Veil to be lifted on Titanic's secrets

Every nook and cranny will eventually be shown on the internet. Photo / Supplied

Prepare to navigate the ghostly decks, paddle by the broken portholes and dive the darkened staterooms of the Titanic, no experience or special equipment required, though a laptop would surely help.

The "virtual raising" of the liner that remains a symbol of engineering hubris and the frailty of human life - whichever class you travel in - nearly 100 years after it sank in the northern Atlantic is among the main goals of the latest international research mission to the Titanic wreckage site that leaves St John's, Newfoundland, this weekend.

Also on the mission's to-do list: determine how quickly the remains of the once-mighty liner are deteriorating in pressure that is 400 times what we know on the Earth's surface.

Most tantalising, however, may be the plans to construct an electronic replica of the wreckage that lies 4km under the sea, strewn over a 3km-by-5km debris field.

The latest imaging equipment, digital cameras and sonar technologies will send data to computers aboard the research ship above. The expedition will last 20 days.

While the main purpose of the mapping effort is archaeological, it will also allow scientists to lift the veil from the world's most famous ocean cemetery and give all of us the chance to explore its every corner - including its iconic bow, separated at the time of its sinking from its stern - albeit by clicking a mouse. The plan is eventually to post the 3D model on the internet.

James Delgado, president of the Texas-based Institute of Nautical Archaeology and a co-leader of the mission, said: "This will be the first time that someone has looked at, mapped, plotted and brought back to the surface the sense of the entire Titanic site."

The private company bankrolling this visit to the wreck, Atlanta-based RMS Titanic, has exclusive salvage rights to the ship.

This time it has striven to devise a trip that involves and comes with the approval of the main centres of oceanographic exploration.

While one of their tasks will be to identify all the remaining artefacts, including thousands that are now hidden by sediment, nothing will be physically disturbed or brought to the surface, they say.

"We've enlisted an extraordinary team of experts," says Chris Davino, the president of RMS Titanic.

All the deep-sea labour will be done by unmanned submersibles.

Some will be tethered and some will operate autonomously.

Equipment on board the vehicles will include the latest acoustic imaging technology and 3D high definition cameras that will be synchronised with a powerful strobe light.

Finally there lurks the question of how quickly the remains of the ship are decaying.

The rate of decay will be determined in part by comparing the new photographs of the site with those taken in that first visit to the wreck 25 years ago.

"We see places where it looks like the upper decks are getting thin, the walls are thin, the ceilings may be collapsing a bit," said Mr Delgado.

"We hear all these anecdotal things about the ship rusting away, it's collapsing on itself.

"No one really knows."

THE TITANIC
* The resting place of the Titanic was first discovered by oceanographer Robert Ballard in 1985.
* 1522 people died when an iceberg punctured the ship's hull in the early hours of April 15 , 1912. Previous missions have focused on retrieving thousands of artefacts, including chinaware and clothing.
* The hull has been filmed before, most notably by Hollywood director James Cameron in 2004.

- INDEPENDENT