The Titanic

Epilogue

For more than seventy years, Titanic lay silent at the bottom of the ocean. The wreck was so deep that the water pressure would crush any divers who tried to reach it. In 1985, an underwater robot called Argo descended nearly 12,000 feet to the ocean floor. A French-American team, led by Robert Ballard, was in a ship above. Argo found Titanic in two pieces on the ocean floor, approximately one-third of a mile apart.

The bow was mostly intact. Some light fixtures even still hung from the ceiling. The stern was a twisted wreck. In between the two pieces lay scattered wreckage: wine bottles, coal, dolls, bedsprings, and leather shoes.

The bodies of those who had sunk with the ship had long ago been consumed by ocean life. Various marine organisms were eating away at the metal of the ship as well. Pictures were taken, and the wreck was studied and mapped. Artifacts were brought to the surface. But the ship itself will never be raised. The material is too delicate to survive a journey to the surface. Titanic will live forever on the ocean floor.