- Fruerama The Titanic was the largest space cruiser ever built. It was a luxury ship that had a range of lower class to first class accommodation. It was supposed to keep a steady course but, as usual, Zapp Brannigan caused its destruction during its maiden voyage on which he was captain. He changed its course, first causing it to fly through a comet field, then an area with a black hole.
- Aug 22, 2019 The wreck of the Titanic has lain at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of the Canadian province of Newfoundland since April 1912, when it hit an iceberg and sank on its maiden voyage.
- Titanic, in full Royal Mail Ship (RMS) Titanic, British luxury passenger liner that sank on April 14–15, 1912, during its maiden voyage, en route to New York City from Southampton, England, killing about 1,500 (see Researcher’s Note: Titanic) passengers and ship personnel.
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Photo 48: Bow of the RMS Titanic.
(NOAA Photo Library)
The Royal Mail Steamer (R.M.S.) Titanic is perhaps the most famous shipwreck of all time. A British registered ship of the White Star Line that was owned by a U.S. company in which famed American financier John Pierpont 'JP' Morgan was a major stockholder, Titanic was built in Belfast, Northern Ireland by Harland and Wolff for transatlantic passage between Southampton, England and New York City. It was the largest and most luxurious passenger ship of its time and was reported to be unsinkable.
Titanic was launched on May 31, 1911, and set sail on its maiden voyage from Southampton on April 10, 1912, with 2,240 passengers and crew on board. On April 15, 1912, after striking an iceberg, Titanic broke apart and sank to the bottom of the North Atlantic Ocean, taking with it more than 1,500 passengers and crew. While there has been some salvage outside of the major hull portions, most of the ship remains in its final resting place, 12,000 feet below sea level and over 350 nautical miles off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada. Its famous story of disaster and human drama has been, and continues to be, recounted in numerous books, articles, and movies. Titanic has been recognized by the United States for its national and international significance and in many ways has become a cultural icon around the world. The disaster resulted in a number of memorials around the world. In the United States, there are major memorials in Washington D.C. and New York, as well as at Harvard University’s Widener Library.
The 100th Anniversary of the sinking of the R.M.S. Titanic on April 15, 2012, triggered significant interest in the wreck site. On January 31, 2012, in response to a request from NOAA, the U.S. National Park Service, the U.S. Coast Guard, and the International Maritime Organization issued a circular on Titanic. (MEPC.1/Circ.779). The circular advised all vessels to refrain from discharging any garbage, waste, or effluent in a zone approximately 10 nm (34 km) above the wreck. It also requested that submersibles avoid landing on the Titanic’s deck and concentrate the release of any drop weights on ascent in specific areas away from the hull portions of the wreck. The circular also requested that visitors refrain from placing plaques or other permanent memorials on the wreck, however well-intentioned. As of April 15, 2012, the R.M.S. Titanic came under the 2001 UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage.
On May 5, 2017, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2017 (Public Law 115-31) was signed into law. Section 113 of the Act provides that “no person shall conduct any research, exploration, salvage, or other activity that would physically alter or disturb the wreck or wreck site of the RMS Titanic unless authorized by the Secretary of Commerce per the provisions of the Agreement Concerning the Shipwrecked Vessel RMS Titanic. The Secretary of Commerce shall take appropriate actions to carry out this section consistent with the Agreement.”
Under Article 4 of the International Agreement, each Party is to take “appropriate actions” to enforce measures taken pursuant to the Agreement against its nationals and vessels flying its flag and to prohibit activities in its territory, including its maritime ports, territorial sea, and offshore terminals, that are inconsistent with the Agreement.
The International Agreement entered into force on November 18, 2019, when the U.S. accepted the Agreement. For more details see the International Agreement page.
Additional reference information
Titanic, in full Royal Mail Ship (RMS) Titanic, British luxury passenger liner that sank on April 14–15, 1912, during its maiden voyage, en route to New York City from Southampton, England, killing about 1,500 (see Researcher’s Note: Titanic) passengers and ship personnel.
- United Kingdom Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Note Verbale 82/2020 (October 21, 2020) (concerning the proposed salvage of the Marconi wireless set from inside the RMS Titanic)
- U.S. Department of State Media Note, United States Accepts Agreement Protecting the Titanic Wreck Site (December 19, 2019)
- NOAA Web Story, Safeguarding the RMS Titanic’s final resting place: United States and United Kingdom join to protect the famous vessel (December 19, 2019)
- NOAA Ocean Today (video), The Titanic Wrecksite
- NOAA Press Release, NOAA Commemorates the 100th Anniversary of RMS Titanic (May 31, 2011)
- NOAA Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, Titanic as Part of America's Maritime Cultural Landscape
- NOAA Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, The 2010 Scientific Expedition to Titanic
- NOAA Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, Previous Missions to Titanic
- NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research, Titanic Collection
- NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research, Rusticles Thrive on the Titanic
- NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research, R.M.S. Titanic Expedition 2003
- NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research, R.M.S. Titanic 2004 Expedition
- The Smithsonian Institution, The Titanic
- Royal Museums Greenwich, Titanic
- National Museums Northern Ireland, Titanic and her Sister Ships
- SeaCity Museum Southampton, The Titanic
- La Cité de la Mer, Titanic Cherbourg
- Maritime Museum of the Atlantic, Titanic: the Unsinkable Ship and Halifax
Updated October 26, 2020
New footage detailing the condition of the Titanic has scientists speculating that the shipwreck will have disintegrated entirely within the next 30 years.
