On Wednesday, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution releases rare and occasionally never-before-seen footage of the 1986 dive through the Titanic debris.
The dive led by Robert Ballard, which was the first time anybody had seen the massive ocean liner since it struck an iceberg and sank in the chilly North Atlantic in April 1912, is chronicled in more than 80 minutes of video on the WHOI’s YouTube page.
During the ship’s inaugural voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, almost 1,500 people perished.
On September 1, 1985, a team from the Massachusetts-based Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, working with the French oceanographic research organization Institut français de recherche pour l’exploitation de la mer, used a towed underwater camera to find the ship’s final resting place in 12,400 feet (3,780 meters) of water.
The renowned three-person research submersible Alvin and the remotely controlled underwater exploration vehicle Jason Jr. were used by a WHOI crew to return to the site nine months later and capture the iconic photos of the ship’s interior.
The footage will be made public on February 10 in conjunction with the 25th-anniversary release of the Oscar-winning film “Titanic,” which has been digitally enhanced.
“More than a century after the loss of Titanic, the human stories embodied in the great ship continue to resonate,” ocean explorer and filmmaker James Cameron said in a statement.
“Like many, I was transfixed when Alvin and Jason Jr. ventured to and inside the wreck. By releasing this footage, WHOI is helping tell an important part of a story that spans generations and circles the globe.”
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