The wreck immediately after the sinking

[liam forber]

does any one else think it would be intresting to see the titanic a week or 2 after she had gone down minus the bodies of course

[Moderator's notes: This thread was outside of this subtopic, but has been moved here. 2. The title has been renamed to better reflect what is being discussed. JDT]

 

[Robert T. Paige]

By that do you mean if the present day technology such as on the Keldysh would have been available ?

 

[Yuri Singleton]

Some thoughts on this idea:

I think the paint on the interior of the ship would have already started to discolor within a few days of submersion

I wonder if there would still have been streams of bubbles rising from various parts of the wreck. Or perhaps bubbles of oils from the galleys.

Most of the organic fabrics would still be there at 2 weeks. Sheets, curtains, clothes billowing in the current inside dark empty staterooms.

Of course the woodwork and decks would be present. So would much of the furniture still inside. We know that in the deeper areas of the wreck like the Turkish baths, furniture is seen today almost completely intact.

The floors would be much more visible without 90+ years of sediment and silt covering them. Smaller articles on the floors might be visible today if only the sediment hadn't covered them up.

There would probably be an increasing amount of sealife crawling around the wreck after 2 weeks.
For obvious reasons.

Ghoulish.

 

[Bill Wormstedt]

Ken Marschall painted this idea years back - for the Andrea Doria, not the Titanic. It was the covers for an issue of the Titanic Commutator.

As much as I would like to see a painting of such - it may be close to impossible. Mainly, trying to show the decay caused by the 2 1/2 mile drop, vs. the decay over time.

 

[Yuri Singleton]

You know this topic made me think about the bow anchors and all that sediment that is now piled up on them. For a long time I assumed the sediment was deposited from the initial cloud of mud and sand churned up during impact with the bottom. But suddenly it dawned on me that considering the size of those anchors, that amount of sand is impossible to be all from percipitation.

Could it be that the bow actually drove down below the mudline during impact and then rose up again bringing the anchors back above the seabed? In effect causing them to act as shovels, scooping up a big pile of bottom mud.

 

[liam forber]

it would of been better if she didnt snap in half and we had all the posh equipment then it would be easyier to from room to room i also have a question would the funnels still be there if would they have snappe off

 

[michelle rowlett]

Hi liam i have asked myself the very question lots of times, i cant help but wonder like you what she would have looked like just a short time after she sunk, it sure would be very creepy, perhaps its a good thing we never got the chance to see. The thought of it makes me go cold, her lying down there in all her splendor, curtains and bed linen and so on flapping along with the current, and then there is the sea life swimming in and out of all the grand rooms. Horrid !!!

 

[liam forber]

tis all alone apart from the people she took down with her

 

[liam forber]

i wonder if places in the ship were still warm like the engines and stuff

 

[Michael H. Standart]

>>i wonder if places in the ship were still warm like the engines and stuff<<

There were probably some boilers on line back in the aftermost boiler rooms and there is some evidence which came to light recently that some of the boilers in Boiler Room One may have been lit off. Whatever the case may be, anything that was warm didn't stay that way for long. Maybe a few seconds after immersion in 28° water.

 

[Matthew Newman]

Yuri, your first post where you mentioned the decay inside the wreck 2 wks after sent a chill up my spine. Very vivid and well described. You should be a writer!

I agree with you that more than likely, especially in areas such as the dining room that were painted white would start showing water damage very shortly after.

It would probably be much more disturbing to see it as it was then (two weeks later) than it is to see it now for sure.

I'm no marine biologist, but I'm pretty sure you're spot on about the increase in sealife inside the wreck...for obvious reasons. Yeesh. Sends a chill up my spine for sure.

I would love to see how the area of the Grand Staircase looked so soon after the disaster. It would probably lay a lot of controversy about the fate of the Staircase to rest.

I like this topic, haunting as it may be. If I were good at art, I would sit down and start painting some of these scenes that we're imagining, but as I'm not, I won't. ;-) Still, great thread, great post by Yuri, and I can't wait to see where this subject goes.

 

[Robert T. Paige]

Another question:

>>i wonder if places in the ship were still warm like the engines and stuff.<<

>>Whatever the case may be, anything that was warm didn't stay that way for long.<<

Has the water temperature at the bottom ever been measured ? (where Titanic wreck now lays)
Does the surface temperature have much effect on the water at this depth ?

 

[Michael H. Standart]

>>Has the water temperature at the bottom ever been measured ? (where Titanic wreck now lays)<<

Yes. It's tended to average close to the freezing point for fresh water. As far as I know, surface temperature has little if any real effect on this although an oceanographer may know otherwise.

 

[liam forber]

i think the most disturbing image of the titanic is that dolls head it sent a shiver up my back when i first ever saw that well come to that it still does

 

[liam forber]

does any one know were the lifejackets are now