Titanic Pictures : Scenes From The Depths

The first live Titanic pictures were taken on September 1, 1985, the day the wreckage of the ship was finally discovered. For the next several months numerous sketches of the Titanic ship were developed based on the initial Titanic wreck photos taken that day.



Alvin

The following year, search crews returned to the area armed with a submersible vehicle named Alvin. It would be Alvin's job, along with an underwater robot, to scout the area thousands of feet below the water and take more photos of the real Titanic. Funding for the development and production of the incredibly expensive equipment had been provided by the US Office for Naval Research, at a price tag of almost $3 million.
For several painstaking hours the search crew waited while Alvin slowly descended to the site of the wreck, some 2 ½ miles below water. The first image to come into view was that of the ship's hull. The excitement among the crew was palpable, however Alvin had to return almost immediately to the surface. The extremely long trip to the ocean floor had nearly depleted the little vehicle's battery store. The crew had no choice but to wait to the following day to once again return to the site.
Titanic pictures have put an end to the question 'what did the Titanic look like after all this years on the bottom of the ocean'. Authentic photographs of the ship's wreckage, submerged almost three miles below water, have enabled the world to finally envision the infamous ship both before and after the tragedy.
The Titanic pictures have also put an end to numerous other questions regarding the tragic sinking. Immediately following the tragedy, a number of survivors reported that just before sinking below the water, the ship broke into two sections. This theory had been hotly debated for a number of years. Also in question was exactly what had occurred to sink the 'unsinkable' Titanic. While there was no doubt regarding the collision with a gigantic iceberg, many wondered how even such an impact could have caused enough damage to result in the rapid sinking of the huge ocean liner.


1986 photographs of Titanic ship revealed that, in all probability, the ship had not sustained one long gash upon impact with the iceberg, as many people has insisted upon for years. Instead, it was much more likely that the ship had sustained several, much smaller, wounds when the iceberg scraped the hull of the ship. Theories now indicate that the rivets intended to hold the hull plates together were unable to withstand the impact and popped upon contact. As a result, the plates buckled and separated. The ship immediately began to take on water and less than three hours later, sank to her final destination on the ocean floor.

Thousands of underwater pictures were taken during the 1986 Titanic expedition. In later trips to the deep, artifacts would be recovered from the wreckage of the Titanic. In total, more than 5,000 pieces would be recovered from the wreckage site. Today, the wreckage of the Titanic is considered by many to be a memorial to the lives of the 1,522 people who died when the ship sank on an early spring morning in 1912.

Today, the world no longer has to wonder what the Titanic looked like. Titanic pictures in 1912 reveal a world class luxury liner, filled with passengers excited to be journeying on the ship's maiden voyage. The final image of the Titanic became complete when Titanic underwater pictures were published sixty years later.