New sonar images show Titanic in its ocean grave 100 years on – PHOTOS

First time Titanic can be seen clearly on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean

By

KATE HICKEY,

IrishCentral Editor

Larger Text

Print

E-mail

4 Comments

Images of the Titanic's bow as composed by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI)

Photo by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI)

Tweet

News sonar images of the Titanic on the Ocean floor - slideshow

New sonar images show the sunken Titanic 12,500 feet below sea level. The April edition of National Geographic Magazine will feature these images for the first time to honor the centenary of the tragic ship’s sinking.

Previously, images of this nature, taken far under the Atlantic Ocean’s surface, were dark and dim but these images reveal the full extent of the wreckage. They also show the five by three-mile field of debris surrounding the wreck as well as the staircases at the stern of the boat.

The surrounding area on the seabed is also pitted with craters, from boulders from the iceberg sinking to the ocean floor.

These images, created by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), in Massachusetts, took months to create.

Bill Lange of WHOI said "Now we know where everything is. After a hundred years, the lights are finally on."

News sonar images of the Titanic on the Ocean floor - slideshow

The project sent three robots down to the Titanic. They moved along the length of the ship and captured thousands of images with optical cameras and sonar devices.

James Selgado, the expedition’s chief scientist, said, “This is a game-changer. In the past, trying to understand Titanic was like trying to understand Manhattan at midnight in a rainstorm, with a flashlight.

“Now we have a site that can be understood and measured, with definite things to tell us. In years to come this historic map may give voice to those people who were silenced, seemingly forever, when the cold water closed over them.”

The commemoration of the ship’s sinking will begin on 10th April, the date of the ship’s departure. On 15th April 1912 the Titanic sunk. More than 1,500 people died in the tragedy.

News sonar images of the Titanic on the Ocean floor - slideshow

Print

E-mail

Tweet