Titanic's slow decay after 100 years underwater revealed in detailed images

It was the image that made the Titanic's wreck instantly recognizable—the ship's bow emerging from the darkness of the Atlantic depths.

However, a recent expedition has shown the effects of gradual decay, with a large section of the railing now lying on the sea floor.

Courtesy: RMS Titanic Inc

This loss of the railing—made famous by Jack and Rose in the iconic movie scene—was discovered during a series of dives by underwater robots this summer. The images they captured reveal how the wreck is evolving after more than a century beneath the ocean.

Courtesy: RMS Titanic Inc

The Titanic sank in April 1912 after striking an iceberg, leading to the deaths of 1,500 people.

"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," said Tomasina Ray, director of collections at RMS Titanic Inc, the company responsible for the expedition.

Courtesy: RMS Titanic Inc

The team suspects that the section of railing, which is approximately 4.5m (14.7ft) long, fell off sometime in the past two years.

Images and a digital scan from a 2022 expedition by deep-sea mapping company Magellan and documentary makers Atlantic Productions show that the railing was still attached at that time, although it was beginning to buckle.

This is not the only part of the ship, which lies 3,800m down, that is being lost to the sea. The metal structure is being consumed by microbes, forming stalactites of rust known as rusticles.

This summer's RMS Titanic Inc expedition took place over July and August.

Two remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) captured over two million images and 24 hours of high-definition footage of both the wreck—which broke apart as it sank, with the bow and stern lying about 800m apart—and the surrounding debris field.

The company is now meticulously reviewing the footage to catalog the discoveries and will eventually produce a highly detailed digital 3D scan of the entire wreck site.

Additional images from the dives will be released in the coming months.