2021 Titanic Expedition

The launch of a longitudinal survey of the world’s most famous shipwreck.
During the summer of 2021, an expeditionary team conducted the first phase of a mulit-year series of crewed submersible dives to explore and document the condition of RMS Titanic and portions of the nearly unexplored debris field. On each of the dives a scientist or content expert was onboard the submersible to gather archaeological and biological data. The goals during this phase of the expedition were to:
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- better understand behavior and rarity of inhabitants at this extreme depth
- help predict the rate of decay of deeply submerged vessels
Our sponsored science team joined OceanGate Expedition’s 2021 Titanic Expedition on each mission and utilized advanced and time-tested techniques to gather data for future analysis. An array of 4K cameras, 2D sonar scanners, direct observation and grid mapping are just some of the techniques and equipment that the team utilized during each of the dives that lasted up to 10 hours.
The data and images from the expedition will be freely shared with the other researchers to help expand our understanding of the ocean.
Following the tragic sinking in 1912, the wreck and artifacts have been subject to a harsh environment of corrosive saltwater, extreme pressure and biological attacks. These factors are combining to disintegrate the wreck at some unknown rate. The science team will compare the current condition to images and data from previous expeditions to better predict the rate of decay.
All OceanGate Foundation underwater exploration is conducted in accordance with the 2001 UNESCO Convention on the Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage.
PARTICIPATING RESEARCHERS


Titanic Expedition Goals
Dr. Bridget Buxton
Chief Archaeologist
“My primary goal for the 2021 Titanic Expedition was to make sure we maximized our time and technology to get the most comprehensive picture of the wreck site ever created, and to make as much as possible freely available online as soon as practical after the expedition. Beyond that, I had a wish-list of specific questions to explore – the dozens of little controversies that occupy so many Titanic books and interest groups. Insofar as we’ll have an opportunity to tell a new story about Titanic through this expedition, I wanted the focus to be on the experience of the lesser-known victims of the disaster, in perhaps the less glamorous parts of the ship. This series of expeditions is a chance to dismantle a lot of the cultural myths of the Titanic disaster that were used, both then and now, to define Anglo-American ideals of heroism, gender, and class.”
Steve Ross
Marine Biologist
Using HD video, document (identify, count) the fauna of the wreck and surrounding areas, including the water column. When possible, obtain close-up detailed video of fauna for later analysis.
In particular, I my goals were to:
- Focus on the fish community and attached deep-sea corals.
- Document habitat usage of the observed fauna.
- Using above data, compare to other sites in the Western N. Atlantic in similar depths and across depth zones.
- Gather observational and ADCP data on bottom currents during dives.
- Evaluate the site for future missions and start plan development (with OceanGate team and colleagues).
“My goals for the expedition was for the imagery and other data we collected to serve a larger archaeological purpose — we increasingly have the ability to find and study shipwrecks at tremendous depths, and but we are still developing the theoretical frameworks through which to view and study these wrecks as a discipline. I want this series of expeditions to explore Titanic from a more clinical point of view — think about how we are contributing to the discipline more widely through doing this work, rather than simply getting better pictures of the already most heavily documented deep-sea shipwreck. I would like to further Bridget’s point about using this time to highlight the experiences of lesser-known passengers on board, to shed light on experiences of the people we don’t hear about, or whose stories were manipulated at the time and since to fit a specific narrative about customs of the sea, manliness and heroism.”