Expedition aims to create high-tech map of Titanic wreck

A high-tech expedition set out from Canada to create a detailed map of the wreckage of the Titanic, nearly a 100 years after the fabled ship sank in the Atlantic killing 1,500 people.

Organisers said the expedition would use sonar technology and high-resolution optical video and imaging to document the wreck site, in what arguably will be the most technologically-advanced scientific expedition to Titanic ever mounted.

Christopher Davino, president of RMS Titanic, said in a statement that the goal is to “create the most detailed portrait of Titanic’s wreck site to date”.

The team of experts, he said, “will be using some of the most advanced technology available to create a portrait of the ship unlike any that has been created before – virtually raising Titanic and sealing her current state forever in the minds and hearts of humanity.”

The mission was to set out from St John’s, Newfoundland, and will provide real-time video and photo updates on Facebook and Twitter during a more than 20-day expedition.

Other images and information will be found on the mission’s website, www.expeditiontitanic.com.

The Titanic, a luxury passenger ship once thought to be unsinkable, hit an iceberg on April 14, 1912 and sank in the early morning of April 15, 1912, killing 1,500 people.

After decades of searching, the wreckage of the Titanic was discovered in 1985 some four kilometres from the surface of the sea.