A digitally-formulated scan of the Titanic was analyzed, shedding light on the ship’s final hours, the BBC reported on Tuesday.
According to an analysis of the ship based on a 3D replica, the scan gave an additional view of the ship’s boiler room, which corroborated first-hand accounts that engineers onboard worked until the last possible moment to keep the ship’s lights on as it sank.
In the 1912 sinking of the Titanic, a luxury cruise liner that sank in freezing waters, 1,500 passengers were killed in the disaster.
These scans have been studied for a documentary produced by National Geographic and Atlantic Productions called Titanic: The Digital Resurrection.
The wreck itself is inaccessible to humans due to its depth in the icy depths of the Atlantic Ocean. In order to map it these days, underwater tools help gather data. This includes the more than 700,000 images of the ship taken at every possible angle to create the “digital twin” as reported by BBC in 2023.
This scan gives the first real full view of the ship, according to the report. The bow of the ship, or the front, sits on the sea floor, but the back half of the ship, the stern, is not nearly as preserved.
Mapping value
The new mapping technology allows further insight into the ways the ship can be studied. Experts compared looking at the results of the scans to looking over a crime scene; new details emerged showing details like smashed portholes, adding validity to survivor testimonies that ice came into some of the cabins amidst the collision with the fatal iceberg.
Experts found that the way the boilers appeared in the ruins suggested that they were still running as the ship sank, noting that a valve found open in the back of the ship indicted that steam continued flowing through, into the electricity system amidst the sinking. They believe that this is further proof that engineers, led by Joseph Bell, sacrificed themselves and stayed behind to keep the power on, which then allowed the crew to launch lifeboats in dim lights.
None of the engineers survived, though their actions are deemed heroic.
A simulation of the ship based on blueprints, speed, direction, and position revealed just how the ship met its demise, thanks to the iceberg. After sustaining several punctures at critical points, the ship sank further.
Personal items from Titanic passengers remain scattered across the sea floor, and the ongoing scans offer new insights into the disaster. The 3D replica is being meticulously studied, and experts anticipate it will take years to fully analyze every detail of the shipwreck.