting its bow, and parked on its deck. It also depicts Lavin on the ocean floor surrounded by trash.
“More than a century after the sinking of the Titanic, the human stories embodied in the great ship continue to resonate,” said James Cameron, the filmmaker of “Titanic.”
“Like many others, I was captivated when Alvin and Jason Jr. descended down and into the crash. By releasing this footage, WHOI is contributing to the telling of a story that spans generations and spans the globe.”
Using a towed underwater camera, the WHOI team, based in Massachusetts on Cape Cod, discovered the shipwreck at a depth of more than 3,800 meters in 1985, after numerous previous attempts to locate the gigantic ship. During the exploration, the group collaborated with a French institute.
The newly revealed footage was from the expedition’s return the following year.
When the Titanic set sail, it was the largest and most unsinkable ocean ship ever constructed. However, in the early hours of April 15, 1912, while route from England to New York City, it collided with an iceberg.
The vessel sank around 2:20 a.m. The 1985 finding occurred at the same time, at approximately 2:00 a.m.
Ballard reported that a crewmember observed the time coincidence and remarked, “She will sink in twenty minutes.”
“We actually halted the operation and raised the vehicle so I could collect my thoughts. I said, ‘I’m going outside to collect myself,’ and everyone followed,” he added.
“We held a little memorial service for everyone who had passed away. But we were there, at this location.”
»Rare footage of the Titanic shipwreck has been made public for the first time«