Liners & Ferries

Titanic shipwreck recreated in detailed 3D visualisation

An ambitious digital imaging project has produced what researchers describe as a “digital twin” of the R.M.S. Titanic, showing the wreckage of the doomed ocean liner as if the water has been drained away.

The model was created with data using deep-sea mapping gathered by two submersibles—named Romeo and Juliet—during a six-week expedition to the North Atlantic wreck site in the summer of 2022, to map “every millimetre” of the wreckage as well as the entire three-mile debris field.

Multibeam sonar image of the SS Mesaba lying on the sea bed in the Irish Sea.

The ship that tried to warn the Titanic has been found

The British merchant steamship SS Mesaba sent a warning radio message to the Titanic on April 15, 1912 while crossing the Atlantic. The message was received by the Titanic – which was advertised as unsinkable – but did not reach the main control centre of the vessel.

Later that night, the supposedly unsinkable Titanic hit an iceberg and sank on her maiden voyage, taking 1,500 lives and becoming the world’s most infamous shipwreck.

Interview with John Moyer: Deep Diver of the Andrea Doria Wreck

John Moyer. Photo courtesy of John Moyer
Archival photo of John Moyer coming up from the Andrea Doria wreck with a bag of dishes. Photo courtesy of John Moyer

Legendary American explorer John Moyer has dived many wrecks along the North American eastern seaboard. But his name is synonymous with the Andrea Doria wreck, on which he made over 120 dives in the '80s and ‘90s, salvaging artifacts, and conducted in-depth research. In this interview by Andrea Murdock Alpini, we gain insight into his life and deep relationship with the Andrea Doria.

Stefano Carletti: The Man Who Immortalized the Andrea Doria Wreck

Stefano Carletti, Andrea Doria wreck, 1968. Photo courtesy of Bruno Vailati
Stefano Carletti brushing silt off the letters on the Andrea Doria wreck, 1968. Photo courtesy of Bruno Vailati

Stefano Carletti—adventurer, scuba diver, aviator and fisherman. He is a teller of sea tales and a searcher of hidden treasures on the seabed. He is a man who is a mirror of Europe, the “blue continent”—sometimes tempestuous, other times, crystal-clear and peaceful. Carletti’s life has been an extraordinary tailor-made adventure sewn by a life at sea, narrated by books and articles, which still fascinate audiences even today, as in the past.

Denmark: M/F Ærøsund

Ærøsund wreck. Photo by Lars Stenholt Kirkegaard
Diver on Ærøsund on the day it was sunk. Photo by Lars Stenholt Kirkegaard

M/F Ærøsund is a former ferry that served the islands in the South Funen archipelago. It was scuttled in 2014 in a sheltered bay just 550m off Funen’s southern coastline where it now rests at a depth of only 19m. It is easily visible from the surface.

Until 2003 one of the questions concerning the sinking of the Britannic "was she torpedoed or did she hit a mine"? The 2003 Spencer Expedition found and mapped the German minefield. Exped leader Carl Spencer later co-founded EUROTEK with fellow expedition members Leigh Bishop and Rosemary E Lunn

Britannic100: "Ship Of Dreams Sunk"

HMHS Britannic was the largest ship to sink during World War I. (Weighting in at almost 50,000-tons she was also the largest ship in the world).

Many argue she is one of the most beautiful, intact, well-preserved passenger liners accessible to divers. It is little wonder that these factors, and the story behind her construction and sinking continue to capture divers imagination.

Stern view of the shipwreck USS Conestoga colonized with white plumose sea anemones contrasting the water column.
Stern view of the shipwreck USS Conestoga colonized with white plumose sea anemones

U.S. Navy found a tug that was lost for nearly a century

When it left San Francisco on March 25, 1921, Conestoga was en route to Tutuila, American Samoa via Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. When Conestoga failed to reach Hawaii by its anticipated arrival date the Navy mounted a massive air and sea search around the Hawaiian Islands, the tug's destination. Unable to locate the ship or wreckage, the Navy declared Conestoga and its crew lost on June 30, 1921, the last U.S. Navy ship to be lost in peacetime without a trace.

Exposure—How Long, How Deep, How Cozy?

The Royal Mail Ship, Empress of Ireland, was an ocean-going luxury liner on her way to Liverpool from Quebec City when she sank in the Saint Lawrence River, 14 minutes after colliding with a Norwegian collier in the early morning fog of 29 May 1914. She had 1,477 people on board—passengers and crew—and the accident claimed the lives of 1,012, more than 800 of them passengers.