RMS Titanic Inc, the company that led the expedition, returned with two million photos of the site.
This is the highlight of their findings.
On its first expedition to the Titanic in 14 years, the company with exclusive salvage rights to the wreck site said it had located a bronze statue which was believed to be lost forever and also discovered some deterioration of the ship.
RMS Titanic Inc, the Atlanta-based company that has recovered thousands of artifacts from the ship over decades, said in a news release Monday that it had begun its expedition on July 12 and had spent 20 days at the site, sending remotely operated vehicles to the ship.
The researchers brought back two million photos.
But the company did not recover any artifacts this time, after changing its plans following lawsuits from the federal government and criticism from scientists who believe the site should be left as a memorial to the victims.
The bronze statue “Diana of Versailles” was photographed this summer by RMS Titanic Inc. The statue once stood in the ship’s first-class lounge. Photo RMS Titanic Inc, via Associated Press
The expedition comes a year after the submarine disaster Titan ended the life of a maritime expert who was leading the investigation for the company.
A bronze statue of the Roman goddess Diana stands out.
“Diana of Versailles,” a half-meter-high bronze statuette of the Roman goddess Diana, was spotted by the expedition team.
The last time she was captured on camera was in 1986 and most experts considered her missing.
Finding the Diana statue was a priority for the team, according to the company’s press release.
The replica sat on a shelf in the ship’s first-class lounge, but the lounge was opened when the ship sank and the statue was thrown into a debris field.
The figure of Diana, the Roman goddess of the hunt, was found stuck in the ocean floor with one arm raised off the ground still searching for her arrow.
Its bronze coating barely stood out against the dark sediment.
The bow (where they were) Jack y Rose in the 1997 film) was damaged
The images show the partial collapse of a railing on the bow of the ship.
The bow of the Titanic appears in a famous scene from the 1997 film Titanic, in which Jack holds Rose from behind as she pretends to fly. (The image was used on the film’s posters.)
As recently as 2022, images from a different expedition showed the bow railing still intact.
Tomasina Ray, director of collections for RMS Titanic, said in a press release that the team was saddened by the evidence of the decay“which has only strengthened our commitment to preserving the Titanic’s legacy.”
Investigators used two remote-controlled vehicles to capture images and data from the wreck site.
Data
The RMS Titanic team is now focused on processing the data and images to share their findings with the scientific communities.
RMS Titanic has faced backlash in the past
Although the company has had exclusive rights to salvage any artifacts from the wreck for three decades, RMS Titanic has faced efforts by the federal government and scientists to try to prevent it from disturbing the wreck site and removing objects from it.
The July expedition was undertaken for research rather than recovery, but during seven of the company’s nine expeditions since 1987 the teams have recovered some 5500 artifactsaccording to the company.
The company tried to sell the devices in the early 2000s, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Some scientists wish that the Titanic remain intact to commemorate the lives lost in 1912.
The Titanic is located in international waters off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada, and there is an agreement between Britain and the United States to protect the site.
The United States passed a law in 2017 requiring government approval to salvage or physically alter a shipwreck site.
In 2020, the United States attempted to sue RMS Titanic after the company announced it would try to recover the ship’s Marconi wireless telegraph, which would require making cuts to the vessel.
A federal judge ruled that the company could go ahead with its plans.
Plans were changed after the Titan submarine disaster
About a year ago, the U.S. government filed a motion to intervene, arguing that RMS Titanic needed government approval before it could access the ship’s wreckage and debris.
This follows the Titan disaster in June 2023, when five people attempting to visit the site were killed when the submersible imploded.
RMS Titanic’s underwater research director, Paul-Henri Nargeolet, was among those killed.
The Titan was owned by another company, but the tragedy raised questions about expeditions to the wreck.
Before the implosion, RMS Titanic told the court that it would recover the telegraph without federal approval.
But in an October 2023 court filing, it said it would halt an upcoming recovery mission, “out of respect for PH Nargeolet and his family, and the four other individuals who recently perished at the site.”
It is not known for certain whether the company will continue to extract artifacts from the site in the future.
A company spokesperson said in an email to The New York Times which currently has no plans.
“The company is analyzing the data from this expedition to determine next steps,” the statement said.
The US Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia said the case against the company remains open.
Federal investigators are still looking into the Titan’s implosion and the exact cause has not yet been determined.
The Nargeolet family has filed a lawsuit against OceanGate Expeditions, the manufacturer.
Sara Ruberg covers breaking news and is part of the 2024-25 class of the Times Fellowship, a program for early-career journalists.
c. 2024 The New York Times Company
