New Titanic footage released from 1986 exploration of wreck
Written by ABC Audio All Rights Reserved on February 18, 2023
(NEW YORK) — Never-before-seen footage from the 1986 exploration of the site of the Titanic shipwreck was released Wednesday.
The footage was captured by cameras in a three-person research submersible named Alvin and the remotely operated Jason Jr. in July 1986, which marked the first time humans saw the ship since its doomed maiden voyage in 1912.
Most of the footage had never before been seen by the public, according to Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution premiered more than 80 minutes worth of footage Wednesday night.
The footage begins with Alvin approaching the Titanic, then exploring the bow and parking on its deck. It also includes interior shots of the Titanic from Jason Jr.
It also shows the chief officer’s cabin and a promenade window, the exterior of the ship and the telemotor used to transmit steering and engine controls to the engine room.
The Titanic hit an iceberg on its trip from Southampton, England, to New York City on April 14, 1912. It was carrying over 2,200 passengers and crew.
More than 1,500 people died when the ship sank.
A joint exploration run by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and a French oceanographic exploration organization, Institut français de recherche pour l’exploitation de la mer, found the ship wreckage in September 1985.
Scientists then returned to the site nine months later and captured the footage.
In 1986, 11 dives were made to the Titanic’s resting place almost 12,500 feet below the ocean’s surface.
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