New expedition to Titanic will create 3D map of wreck

The “dream team” of archaeologists, oceanographers and other scientists want to get the best assessment yet on the two main sections of the ship, which have been subjected to fierce deep-ocean currents, salt water and intense pressure.

Gallo said while the rate of Titanic's deterioration is not known, the expedition approaches the mission with a sense of urgency.

“We see places where it looks like the upper decks are getting thin, the walls are thin, the ceilings may be collapsing a bit,” he said. “We hear all these anecdotal things about the ship is rusting away, it's collapsing on itself. No one really knows.”

The expedition will use imaging technology and sonar devices that never have been used before on the Titanic wreck and to probe nearly a century of sediment in the debris field to seek a full inventory of the ship's artifacts.

“We're actually treating it like a crime scene,” Gallo said. “We want to know what's out there in that debris field, what the stern and the bow are looking like.”

The expedition will be based on the RV Jean Charcot, a 250-foot research vessel with a crew of 20. Three submersibles and the latest sonar, acoustic and filming technology will also be part of the expedition.

“Never before have we had the scientific and technological means to discover so much of an expedition to Titanic,” said P.H. Nargeolet, who is co-leading the expedition. He has made more than 30 dives to the wreck.

Bill Lange, a Woods Hole scientist who will lead the optical survey and will be one of the first to visit the wreck, said a key analysis will be comparing images from the first expedition 25 years ago and new images to measure decay and erosion.

“We're going to see things we haven't seen before. That's a given,” he said. “The technology has really evolved in the last 25 years.”

Davino said he anticipates future salvage expeditions to the wreck, and Gallo said he doesn't expect the science will end with one trip.

“I'm sure there will be future expeditions because this is the just the beginning of a whole new era of these kind of expeditions to Titanic — serious, archaeological mapping expeditions,” Gallo said.

RMS Titanic is still awaiting a judge's ruling in Norfolk, Va., on the 5,500 artifacts it has in its possession.

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