Never-Before-Seen Titanic Wreckage Revealed in Largest Underwater Scanning Project

Over 100 years after its infamous sinking, the iconic Titanic has been unearthed with the first-ever full-size 3D reconstruction disclosing astounding new details about the doomed cruise ship.

In April 1912, more than 1,500 passengers perished when the ship hit an iceberg and sank while sailing from Southampton, England, to New York.

Never-Before-Seen Footage of the Titanic

According to NY Post, the catastrophe has captivated the globe for over a century. However, many details about the shipwreck are still unknown, but that may soon change. Over 700,000 scans of the wreckage obtained last summer by Atlantic Productions and deep-sea mapping company Magellan Ltd. were used to produce the breathtaking images.

Scientists have created full-scale digital photographs of the Titanic, disclosing intricate new details about the ship. Magellan Ltd, a deep-sea mapping company, and Atlantic Productions conducted digital surveys last summer.

Magellan stated in a press release that the readings provided a unique 3D view of the entire ship, allowing it to appear as if the water had been removed. A crew aboard a specialized vessel remotely piloted submersibles for more than 200 hours to survey the wreckage.

Even the serial number on one of the ship's propellers is legible in the latest photographs. The team hopes that the new images will cast new light on what transpired aboard the ship.

It was not until September 1985 that oceanographer Robert Ballard and the Woods Hole. Oceanographic Institution, in collaboration with the Institut français de recherche pour l'exploitation de la mer, discovered the wreckage of the Titanic.

3D Images May Reveal What Exactly Happened to Titanic Sank

The mysterious sinking of the opulent passenger liner Titanic in 1912 has long fascinated many individuals. According to the press release, every millimeter of the three-mile debris field was mapped in minute detail. The final digital replica has successfully captured the entire ruin, including the stem and stern sections that separated during the ship's 1912 sinking.

Per CNN, an expert who has studied the Titanic for 20 years, Parks Stephenson, lauded the initiative as a "game-changer" that has unearthed "previously unknown details."

Approximately 715,000 images and 16 terabytes of data were collected during the expedition, which Magellan CEO Richard Parkinson estimates is "approximately ten times larger than any underwater 3D model ever attempted."

This vessel attempted to alert the Titanic of the iceberg. Now, scientists have discovered the ship's remnants. Parkinson characterized the mission as "challenging," citing the team's struggle against "the elements, poor weather, and technical obstacles."

In contrast to previous optical images of the ship, which were limited by low light levels and poor light quality 12,500 feet below water, the new imaging technique "effectively removed the water and let the light in," according to the press release.

According to 3D capture specialist Gerhard Seiffert, the "extremely accurate photorealistic 3D model" has "for the first time" allowed people to pan out and examine the entire ruin. Seiffert added, "This is the Titanic as no one has ever seen it before."

According to Stephenson, this mapping will mark the "beginning of a new chapter" for Titanic research and exploration. The BBC reported that the team used remotely controlled submersibles to acquire over 700,000 images of the Titanic from every angle to create the 3D reconstruction.

The team members spent over 200 hours surveying the ship, which planning chief Gerhard Seiffert instructed them to avoid handling. The scan provides a view of the radio room, the grand staircase, and other interior spaces. Only 706 of the approximately 2,200 passengers on board the ship survived. The preponderance of those slain were crew members and third-class passengers, with 710 third-class deaths and 700 crew deaths.

Since its collapse in 1912, the Titanic has been a historical phenomenon, with innumerable films and books devoted to its study. This trend lends itself occasionally to conspiracies and anecdotal evidence. Stephenson told NBC News on Wednesday that this scan is a "significant step" toward shifting the Titanic narrative from speculation to evidence-based, empirical research.

This is not the first time the ship has been photographed, but what distinguishes this scan is its unparalleled quality and scope. Typically, submerged cameras capture only small debris fragments, requiring individuals to piece them together to create a distorted composite image.