Even though the Titanic has been sitting at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean for a century now … a lot has happened. And we’re still as fascinated by it as ever.
Technology has improved, allowing us to learn more about exactly how the Titanic sank and where it came to rest. For nearly 3/4 of the time it’s been down there, it wasn’t found. Now, it’s not only been visited lots of times by experts and even tourists (super expensive), but the most complete photos of it have been recently pieced together. We also now know that Titanic is spread out over a huge thousand-acre area of the ocean floor, according to National Geographic.
Over 5,000 items have been brought up, including a 17-ton piece of the ship.
Below are little seen pictures of the wreck of Titanic
Need a bit of a Titanic Re-Cap?
The Titanic sank 100 years ago, on April 15, 1912.
At the time, it was the largest moving vessel in water. It was about the length of three football fields. Its 3 propellers alone weighed over 90 tons.
By Yzmo via Wikimedia Commons
It was also the most luxurious boat ever made at the time.
When it sank on its very first voyage and over 1,500 lives were lost. It was the biggest maritime (water) disasters of its time.
Titanic’s makers claimed it was unsinkable. But it hit an iceberg on its very first voyage causing it to sink on the 4th day of its 5-6 day trip.
The iceberg Titanic may have hit. Photo by Stephan Rehorek via Public Domain/Wikimedia Commons
The ship was on its way from Southhampton, England to New York. It stopped in Cerbourg, France and Queensboro, Ireland to pick up passengers before crossing the ocean.
The ship was designed with 16 separate water tight compartments so that if there was a leak, the compartment would seal up and contain the water that came in rather than spreading throughout the ship. It could handle up to five compartments leaking. The collision with the iceberg punctured six. This happened at 11:40 pm, April 14.
From then, it took about 3 hours for the boat to sink. It finally fully submerged at 2:20 am.
But a few other things went wrong as well that made the Titanic’s sinking and the lives lost even more tragic.
There weren’t enough lifeboats on board — only 20 — which was only enough for about half the people.
Some passengers were given priority over others which made it hard to load the life boats efficiently.
As the Titanic was sinking on a moonless night, the crew radioed the nearest ship, the Californian, just an hour away, to come help. But it was the middle of the night and the radio operator had reportedly gone to bed and never got the message. The Carpathia, which was four hours away, came to rescue those who managed to stay alive in the frigid waters. Many floating in the water died of hypothermia — their bodies got too cold.
Titanic rests 2 1/2 miles (1,970 feet) down on the bottom of the ocean floor.
Titanic wreck. Courtesy of NOAA/Institute for Exploration/University of Rhode Island Public domain/Wikimedia Commons