3D Titanic scan reveals previously unknown details of ship’s final hours

A groundbreaking digital scan of the Titanic is offering fresh insight into the ill-fated ocean liner’s final moments, revealing how the vessel split in two before descending to the seabed.

This first-ever full-scale 3D scan of the Titanic wreck, conducted by deep-sea mapping specialists Magellan in collaboration with Atlantic Productions, uncovers remarkable new details about the ship’s construction and the extensive damage it sustained after colliding with an iceberg in the Atlantic Ocean and beginning to flood.

The digital imaging provides a new perspective on the boiler room where the ship tore apart, showing several boilers appearing concave — an indication they may have still been functioning as they plunged into the icy depths.

A detailed computer simulation accompanying the scan also suggests the iceberg did not tear vast gashes through the hull, as once believed. Instead, it caused a series of small punctures, each roughly the size of an A4 sheet of paper. These punctures spanned six watertight compartments — while the Titanic was only designed to remain buoyant with up to four compartments flooded.

“Titanic is the last surviving eyewitness to the disaster, and she still has stories to tell,” Titanic expert Parks Stephenson told the BBC. “Having a complete view of the entire wreck site is crucial to fully understanding what occurred.”

The findings come as part of a new documentary, Titanic: The Digital Resurrection, produced by National Geographic and Atlantic Productions. The film premieres Friday on National Geographic and will soon be available for streaming on Disney+ Canada.

“I felt there was something much greater we could uncover from the Titanic,” said Anthony Geffen, CEO of Atlantic Productions, in an interview with CBS News in 2023, when initial images from the project were unveiled. “If we could scan it in full detail, we might understand precisely how it sank, how its various sections broke apart, and perhaps even uncover many of the human stories still lying beneath.”