The Titanic digital scan reveals new details on the last hours of the ship

A detailed analysis of a full -size digital analysis of the Titanic revealed new information on the last hours of the condemned lining.

The exact 3D replica shows the violence of how the ship has torn two while it flowed after hitting an iceberg in 1912 – 1,500 passengers lost their life in the disaster.

The scan offers a new view of a boiler room, confirming the counter-intention accounts that the engineers worked until the end to keep the ship’s lights.

And a computer simulation also suggests that the perforations in the shell of the size of A4 pieces of paper led to the disappearance of the ship.

“Titanic is the last surviving eyewitness of the disaster, and she still has stories to tell,” said Parks Stephenson, Titanic analyst.

The scan was studied for a new documentary from National Geographic and Atlantic Productions called Titanic: The Digital Resurrection.

The wreckage, which is at 3,800 m in the icy waters of the Atlantic, was mapped using underwater robots.

More than 700,000 images, taken from all angles, were used to create the “digital twin”, was revealed exclusively to the world by BBC News in 2023.

Because the wreck is so large and lies in the darkness of the depths, exploration with submersibles shows only attractive snapshots. The scan, however, offers the first full view of the Titanic.

The immense arc is straight on the seabed, almost as if the ship was continuing its trip.

But seated 600 meters away, the stern is a bunch of mutilated metal. The damage was caused while it struck the seabed after the ship broke half.

The new mapping technology offers a different way to study the ship.

“It’s like a crime scene: you have to see what the evidence, in the context of its place,” said Parks Stephenson.

“And having a complete vision of the entire wreckage site is the key to understanding what happened here.”

The scan shows new close -up details, including a porthole that has probably been broken by the iceberg. This counts with survivors’ backlash reports that ice entered the cabins of some people during the collision.

The experts studied one of the huge boilers of the Titanic – it is easy to see on the scan because it is at the back of the Arc section at the point where the ship broke in half.

The passengers said that the lights were still on when the ship plunged under the waves.

The digital replica shows that some of the boilers are concave, which suggests that they still operated because they were immersed in the water.

Lying on the stern bridge, a valve was also discovered in the open position, indicating that the steam still flowed into the electricity production system.

It would have been thanks to a team of engineers led by Joseph Bell who remained to shove the coal in the ovens to keep the lights on.

Everyone died in the disaster, but their heroic actions have saved many lives, said Parks Stephenson.

“They kept the lights and the power that work until the end, to give the crew time to launch the rescue canoes in complete safety with a certain light rather than in absolute darkness,” he told the BBC.

“They held the chaos as long as possible, and all of this was sort of symbolized by this open steam valve just sitting there on the stern.”

A new simulation has also provided additional information on the sinking.

It takes a detailed structural model of the ship, created from Titanic’s plans, as well as information on its speed, direction and position, to predict the damage caused when it hit the iceberg.

“We have used advanced digital algorithms, computer modeling and supercalculculculculculisal capacities to reconstruct the sinking of the Titanic,” said Professor Jeom-Kee Paik, of the University College of London, who led the research.

The simulation shows that as the ship only had a look at the iceberg, it was left with a series of online punctures along a narrow section of the shell.

Titanic was supposed to be insinable, designed to stay afloat, even if four of his flooded waterproof compartments.

But the simulation calculates the damage to the iceberg are spread over six compartments.

“The difference between the sinking of the Titanic and the non-inaufrage is due to the fine margins of the holes on the size of a piece of paper,” said Simon Benson, associate professor in naval architecture at Newcastle University.

“But the problem is that these small holes are over a long length of the ship, so that the flood waters are slowly but surely enter all these holes, then finally the compartments are flooded on the top and the wells of the Titanic.”

Unfortunately, damage cannot be seen on the scan because the lower section of the arc is hidden under the sediments.

Titanic’s human tragedy is always very visible.

The personal property of the ship’s passengers are dispersed on the seabed.

The scan provides new indices on this cold night in 1912, but years of experts will take to fully examine every detail of the 3D replica.

“She only gives us her stories at a time,” said Parks Stephenson.

“Each time, she lets us want more.”