An expedition team led by Caladan Oceanic CEO and deep-sea explorer Victor Vescovo recently dove to the wreck in the five times over the course of eight days, sourcing the most up-to-date images of the famous sunken liner. Vescovo also recently broke the world record for deep-diving with a recent descent 35,853 feet into the Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean, the deepest natural trench in the world
The wreck of the Titanic has lain at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of the Canadian province of Newfoundland since April 1912, when it hit an iceberg and sank on its maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City. Of the 2,207 passengers and crew on board, more than 1,500 died.
Atlantic Productions London, the team behind an upcoming documentary that is set to air the explorers’ findings, captured footage of a particularly affected area located on the starboard side of the ship. “The team of experts and scientists examined the remains of the ship, capturing for the first time extraordinary native 4K footage using specially adapted cameras,” a statement from Atlantic Productions read. “Using the submersible camera systems, the team performed dedicated photogrammetry passes on the wreck, allowing highly accurate and photoreal 3D models of RMS Titanic to be produced.”
In recent years, a mapping project has been undertaken to track and memorialize Titanic’s resting place; in 2012, the wreck became a UNESCO cultural heritage site. And with the ship’s continued deterioration to consider, the urgency of such projects is increasing. The “captain’s bathtub,” a well-known part of the wreck (pictured above) has now disappeared completely due to disintegration, Titanic historian Parks Stephenson noted in Atlantic Productions’ statement.
The ship, which fell to the seabed in two parts, can now be found 370 miles off the coast of Newfoundland at a depth of roughly 12,600 feet. Fields of debris surround each part of the wreck, including some of the ship’s bunkers, passengers’ luggage, wine bottles and even the intact face of a child’s porcelain doll. The team’s August expedition is the first time in 14 years that the wreckage site has been visited by a human-occupied vehicle.
Henrietta Mann, a researcher at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, has studied the Titanic’s wreck for years. In 2010 she co-discovered a new species of bacteria — Halomonas titanicae — found in rusticle samples taken from the wreck. Halomonas titanicae is among the bacteria found on the wreck, which eat away at the ship’s iron, breaking it down. This process results in rusticles, fragile rust formations which resemble icicles. Rusticles can be seen all over the wreck, in a constant state of disintegration and regrowth.
Mann tells TIME that she has seen the explorers’ footage and cites a number of key factors — corrosion, oceanic eddies and undercurrents, and the impact of the iron-eating bacteria — as contributing to the shipwreck’s current state (as well as its future prospects). She also cites the weight of the wreck as a supplementary factor in its deterioration. In essence, it is working against itself. “If one level deteriorates at the top [of the wreck], it drops to the next one,” she explains, “which means it … impacts on the lower levels. Damage is done layer after layer.”
Titanic Games
Mann says it’s impossible to know exactly how long it will take for the ship to completely fall apart, but the observed damage can offer clues. Her best estimation is that there remain approximately 30 years until the wreck has disintegrated entirely. Even then, its condition is likely to grow increasingly worse over time, she says. “Logic tells you [that] more structurally it is damaged, the more quickly it will deteriorate.”
Read more: See Photos of the Wreck of the Titanic When It Was First Discovered Sindarin translator.
Triton Submarines president Patrick Lahey piloted three of the team’s five dives. He said that the shipwreck is returning to its “elemental form.”
“The most fascinating aspect was seeing how the Titanic is being consumed by the ocean while providing refuge for a remarkably diverse number of animals,” he said in a statement.
Expedition team leader Vescovo tells TIME that the shipwreck was actually in better condition than he expected. “I had read some projections by some scientists that major portions might have utterly collapsed since the last photo survey in 2010, but, at least at the bow, they haven’t,” he says. “There was less of a ‘collapse’ than just a slow, steady, degradation of the exterior areas. The fact that there are still many glass portholes intact amazed me, and really impressed me just how durable this ship is.”
“Biology and current are slowly eroding the wreck as one would expect it to,” he continues. “But we should remember that the wreck has been down there 107 years in strong currents and seawater, so it is a matter of not if, but when, the sea will reclaim it in its entirety.”