The Titanic sunk over a hundred years ago, and to this day, it’s one of the most famous and fascinating ships ever built. Although it’s at the bottom of the sea, the ship is still a fascinating trove of artifacts and stories. Now, a new unmanned expedition around the Titanic has found a statue called the Diana of Versailles, which was previously considered missing, lying on the seafloor. The same unmanned mission also found that the ship’s bow, famously associated with the “king of the world” scene, is falling apart.
A crumbling titan
Nowadays, much of what we know of the sunken ship comes from the RMS Titanic, Inc. — the company in charge of expeditions to the ship. In 2023, a separate expedition took almost one million photos of the shipwreck, constructing a 3D model of the ship. Now, repeat photos show the bow (the reinforced front part of the vessel) is no longer standing. This includes the rail immortalized by Jack and Rose in the famous Titanic movie scene. After more than 100 years beneath the waves, the metal on the Titanic is starting to give in.
“The bow of Titanic is just iconic — you have all these moments in pop culture — and that’s what you think of when you think of the shipwreck. And it doesn’t look like that anymore,” said Tomasina Ray, director of collections at RMS Titanic Inc, for the BBC.
“It’s just another reminder of the deterioration that’s happening every day. People ask all the time: ‘How long is Titanic going to be there?’ We just don’t know but we’re watching it in real time.”
One cause is tiny microbes that devour the ship’s metal and form ethereal-looking “rusticles” that hang like ice on a winter day. At the wreck site more than two miles beneath the surface of the Atlantic Ocean, bacteria are slowly causing vast deterioration to the vessel. Experts think these microbes — along with the effects of the salty seawater and the movement of deep-ocean currents — led to the railing’s collapse.
The bow and rail of the sunken Titanic are deteriorating due to the corrosive effects of salt water, the formation of rusticles created by iron-eating bacteria, and ongoing chemical reactions that weaken the metal over time.
However, it’s not all decay for the Titanic. The expedition also uncovered an iconic statue.
A rediscovered icon
The statue was photographed by Robert Ballard, who initially discovered the Titanic shipwreck. It was the centerpiece on the fireplace mantle in the first-class lounge — which you can also see in the movie. The statue was called the Diana of Versailles, and it’s actually a bronze replica of an original statue on display at the Louvre in Paris.
After Ballard’s initial photo, the statue went missing. Now, 38 years later, it has been found.
“Following 112 years on the ocean floor and a brief sighting in 1986, she is still resting upright among miles of debris,” RMS Titanic says in an Instagram post. “Like the eternal Roman deities, she is timeless—and she is rediscovered.”
However, retrieving the statue is difficult. Not only is it a logistical challenge, but the legal status of the artifacts on the Titanic is not clear, either. In the past, RMS has removed around 5,500 artifacts. But recently, the US government has argued that federal approval would be required before recovering any more objects from the site. RMS Titanic, the company, says it has no official plans to bring back anything from the ship yet.
An icon being lost to time
Whatever plans anyone may have regarding the Titanic, however, they should move fast. As the new photos show, we’re in a race against time as parts of the ship continue to break down.
“The discovery of the statue of Diana was an exciting moment,” Ray says in a statement. “But we are saddened by the loss of the iconic bow railing and other evidence of decay, which has only strengthened our commitment to preserving Titanic’s legacy.”
