VARIOUS: RAPIDLY DECAYING REMAINS OF TITANIC COULD COMPLETELY COLLAPSE WITH 20 YEARS SAY EXPERTS.

Record ID: 644081

  • Title: VARIOUS: RAPIDLY DECAYING REMAINS OF TITANIC COULD COMPLETELY COLLAPSE WITH 20 YEARS SAY EXPERTS.
  • Date: 21st August 2003
  • Summary: (W8) NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (RECENT) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) McLAREN SAYING: "The micro-organisms are chowing down on this iron and steel and probably accelerated by this over fishing in the Grand Banks, more dead plankton and organic matter raining down to the bottom, like a dense snowstorm to feed these rusticles, and invigorating them I think has to be playing a part in this."
  • Embargoed: 5th September 2003 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES / AT SEA
  • City:
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Disasters,Entertainment,History,Transport
  • Reuters ID: LVA17ESWEDI28GBTUZKWVHVFMIYH
  • Story Text: Explorers say the Titanic is in dramatic decay and could completely collapse within 20 years.
    The world's most famous shipwreck, the Titanic, is on the verge of completely collapsing following a dramatic increase in decay over recent years.
    Explorers familiar with the wreck, which lies off the coast of Canada, were alarmed to see the extent of the corrosion of the giant steamliner when they revisited her last month.
    Captain Alfred McLaren, an expert in shipwrecks, was leading the team. He hadn't seen Titanic since 1999, and was shocked when he first saw her again in July 2003.
    "We landed right by the bow and I guess my first reaction was 'my God - this thing is all covered in rusticles now" and where four years before you had a few of them here, there and the other place, you know I couldn't see anything but rusticles right around that bow area and everywhere we looked" he told Reuters Television during an interview at the Explorers Club in Manhattan.
    The Titanic, a massive liner carrying everyone from wealthy and elite clientele to immigrants hoping for a new life, hit an iceberg on April 14, 1912, on its maiden voyage to New York City from Southampton, England, and sank. More than 1,500 people died in a disaster that has fascinated scientists and history buffs and inspired a hit movie.
    Researchers say the rate of decay is speeding up, with organisms eating into the once 45,000 tonnes of metal at an alarming rate.
    David Bright, a scientist, was also part of July's expedition. He explained, "One of our scientific experts puts it at like the Titanic losing about 600 pounds of its steel on a daily basis and because of that there is no doubt that the structures are starting to decay quite a bit."
    Some experts believe that salvage operations and numerous visits by treasure hunters and tourists have hastened the decomposition caused by natural factors.
    McLaren contends that over-fishing on the nearby Grand Banks has depleted fish stocks that would normally consume tiny organic matter that is now concentrated in the waters around the Titanic and hastening its breakdown.
    McLaren said, "The micro-organisms are chowing down on this iron and steel and probably accelerated by this over fishing in the Grand Banks, more dead plankton and organic matter raining down to the bottom, like a dense snowstorm to feed these rusticles, and invigorating them I think has to be playing a part in this."
    The ship's mast, boat deck and the officer cabins have all collapsed in the last couple of years, and there are extensive rusticles growing on the bow, made famous in the hit movie "Titanic" after actor Leonardo di Caprio screamed
    "I'm the king of the world". The scientists say at the current rate of decay, the Titanic could completely collapse and be lost forever within a couple of decades.
    "I think originally we were thinking it was going to last quite a large number of years, possibly even centuries, but at this particular rate we are looking at a collapse within the next two or three decades where you will see some massive collapses within the bow section"
    said Bright.
    For the veteran underwater explorer McLaren the sight of the ailing wreck was depressing, "I had not expected to see it so deteriorated since I last saw it four years ago, you know it was very sad, it was depressing. It is a depressing site."
    Scientists are now collecting as much data as they can before the Titanic is lost forever, hoping to understand better the process of organisms eating into the metal, but acknowledge there is little that can be done to prevent the decay, resigning themselves to the fact at some point the legendary ship and nature will become one.
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