The Bizarre Schemes to Raise Titanic!

[@KPW2137]

I think it's worth adding that most schemes assumed the wreck would be in one piece, and nearly intact - all in all in a much better shape than she actually was.

[@GerardMenvussa]

The irony is, the more capable the tech becomes, the worse the state of the hull. By the time we might have the tools to recover the Titanic, it will be more rubble and mud than steel.

[@99domini99]

@@GerardMenvussa Due to it's extremely high profile, I wonder if we would have bothered to raise it had it sank today. Even today, if the massive ship hadn't rusted to dust yet, raising it would be an extreme task.

[@merafirewing6591]

​@@99domini99even to rival how much the Apollo Program was worth.

[@stevenkarnisky411]

They refloated Costa Concordia a few years ago, because it was in the way; then they scrapped it! Had they somehow raised Titanic on April 15, 1912, it would have been too twisted structurally to ever realign and make seaworthy! US battleships sunk at Pearl Harbor were raised and repaired, but none were even entirely below water level. My guess is that they were only repaired due to the dire need of wartime, and that a cost/benefit analysis in peacetime would have seen them scrapped! I am of two minds about Titanic being a grave site. As others have pointed out, humans have been examining, removing and robbing graves for as far back as you care to name! Battleship Arizona is considered a sacred grave site. West Virginia was refloated; the bodies were removed; she fought the war, and was later scrapped! I don't claim to know the right or wrong of it.

[@AndrewIrving-tj6iq]

The One Piece is real!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@bmused55]

I'm guessing that most, if not all, of those who proposed these ideas had no idea just how deep Titanic was. Of course, they also did not know the wreck was so utterly destroyed, at least anything not on the bow section. One can commend their enthusiasm for it though.

[@thatguyontheright1]

They didn't even know for sure the ship broke apart until she was discovered. They went with Lightoller's testimony that he did not see the ship break.

[@jakobming4831]

Even the bow’s structural integrity is compromised, 20,000 tons of steel falling the 2 1/2 miles, only to hit the brick wall that is the ocean floor is going to do untold amounts of damage

[@maxstr]

It kinda makes sense to assume that it was in one piece. Ships normally sink in one piece

[@JustPippaNY]

It really says a lot that we as a species know more about our solar system than we do about our oceans.

[@CosmicCleric]

@@JustPippaNY There's so much 'pressure' to get it right.

[@basildon5263]

Lou grade - in relation to the 1980 film - got it right when he said that it would've been cheaper to lower the Atlantic, than raise the Titanic.

[@GerardMenvussa]

Have some patience. You'll get your ship back next time the Atlantic is emptied for maintenance :)

[@lemagicbaguette1917]

Especially if you're Dutch.

[@chezsnailez]

And that's how it could be done once somebody figures out how to warp the fabric of space/time/gravity... Maybe lost in the files of Nikola Testla the government is hanging on to?

[@morandana77]

That'll be a long wait, especially with climate change FILLING the Atlantic.@@GerardMenvussa

[@AlphaGametauri]

​@@lemagicbaguette1917just have some God damn faith Arthur

[@K9TheFirst1]

Well, that first plan, the one with the magnets, is actually the most sound. That's how shipwreck salvage worked for centuries: Two ships on either side sling cables under the wreck, left it a few feet, move to a shallower area, adjust the cables, and repeat. The only thing hurting the chances of the plan is the absolute scale of... Everything: Ship size, depth, and he distance to travel to anything shallower that 12,000 feet.

[@GerardMenvussa]

Pretty sure this would just break the whole ship into smaller pieces, considering its state. Assuming the magnets would even latch to that big pile of rust. I think it would make more sense to slowly dig the mud and progressively assemble a plateforme (rigid or semi-flexible) under the hull. And then pull the whole thing up with balloons inflated in situ. Now we just need to find a budget around 1 quadrillion dollars to do it /s

[@naisagathefirstdestronmand8559]

No. Not at all. Honestly, even just messing with the area of the wreck site is enough to cause damage to the ship. It's severely rotted at this point that even normal sub expeditions down to it are causing some harm. The ocean itself is also actively damaging it anyways and it's breaking apart slowly under it's own weight. Assuming the ship somehow had no structural damage to it after all this time, that idea still wouldn't work as there would be no way to pull on it evenly. Currents would easily be knocking the ship around and breaking it loose. And the ship's weight would just drop it down from the cables and magnets anyways. The legitimate best plan to raise the ship would be the same as it was back then. To go and actively cut it up into many, MANY smaller pieces.

