Before and after pics reveal sad Titanic truth

Striking new images have revealed a sad truth about the most famous ship in the world, with experts saying its collapse is “inevitable”.

New images reveal just how much the Titanic has changed over the years, with its famous bow now missing part of its railing.

This week, RMS Titanic INC, the company which holds the salvage rights for the ship, released striking footage and images from a recent mission showing the effects of slow decay, with a large section of railing now on the sea floor.

RMS Titanic’s 2023 expedition to the wreck site revealed a section of the railings on the ship’s iconic bow deck was discovered to have broken off. Picture: RMS Titanic

In James Cameron’s 1997 film, it is where Jack had his memorable “King of the World” moment and taught Rose to “fly” with the duo standing tall with their arms wide open.

“After 13 days focused on the debris field, the expedition team was excited to get their first glance at the bow on July 29,” RMS Titanic Inc said in a statement, revealing it used underwater robots.

“However, the moment of excitement and anticipation was immediately shaken by a significant change to the familiar silhouette. The once miraculously intact railing surrounding the bow’s forecastle deck was missing a 15-foot-long section on the port side.”

Multibeam imagery from two days prior was confirmed the section of railing had fallen as one piece and was lying on the sea floor directly below.

The loss of the railing - immortalised by Jack and Rose in the famous movie scene - was discovered in July by RMS Titanic using underwater robots.

“We are saddened by this loss and the inevitable decay of the ship and the debris,” the site continued.

RMS Titanic said the next months will be spent conducing a more thorough review of Titanic’s condition and her changes over time.

It shared images from 1987 to 2010 showing the ships “tremendous” change over the decades.

The bow of the RMS Titanic lies on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada, as viewed by a remotely-operated vehicle on August 10, 1998.

Tomasina Ray, director of collections at RMS Titanic Inc, said of the dramatic change: “The bow of Titanic is just iconic. You have all these moments in pop culture – and that’s what you think of when you think of the shipwreck. And it doesn’t look like that anymore.

“At some point the metal gave way and it fell away.”

The 2024 expedition involved hundreds of hours documenting the debris field, with the company’s first mission 75 years after the Titanic sank.

#TITANIC has changed tremendously over the decades, and so has the technology we use to image her. Here is a blast from #RMST expeditions past…What do you notice about TITANIC in these photos? 🔎

Dive into the latest #Expedition2024 discoveries!

👉 https://t.co/W1rwPb6g0o pic.twitter.com/jwRFaNupGv

— RMS Titanic, Inc. (@RMSTitanic_Inc) September 3, 2024

“It has been almost 40 years since then, and we have watched her change throughout the years,” the statement read.

The 2024 expedition also uncovered the discovery of a two-foot-tall bronze statuette of the Roman goddess Diana - known as ‘Diana of Versailles’.

According to RMS Titanic, she served as the centrepiece of the First Class lounge and embodied Titanic’s palatial design.

‘Diana of Versailles’ virtual creation courtesy of Titanic: Honor and Glory. Picture: RMS Titanic INC

“The lounge was torn open during Titanic’s sinking and Diana was thrown to the debris field where she rested for over a century.”

Ms Ray told ABC that Diana Versailles hadn’t been photographed since 1986 she was considered “lost”.

“No one knew where she was in the debris field and so we were so happy to rediscover her on this expedition.”

Ms Ray explained the technologies used over the years to help map the wreckage.

“In 2010 we did a comprehensive map of the wreck using sonar. Technology has just evolved os much in the last 14 years,” she told ABC News.

“This time we were able to go with two ROVs (Remote operate underwater vehicle).”

She said the first one focused on photogrammetry and imagery and the second focused on all sorts of scanning from lidar to sonar.

“We even used our hyper magnetometer to really understand the condition of the metals and how the ship is deteriorating.”

Since 1994, RMS Titanic Inc has owned the exclusive salvage rights to the wreck, making it the only organisation legally allowed to remove objects.

Photograph taken by adventurer Andrew Rogers of wreckage from the RMS Titanic on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada on October 10, 1998.

While many of these expeditions are done in the name of studying the Titanic, it’s understood constant visits to the site are only hastening its eventual demise.

“Unfortunately, human agency is probably the thing that is damaging the site most,“ Dr Rodrigo Pacheco-Ruiz, archaeological data manager for HMS Victory and maritime archaeologist from the University of Southampton, told the Daily Mail.

“We are very destructive in our visits because we don’t really understand the fragility of these types of wrecks.”

RMS Titanic Inc said while Titanic’s collapse is “inevitable, this evidence strengths our mission to preserve and document what we can before it is too late”.

Titanic, then the largest and grandest ship liner in the world, sank after hitting an iceberg on its maiden voyage from Southampton to New York in April 1912.

The wreck has since lain 350 nautical miles off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada