It was the image by which one immediately recognized the wreck of the Titanic: the bow of the ship protruding from the darkness of the depths of the Atlantic.
However, a new expedition has revealed the effects of slow decay: a large part of the railing now lies on the seabed.
The loss of the railing – which Jack and Rose immortalised in the famous film scene – was discovered this summer during a series of dives by underwater robots, and the images they captured show how the wreck is changing after more than 100 years beneath the waves.
The ship sank in April 1912 after colliding with an iceberg, killing 1,500 people.
“The bow of the Titanic is just iconic – there are all these moments in pop culture – and that's what you think of when you think of the ship sinking. And it doesn't look like that anymore,” said Tomasina Ray, collections manager at RMS Titanic Inc., the company that ran the expedition.
“It's just another reminder of the decay that's happening every day. People are constantly asking, 'How long is the Titanic going to be there?' We just don't know, but we're watching it in real time.”
The team believes the approximately 4.5 m long section of railing fell away sometime in the last two years.
Images and a digital scan from a 2022 expedition by deep-sea mapping company Magellan and documentary film company Atlantic Productions show that the railing was still attached – but it was beginning to bend.
“At some point the metal gave way and it fell off,” said Tomasina Ray.
It is not the only part of the ship, which lies 3,800 meters below the sea surface, that is sinking into the sea. The metal structure is being eaten away by microbes, creating rust stalactites, so-called rusticles.
Previous expeditions have found that parts of the Titanic are collapsing. Dives led by explorer Victor Vescovo in 2019 showed that the starboard side of the officers' cabins was collapsing, destroying state rooms and obscuring facilities such as the captain's bathroom from view.
This year's RMS Titanic Inc. expedition took place in July and August.
Two remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) captured over two million images and 24 hours of high-resolution footage of both the wreckage, which broke apart as it sank, with its bow and stern approximately 800 m apart, and the surrounding debris field.
The company is currently carefully examining the footage to catalogue the finds and will eventually create a highly detailed 3D digital scan of the entire wreck site.
More pictures from the dives will be published over the coming months.
The team also announced the discovery of another artifact that they had hoped to find despite all odds.
In 1986, a bronze statue called Diana of Versailles was discovered and photographed by Robert Ballard, who had found the wreck of the Titanic a year earlier.
But its location was unknown and the 60 centimetre tall figure was no longer documented. Now, however, it has been discovered lying face up in the sediment of the rubble field.
“It was like looking for a needle in a haystack, and rediscovering it this year was significant,” said James Penca, Titanic researcher and host of the Witness Titanic podcast.
The statue was once on display for Titanic's first class passengers.
“The first class lounge was the most beautiful and incredibly detailed room on the ship. And the centerpiece of this room was the Diana of Versailles,” he said.
“But unfortunately, the lounge was torn open when the Titanic broke in two during the sinking. And in the chaos and destruction, Diana was ripped from her coat and landed in the darkness of the wreckage.”
RMS Titanic Inc. owns the salvage rights to the Titanic and is the only company legally permitted to salvage items from the wreck site.
Over the years, the company has recovered thousands of items from the rubble, a selection of which are exhibited around the world.
They plan to return next year to recover more items – and the Diana statue is one of the objects they would like to bring back to the surface.
However, some believe the wreck is a burial site that should remain untouched.
“The rediscovery of the Diana statue is the perfect argument against leaving the Titanic alone,” Mr Penca said in response.
“This was a work of art that was meant to be viewed and appreciated. And now this beautiful work of art lies on the sea floor… in pitch black darkness where it has been for 112 years.
“Bringing Diana back so people can see her with their own eyes – the value of that is sparking a love of history, of diving, of conservation, of shipwrecks, of sculpture. I could never leave that on the seabed.”
Additional reporting by Kevin Church
