Glimpse of deteriorating Titanic wreck

Footage courtesy of Atlantic Productions

 SuperyachtNews has been closely following the progress of Victor Vescovo, alongside the team from EYOS expeditions and Triton Submarines during the record-breaking Five Deeps Expedition. In an exciting update, we have footage of the first time in 14 years that the wreck of the tragic ocean liner, Titanic has been visited by a human-occupied vehicle.

Although not a part of the Five Deeps Expedition, the team decided to stop off and visit the wreck on their way to the final scheduled dive in the Arctic Ocean. The submersible, Limiting Factor, completed five dives to the Titanic’s final resting place 370 miles south of Newfoundland over an eight-day period. While on sight, the team laid a wreath and held a ceremony in honour of those who lost their lives during that fateful evening in April 1912.

Following established US legal protocols and under the observation of an on-board NOAA representative, the team examined the remains of the ship, capturing for the first time in 4K, using specially adapted cameras, footage of the wreck to help assess its condition as well as making it possible to visualise the wreck using augmented reality and virtual reality technology.

“The most fascinating aspect of the dive was seeing how the Titanic is being consumed by the ocean and returning to its elemental form while providing refuge for a remarkably diverse number of animals,” commented president and co-founder of Triton Submarines, Patrick Lahey.

Four kilometres below sea level, the wreck has reportedly become vulnerable to sweeping eddies and subjected to ever-changing sea currents. Salt corrosion, deep current action and metal-eating bacteria that create stalactites of rust which dangle from the ship are having a great impact on the wreck.

The scientists from the expedition will publish the full results alongside a documentary film being made by Atlantic Productions London.

The submersible’s chief pilot Victor Vescovo, who we have previously interviewed and features in the recent The Superyacht Tenders Report, has commented that he is pleased with the team’s achievement: “We are so pleased that we were able to repeatedly take the Limiting Factor down to the most historic ship lying on the ocean floor. Our success on Titanic clearly demonstrates we now have a proven system that can easily and repeatedly visit any ocean wreck, at any depth, anywhere in the world, and study it in detail. We’re seriously thinking about where to take her next.”

Rob McCallum, of EYOS Expeditions, led the planning and permitting of the dive and was on site alongside the team of Triton crewmembers.

Limiting Factor is now on its way to the Arctic Ocean where it is due to complete its final dive of the Five Deeps Expedition, to the bottom of the Molloy Deep.

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