It has been nearly four decades since the first manned mission to theRMS Titaniccaptured images of the famed ocean liner that struck an iceberg at sea in April 1912 and sank, killing more than 1,500 people.
Much of the footage from that voyage to the shipwreck in the depths of the Atlantic Ocean has never been released to the public — until now.
The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) has just releasednever-before-seen videoof the wreck on YouTube to celebrate the25th anniversaryof James Cameron’s 1997 filmTitanic.
The"rare, uncut footage"includes nearly 90 minutes of images from the July 1986 voyage that, according toToday,helped inspirethe award-winning movie.
Courtesy of WHOI Archives © Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
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Using human-operated and remote-operated vessels Alvin and Jason Jr., the explorers scoured the long-lost shipwreck as they gathered images along the ocean floor.
“I must say, to literally land on the deck of the Titanic was quite amazing, almost just hard to believe,” Ballard toldToday.
Entering the Titanic’s wreckage was like “entering a preserved museum,” Ballard said, adding that the deeper that they went, “the more preserved it was.”
Additional footage of the Titanic has been captured and released in the years following Alvin and Jason Jr.’s groundbreaking expedition.
In August 2022, OceanGate Expeditions released"the very first 8K video"of the Titanic, taken earlier that year, which showed some of the ship’s specific characteristics.
The footage also showed “dramatic evidence of decay” in portions of the wreckage, and will be used to monitor the rate of decay for future comparisons.
The WHOI’s exploration of the Titanic is considered a pivotal moment in oceanography.
WHOI engineer Dana Yoerger said the 1986 expedition, which she worked on, “changed how we explorethe deep ocean,” according to CBS News.
“For WHOI and the entire ocean research community, these advances provided an important foundation for modern deep-sea exploration technology,” Yoerger said, per the report.
source: people.com
