More than 100 years ago, on the night of April 14-15, 1912, one of the largest sea tragedies in the history of mankind took place. After a collision with a huge iceberg, the Titanic passenger liner, which was considered a miracle of world shipbuilding, sank to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. The designers assured that it was almost impossible to drown this ship, therefore, during the tragedy, it turned out that there were simply not enough lifeboats for all passengers and crew members. Have you tried to raise the Titanic from the bottom during these 100 years?
The first attempts were made within a few days after the tragedy. This was explained by the fact that the bodies of the victims must be found and buried. By the way, the money for this project was found, in a terrible accident many very wealthy people died, whose relatives declared their readiness to finance this project.
But the problem was that the exact coordinates of the Titanic were unknown for a long time. The data transmitted by the ship's radio operators turned out to be erroneous. However, it could turn out that the coordinates were correct, but during a dive to a great depth, the ship was strongly displaced from the indicated area. After all, as it became known later, "Titanic" sank to a depth of about 4,000 meters.
Projects for lifting the liner to the surface were developed long before the Titanic itself was discovered. For example, using huge electromagnets fixed on pontoons, push the ship to the surface. But, before the beginning of the First World War, it was not even possible to find the Titanic itself, therefore, attempts to raise it had to be abandoned for many years.
They returned to this issue only in the early fifties of the last century. The most fantastic plans were put forward. For example, with the help of liquid nitrogen, turn the body of the Titanic into a huge block of ice that will float upward. Or, an equally curious plan: fill the ship with millions of ping-pong balls. There were many ideas, but the exact location of the liner remained a mystery.
September 1, 1985 sensational news spread around the world - American explorer Robert Ballard discovered the Titanic at a depth of 3,800 meters with the help of deep-sea bathyscaphes. The wreck of the sunken ship was scattered along the bottom over an area of 5 by 8 kilometers. The bow and stern were thrown 600 meters apart. Ballard stated that he had been searching since 1977, had several unsuccessful expeditions, but always believed in success.
The joy of finding the Titanic was replaced by disappointment: the ship's hull was in such a state that it would inevitably collapse, if not during the ascent, then on the surface. The ship is doomed to remain forever in the depths of the sea. At the same time, over 30 years of observation, the ship is rapidly destroyed. In a few decades it will not be possible to guess that the sunken Titanic was once located here.
Nevertheless, the researchers managed to lift more than 5,500 items from the ship: jewelry, watches, dishes and other things that are very popular at auctions. The total cost of the found is estimated at approximately $ 189 million.
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For example, a lifejacket was sold for $ 55,000, and Stuart Edmund Stone's watch, which stopped at 2:16 am when the ship sank, was bought by one of the collectors for $ 154,000.