Titanic is disappearing, wreckage's decay to be documented
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The majestic Titanic, the iconic ocean liner sunk by an iceberg in 1912 in the Atlantic ocean, is now slowly succumbing to metal-eating bacteria and deep ocean currents, reports the Associated Press (AP).
The "crow's nest", the observation spot, is already down, and the railing of the ship's iconic bow is about to collapse. Meanwhile, OceanGate, an exploration company, is about to commence its documentation of the bit by bit disappearance of the 109-year-old wreckage of the Titanic in the hope to learn more about the vessel and the underwater ecosystems that shipwrecks generate.
The disintegration of the ship's debris was predicted to happen in decades of its fall by many since holes were yawn in its hull. Its 30-meter forward mast had already collapsed when the wreckage was first discovered in 1985. The "crow's nest" was gone, and the "poop deck", where passengers crowded as the ship sank, also was folded under itself. The gymnasium near the grand staircase has fallen in, and a recent expedition found the haunting bathtub of captain also gone.
OceanGate has fixed its carbon fibre-and-titanium submersible with high-definition cameras and multi-beam sonar equipment to chart the decomposition. It says that monitoring the deterioration can help scientists to predict the fate of other deep-sea shipwrecks. The company is bringing around 40 people who have paid approximately 150,000 dollars each to tag along. They will take turns to operate various equipment.
Documentation of sea life, like crabs and corals with hundreds of other species that are only spotted at these wrecks, is also there in the company's objective. The wreckage's debris field of 2 km will also be focussed during the expedition.
Titanic historian Bill Sauder does not believe that anything worth making the "front-page" news will be found during this expedition. Still, it would improve the world's understanding of the wreck and its debris field.
OceanGate assured that it would not take anything from the wreck site.
On April 15, 1912, the Titanic sank to the depths of the Atlantic ocean after hitting an iceberg, taking about 700 lives among a rough number of 2,200 passengers and crew.