[@K9TheFirst1]

@@naisagathefirstdestronmand8559 Yes it's rotten, but not 🚫 n 19-whenever he suggested it.

[@xr6lad]

@@GerardMenvussaummm when first proposed 1: The ship wasn’t rusty. It was fresh, new and would have been sitting there looking glossy (albeit in pieces). 2: When first sunk there were conflicting stories of what had happened. It was not definitive that it had broken in two so they were likely basing their plan on a complete ship. Only know do we know how it fell and what happened when it hit the bottom (hindsight).

[@42lookc]

And 90 magnets with 500 tons of lift???

[@theminingassassin16]

People are so preoccupied with wondering if we could raise the Titanic they don’t stop to think if we should.

[@AverageAlien]

Yeah it's just a wreck

[@Reimu__Hakurei]

She’s being held up by water, lifting her to the surface she would definitely collapse and fall back into the ocean.

[@mattt233]

Thanks Dr. Malcolm.

[@caledonianrailway1233]

Try Brittanic instead

[@NatLegal-f9z]

Britannic and Titanic are graveyards.@@caledonianrailway1233

[@Brock_Landers]

The movie Raise the Titanic from 1980 was one of my favorites, simply for the reason that they speculated that the ship was still in one piece and it was fairly well choreographed for 1980.

[@Falcon7001]

The original book by Clive Cussler is even better.

[@AtheistOrphan]

I love it too. Great music, plus I always look out for the little man on deck winding the windless when she breaks the surface!

[@DarthAverage]

The shot in New York harbor as the Titanic sails past the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center is particularly poignant in hindsight ... kzbin.info/www/bejne/bZLKfaqwlriUZqMsi=R3ZrAZWQgsy-dxJF&t=83

[@stantheman9072]

@@Falcon7001The novel was interesting and fun. Action, spy stuff, sex, adventure, daring-do, etc. The film was a boring slog.

[@merafirewing6591]

​@@stantheman9072 the visuals of the movie were impressive.

[@dueljet]

I know that it is too late for the Titanic, but I wish they would raise the Britannic. She is in shallow water and appears to be well preserved. Just imagine being able to walk through her stem to stern!

[@geniuses___]

It may be an issue to replace the bow section due to it being completely broken off but it could be feasible

[@theturquoisedream9244]

As soon as it hit air it would decompose at an accelerated rate.

[@dueljet]

@@theturquoisedream9244 you are correct. Someone along the way had some sort of process to deal with the problem.

[@DarthAverage]

1. Because she was serving as a hospital ship in service of the Admiralty, there is the question of her being a war grave (even though, IIRC, all those lost died outside the ship). 2. Because she lies within Greek territorial waters, the Greek Department of Antiquities has something to say about the disposition of the wreck. (See "Titanic's Last Secrets", Chatterton & Kohler, 2008, for the story of their run-in with Greek authorities while exploring the Britannic.)

[@naisagathefirstdestronmand8559]

I don't believe the ship is as well preserved as people think. It is in a MUCH better state than titanic, but I do believe it is still very fragile.

[@ccg1171]

The thing would crumble to pieces if you even touched it.

[@timpritts1499]

EXACTLY 💯!

[@Cre80s]

99% of the mystique about the Titanic is the story, not the ship itself. This would become immediately clear as soon as they succeeded in pulling it back up and put it somewhere and just looked at it. It’s like Spock said, “having is not so pleasing a thing as wanting.” If it were successfully lifted, it’s mystique would be forever marred, that it would be pulled into a different world than what it departed into, it would be now in a world where the Titanic is a ship that was under the ocean for about 100 years and now you can go see it in the National Museum of Meh in Whocaresville, business hours T-F 8-3, tickets available starting at $75 usd. The moment it's "recovered", it would be "destroyed". If not in the physical sense, then definitely in the mystical sense.

[@42lookc]

Definitely. Her lack of accessibility is her mystique. If she were afloat or in dry dock, her lure would very quickly wane. She would soon generate no more interest than the Grand Canyon, if that.

