Immediately after the famous "Titanic" sank, the wealthy relatives of the victims organized a campaign to raise the ship from the bottom. This was done mostly in order to bury loved ones and return the flooded treasures, the value of which exceeded $ 300 million.
The sinking of the Titanic
On April 14, 1912, the largest passenger ship of that time, the Titanic, sank in the ocean. Having bumped into a huge iceberg, the liner sank within a few hours. Of the 2207 people, 1496 died, the rest were picked up by other ships that came to the rescue.
85 years later, director James Cameron made a film of the same name based on these events.
Millions of people were able to see how huge and stunningly beautiful this ship-city was …
Search for a sunken ship
Already in 1912, discussions began on how to raise the ship to the surface. The amount of funding was sufficient, but there was no such technique with which it could be done.
And this idea was abandoned for many years.
In 1966, the project to find and lift the Titanic was headed by the Englishman Douglas Whalley. It was supposed to find the exact location of the liner at the bottom. And then - to raise it from the depths of the sea.
Plans to raise the Titanic to the surface
Various methods of lifting the vessel were discussed. Cover the body with nylon cylinders and then fill them with air.
Freeze the entire ship from the inside so that it turns into a piece of ice and floats to the surface.
Even exotic options were offered, such as filling the entire hull with ping-pong balls, so that it gained the necessary buoyancy.
Various amounts were named required to raise the Titanic to the surface. $ 6 to $ 12 million. But such an investment should have fully paid for itself, tk. according to documents, it carried over $ 300 million in jewelry.
"Titanic" will remain at the bottom forever
Only in 1985, after numerous unsuccessful attempts, the Titanic was found at the bottom and filmed using the AGNUS underwater device, developed with the help of the US Navy.
The results of the surveys showed that the ship fell apart, and its wreckage was scattered in a diameter of more than 1600 meters. The stern lay separately from the bow at a distance of 800 meters. After a thorough study of the situation, scientists came to the conclusion that any attempt to lift the ship's hull from the bottom would lead to its complete destruction.
So all attempts to raise the Titanic to the surface were abandoned.
But over the next 6 years, RMS Titanic, the official successor to the remains of the liner and all its contents, carried out 6 expeditions, as a result of which various items from the bottom were retrieved from the bottom of the Titanic, the total value of which was $ 189 million.
On April 15, 2012, all the wreckage of the ship passed under the protection of UNESCO, as an underwater monument of cultural heritage.
