Conditions at the wreck

[Adam Went]

Michael:

Very good point and of course exploration - particularly internal exploration - of wrecks such as the Britannic is made all the more difficult and disorientating because of course they are lying on their side. At least the Titanic is upright so you have a much clearer idea of where you're going and what you're doing based on the original plans.

Tom:

Can't help you with your scientific questions but I sort of agree with you in regards to the remains of the ship....it's a grave site, absolutely, and it should be treated as such, but I can't help the feeling that in 200 or 300 years time when both we and the identifiable remains of the ship are long gone, people will still be studying it and wanting to know more about it, and when they get told why more wasn't done to try and help the wreck site or bring more to the surface which could help us understand and remember, everyone will say...."well that was stupid."

But she's a strong old beast and I think she's got a while to go yet. They can still land submarines on her deck.

Cheers,
Adam.

 

[Tom Barron]

Hi Adam

Well, she is and she isn't, as far as strength goes.

When they first found the wreck, the boilers in the bow section were covered over by deck.

The deck is now gone, and that took a quarter of a century to dissolve it away totally.

The insides of the ship are columns supporting the decks. All the walls were wood, and where the decks are being supported is just those columns. In the bow section, where the bend is, most all of those deck columns are bent. I have no idea of how much of those are almost rusted through. Once the decks start not being supported and cracks open, then the water will be able to circulate a lot easier, which will accelerate them failing.

They gymnasium roof has given up the ghost. I have a feeling that we might be loosing the boat deck within our life times. A decade or two and that will be that.

 

[Adam Went]

Hi Tom,

Yeah very good point about what's happened to the ship just since she's been discovered.....there's also the collapse of the mast/crows nest.

Titanic was of course never designed to last for centuries at a depth of 2.5 miles underwater, I think she's held up pretty well considering....

Just hopefully she hangs on and puts on a good show for the centenary.

Cheers,
Adam.

 

[Sam Brannigan]

>>>Would she have dropped anchors in that situation, or used the propellers to keep more or less stationary?<<<

Can't imagine Smith taking any chances after the Hawke and New York incidents, especially as the tenders at Cherbourg and Queenstown would have been nowhere near as sturdy.

Besides, why else would the Olympic class be so well endowed with anchors? When else would they use them?

 

[Michael H. Standart]

From The Pacific Stars And Stripes:

Full Titanic wreck site is mapped for 1st time

quote:

SOUTH PORTLAND, Maine (AP) -- Researchers have pieced together what's believed to be the first comprehensive map of the entire 3-by-5-mile Titanic debris field and hope it will provide new clues about what exactly happened the night 100 years ago when the superliner hit an iceberg, plunged to the bottom of the North Atlantic and became a legend.

More HERE​

 

[Thomas Schneider]

This German website shows some of the newly released images:
http://www.spiegel.de/fotostrecke/fotostrecke-79701-11.html