[@smalltime0]

Swedes did it with the Vasa, its now in a museum especially for it. That sank in embarrassingly shallow water though

[@lisaborsella5412]

You said it right

[@lisaborsella5412]

Whocaresville-❤

[@smalltime0]

@@lisaborsella5412 not getting involved in the Northern war feud, but seriously what a dumb ship

[@SpecialEDy]

Something lost on non-engineers is how heavy a ship is and how fragile it is. 100 million lbs, or 50 million kilograms. Google pictures of ships in dry dock, youd need to distribute the lifting force across hundreds or thousands of points across the keel. Youd just rip the ship apart if you were lifting from a few dozen or less parts.

[@GarrettPetersen]

I knew about the Rubaiyat because of Titanic: Adventure Out of Time. Finally a use for my 1990s video game knowledge! People were so interested in raising the Titanic to turn it into a museum exhibit, but they didn't do the next best thing: Keep the Olympic floating as a museum ship.

[@zanisgardening123-]

Yup 100% at least they saved the normadic

[@Ometecuhtli]

It was thanks to that game that I knew what's.his-name Davy Jones locket or something like that wasn't something Pirates of the caribbean invented.

[@Randy.Bobandy]

Sounds like you didn't quite remember it lol@@Ometecuhtli

[@Truecrimeresearcher224]

id say if the great depression didnt happen then maybe Olympic made it once more as battleship in WWII she might have retired maybe in New York and be like the queen mary. who knows maybe we would have figured out everything about how titanic sank, how exactly it broke, and we wouldnt have any questions about it. it would be nice consdering how it had old and new

[@RegalCobra097]

Since you've also played the game: Were you abe to turn off the headlights on the car after you have found the painting? I'm pretty sure it wasn't possible and I was like: "Damn, now they know I was here." I also loved the minigame in the control room where you had to adjust the levers and such to make the machine purr.

[@doriWyo]

Since she sank well before dawn, she actually has not seen "the light of day," since the afternoon of the 14th of April, 1912.

[@ColinDaviesGTR]

I think you mean evening

[@laurenlyons8700]

It doesn't really matter if its evening, or afternoon.

[@fartdonkey8290]

He's been resting peacefully for over a hundred years

[@timpritts1499]

​@@ColinDaviesGTRThe Titanic sank at 2:15AM in the morning!

[@DECODEDVFX]

I'm surprised there was no mention of the movie "raise the Titanic".

[@OceanlinerDesigns]

Haha that whole saga deserves its own video!

[@PromusKaa]

At least he used a screencap from the movie as the video thumbnail!

[@shannonrhoads7099]

Also, no mention about how the Titianic arrived in New York on her own in Ghostbusters II. 😎

[@notjebbutstillakerbal]

​​@@thesterrave no bible copypasta pls

[@PersephoneDaSilva]

@@shannonrhoads7099 It's a literal ghost ship in Ghostbusters II.

[@joemcken]

Lovely video as ever, Mike! Only one li’l nitpick: At the end you say the Titanic last saw daylight “on the morning of April 15th, 1912”. Perhaps in some timezones, but on ship’s time, she sank at 2:20 AM, long before the sun rose; the last time the sun kissed her steel was the evening of April 14th. Of course, you know all this, so I’m guessing this was just a flub. Keep on keeping on!

[@andrewmay8824]

I caught that also

[@timothypmartin6020]

And I thought I was the clever one.

[@JoshuaHistoryBuff]

​​@@andrewmay8824Really you caught that too? Congrats you both need to get a life good grief such a thing is not worthy of being called "a flub" or even an oversight. You say yourself that you know Mike knows the facts so shut up and enjoy the videos!

[@javidaderson]

Good to see everyone in the past and fully comprehend the concept of water pressure. To be honest after Ocean gate it seems like some people today don't have a full grasp on water pressure.

[@Frosty98206]

Lower⬇️ you Go, Stronger 💪 the weight of the Water 🌊 Pressure puts on a Person or Submersible.

[@happybeingmiserable4668]

What do you mean water pressure? I can swim in my pool just fine!

[@timpritts1499]

​@@happybeingmiserable4668What a ridiculous comment!

[@rogersheddy6414]

See my comment about the "mass grave" concept.

[@rogersheddy6414]

The prow, if raised, would make a lovely centerpiece to a triangular city park. ... ten stories tall...

