THE largest underwater scanning project in history has allowed scientists to create an exact “Digital Twin” of the Titanic and could “rewrite everything we know about the tragedy.”
Created using scans of the wreck carried out over a six week expedition in the Summer of 2022, the detailed 3D scan will allow specialists to use scientific methods to reveal new details and the final hours of the crew and passengers on April 15 1912.
The sinking still stands as one of the world’s largest peacetime disasters with over 1500 passengers dying after the New York-bound ship struck an iceberg in the North Atlantic Ocean just under 400 miles off the coast of Newfoundland.
The Titanic’s story has continued to capture imaginations, inspiring James Cameron’s Oscar-winning movie in 1997 and numerous expeditions to visit the site and wreck.
The newly-created ‘Digital Twin’ brings new detail and clarity, using technology developed over five years by deep water specialist Magellan Ltd.
The mapping expedition also involved the deployment of two submersibles - named Romeo and Juliet – which mapped every millimetre of the wreck in minute detail and the entire 3-mile debris field.
Included within the Digital Twin are the bow and stern section, which had separated on sinking. By effectively “taking away the water and letting in the light”, the model brings extraordinary detail and clarity, down to the serial number being easily read on the propeller.
Read more: How a key was blamed for the sinking of the Titanic
Commenting on the new model, Titanic Expert Parks Stephenson, said: “I have been studying Titanic for 20 years, but this is a true gamechanger. What we are seeing for the first time is an accurate and true depiction of the entire wreck and debris site. I'm seeing details that none of us have ever seen before and this allows me to build upon everything that we have learned to date and see the wreck in a new light.
“We've got actual data that engineers can take to examine the true mechanics behind the breakup and the sinking and thereby get even closer to the true story of Titanic disaster. For the next generation of Titanic exploration, research and analysis, this is the beginning of a new chapter.”
Richard Parkinson Magellan founder and chief executive, added: “The results are astonishing. Over the course of the Titanic project the volume of data that we acquired was enormous - around 7150,000 images and some 16 terabytes of data.
“This was a challenging mission. In the middle of the Atlantic we had to fight the elements, bad weather, and technical challenges to carry out this unprecedent mapping and digitalisation operation of the Titanic.”
Several Scots were among the survivors and lengthy list of the dead in 1912.
In 2019 a memorial was unveiled in Aberdeen, marking the life of Titanic quartermaster, Robert Hichens, who was believed to have been at the helm of the Titanic when she hit the iceberg and sank.
After failing in his attempts to steer the Titanic to safety, he took charge of a lifeboat and was among the survivors rescued by the passing ship, Carpathia.
Hichens died in 1940 - 28 years after sinking – while moored off the coast of Aberdeen, where he was working on a cargo ship. He was buried in an unmarked grave in the city.
An enduring Scottish myth is also attached to the sinking, with a local paper reportedly running with ‘Dundee Man Lost at Sea’ on their front page. This was not, however, the headline that day and nor were there any Dundonian passengers on board with only one local man, Crawford James Sturrock, buying a ticket and then missing the sailing.
The new images and digital twin can be viewed at magellan.gg
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