The Titanic Comes to Life, Again

I have watched the following haunting video of this summer’s RMS Titanic Inc. expedition to the Titanic wreck site a number of times. In its watery beauty and the lattice-work of its decay, the wreck’s images leave me with an abiding sense of melancholy. I suppose it’s especially compelling for me given that I’ve just returned from a Caribbean cruise on the 15-story, 2,800 passenger Celebrity Solstice. There was a span of several seconds as I rode in one of the Solstice’s interior glass elevators that I looked down at the elegant central hall where a string quartet played and couples waltzed — and I thought of the Titanic. I imagined our ship tumbling through time, space and water and the music ending. Macabre, I know, but that’s the legend of Titanic for you. It’s part of our psyches.

In this video, Expedition Titanic scientists from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute use robotics and acoustic technology to produce three-dimensional video of the sunken Titanic to”virtually raise the Titanic and preserve her legacy for all time.” It’s a laudable goal as the deterioration of the Titanic’s skeleton advances and we stand to lose the last remaining evidence of her.

Expedition Titanic will bring together all of the information it collects and combine it with data from other explorations of the ship’s resting place, including the last dive six years go, to create a virtual, interactive legacy.

What is it about the Titanic that continues to haunt us so? Was it the size of the wreck? The numbers of lives lost? Or was it that we can’t bear to say goodbye to our dreams? The launch of the Titanic, surely, was a dream of epic proportions. Now the story is being told again with technology that will hold safe this maritime epic for future generations.

Follow the story and get live interactive feed at www.expeditiontitanic.com.

Credits

Spectacular footage of the bow taken by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution’s Advanced Imaging and Visualization Laboratory team with cameras mounted on Phoenix’s expertly piloted ROV.

Video courtesy of RMS Titanic, Inc. © 2010

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