New Debris Field Found of Titanic

[Madame Butterfly 0]

Debris Site Holds New Clues to Titanic Disaster

 

 

LONDON (Aug. 23) - Explorers have found a previously unknown site scattered with artefacts from the Titanic that could shed new light on the final moments of the world's most famous ocean liner.

 

"We found a new debris field about 900 metres south of the stern, which supports my long-standing belief that the Titanic began to break apart and sink further south than where she currently sits," expedition leader G. Michael Harris said on Tuesday.

 

Harris, whose grandfather led the first wave of expeditions in the early 1980s, made the two-and-a-half mile dive with his 13-year-old son through freezing waters in a three-man submersible.

 

The Orlando-based team said it had discovered personal artefacts strewn across the seabed floor that included Gladstone bags, women's shoes and White Star Line china.

 

It also said it had found previously unseen damaged pieces of the ship's hull that are said to support Harris' theory that the Titanic rode up onto the iceberg before sinking.

 

Harris, who returned with hundreds of hours of film footage, believes the force of the grounding damaged the plates on the underbelly of the liner causing water to poor in.

 

The Titanic sank off Canada on her maiden voyage on the night of April 14, 1912, with the loss of over 1,500 passengers and crew. Theories about why and how she sank have abounded ever since.

 

 

08/23/05 16:50 ET

[Angela 1]

I always believed it had broken in two, that ship going down in one piece was too unlikely given the real damage to it.

[Kor37 9]

Ever since Dr. Ballard found the Titanic, there has been no doubt that it had broken in two since the ship is in 2 pieces. The significance of this particular find is that it changes the location of where the Titanic initially began to sink.