Rare footage of 1986 Titanic dive provides haunting look at wreck

Kelly Kasulis Cho

For years, researchers and explorers scoured the sea in search of the doomed RMS Titanic, which sank in the North Atlantic in 1912. But only in 1985 did a team of French and American scientists strike the jackpot.

Largely unseen, uncut footage of the ship was revealed on Wednesday night by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (WHOI), an ocean research non-profit.

Titanic bow is seen during a dive at the resting place of the Titanic's wreck, July, 1986. WHOI Archives/Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution/Handout via REUTERS THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES. MANDATORY CREDIT

The 81-minute video, published on YouTube, shows the wreckage of the Titanic months after it was discovered, when humans laid their eyes directly on the ship for the first time since it sank. (The wreck was found using a sonar system and underwater camera.)

https://youtu.be/kmfjjsRbKCY

The footage was taken in July 1986, when WHOI-led researchers aboard the HOV Alvin used cutting-edge imaging technology and a remotely operated vehicle, the Jason jr, to film the Titanic's exterior and rooms inside the ship. It depicts, among other things, the ship's bow, a chief officer's cabin, a promenade window, leftover debris and a chandelier still hanging from a ceiling against a backdrop of dark water.

The Titanic was touted as unsinkable in the media before its maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York. But it struck an iceberg on April 14, 1912, and slowly plunged nearly 12,500 feet (about 3,810m) into the North Atlantic Ocean. Only about 700 of the 2,227 passengers and crew on board survived, according to the Smithsonian Institution.

The shipwreck is located about 350 miles (about 560km) southeast of Newfoundland, Canada. Since the discovery of the wreckage, significant parts of the ship have collapsed or gone missing, spurring accusations of looting and even the signing of a treaty to protect its remains.

The WHOI released the footage in conjunction with the 25th anniversary of the film "Titanic".

The Remotely operated vehicle named ‘Jason jr’ inspects the Titanic wreck, in July, 1986. Picture: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution/ REUTERS

"More than a century after the loss of Titanic, the human stories embodied in the great ship continue to resonate," James Cameron, director of the award-winning romantic drama, said in a release. "Like many, I was transfixed when the Alvin and the Jason jr ventured down to and inside the wreck."

"By releasing this footage, WHOI is helping tell an important part of a story that spans generations and circles the globe," he said.

The Washintong Post