Page 21 - National Geographic - How We Found Titanic

TARBOARD QUARTER Even more conclusive are ot Titonic's detached pieces of equipment photo- stern (leJt) was photo- graphed in the area of the stern graphed in the debris field, fragment. The engine-room though we were unable to deter- telegraph (below lefi) matches mine the fragment's exact size. the two in the center of the Whether Titanic's entire stern docking bridge, which was used lies within the debris field is still only for maneuvering the vessel unknown, but identification of in port. The bell-shaped fixture this fragment and the items as- (bottomcentsr) was the founda- sociated with it is confirmed by tion for one of the two cargo a photograph taken in l9l2 of. cranes located forward of the the ship's stern area fforleft' docking bridge on either side of bottom).Items still attached to the ship. The tower of one of the the deck of the fragment include cranes, with its distinctive shape a twisted section of railing at like a giraffe's head, appears upper right, spoolJike mooring (below) beside its boom. guides along the after gunwale, Despite the obvious damage and part of a steel support, at suffered by Titanic, I believe left, that plainly belonged to the she hit bottom fairly gently- docking bridge seen in the back- certainly not at the 100-mile- ground ofthe 1912 photograph. an-hour speed suggested by some authorities. Much of the damage, including fracture of the hull, may have occurred at the surface, or perhaps as she ttkited,ttor twisted, her way to the bottom. Over the space of four days our undersea cameras shot more than 20,000 frames of film covering some 8,000 dif- ferent scenes. Yet we have only sketched in the bare out- line of Titanic; the full portrait is still to come.