[@RanzilSoursugar]

As always, amazing video Mike! Keep it up, you are amazing! Hope you will once tell a story behind Germany's Berlin ocean liner that sunk in 1986 USSR by the name of Admiral Nakhimov. Thank you for your content!

[@iwasglad122]

The best thing about that 1980 ship-wreck of a film, 'Raise the Titanic,' was its absolutely wonderful score by the late, great and irreplaceable John Barry OBE.

[@macupgrader]

Hear, hear.

[@hrothgar014]

It was the movie ‘Raise the Titanic’ that got me curious about the Titanic and shipwrecks to start with. Saw it at a very young age when it first made cable TV. It’s not the greatest movie in the world, but it’s entertaining. And John Barry did an amazing musical score as usual.

[@TracyA123]

Hello Mike☺ I apologize for my lack of commenting for a while but I've been very ill. I've watched every video you've posted many times. I appreciate the immense effort that you put into such detailed research and this video, in particular, was a subject I've been very interested in. Your videos have been a comfort to me while I try to recover. I'm not through it yet but I am still here and I'm very thankful for your dedication to something I love so much.

[@SaraMorgan-ym6ue]

the titanic is toast forget about it and just make a new titanic much cheaper simpler and possible above all else plain and simple🤣

[@bryanbutler6486]

Feel better Tracy

[@TracyA123]

@@bryanbutler6486 thank you for your kind words my friend☺

[@tonydacosta2273]

Loved the book and the movie Raise the Titanic. Great and completely crazy premise. Love this deep dive on different stories and plans to raise the ship. Thank you for this video. Absolutely love your channel and your many wonderful videos

[@mdmjeremiah]

I remember watching a movie with my dad when I was a kid called Raise the Titanic. The movie was based off a novel and was obviously written before the wreck was found. The funny thing is that I watched the movie just a few weeks after it was found. Now I think back on that and realize that if I saw that movie a month earlier I might have been really excited to think about if it could actually be done. But a month later and we both just laughed when it popped up on the surface.

[@Rey-ju8ic]

We've certainly seen impressive salvage attempts to bring ships up from the sea floor, most notable for me is the Sewoll Ferry. But the Titanic was always just ridiculously too deep for anything other than salvage of targeted pieces (like the famous Big Piece) and others!

[@charlescth]

With regard to the 1980 film Raise the Titanic - Lord (Lew) Grade, who helped fund the 1979 film Raise the Titanic!, said: "As I said all those years ago, it would be cheaper to lower the Atlantic than raise the Titanic.

[@rmp5s]

The coolest idea I heard was making it an underwater "museum" of sorts...build a giant dome over each of the wreck sites, pump the water out, ???, profit. I don't think there's any way it'd work, for multiple reasons, but kind of a cool thought exercise.

[@gregorymoore2877]

I would love to see whether a dome could be built that would be strong enough to not implode.

[@rrice1705]

Much as I would love to see Titanic preserved, she's gone and anyone who seriously thinks she can be raised needs to accept that. The best we can do is preserve Titanic's memory by continuing to tell stories of the ship and those who were lost.

[@Ometecuhtli]

Titanic live Webcam 8K. With the proceeds they can buy paint to make a protective coat as Ballard proposes and there's no need to ever go down again.

[@Solmead]

I’m surprised you didn’t mention the 1980 movie “Raise the Titanic”

[@EpicTrainsCanada]

She technically didn't see the light of day on the morning of April 15th 1912 because it was still in the dead of night. I just had to nitpick lol. Top quality content as always! Greetings from Canada.

[@gregorymoore2877]

Cool. I'm now looking forward to Michael's next video, entitled "I Was Wrong: How To Annoy the Titanic Community." 😉

[@EpicTrainsCanada]

@@gregorymoore2877 Lol!

[@JDB-XIVII]

“(The last time) “Titanic” saw the light of day was April 15, 1912.” Actually, the last time it saw daylight would have been on the 14th. That’s me being clever and, for a fleeting second, feeling smarter than you… which I guarantee is not the case. LOVE your channel, Mike! Thanks for all the amazing content and your sense of humor sprinkled in. Kudos!

[@daniellclary]

I think I heard of one idea of filling Titanic with some sort of hyper foam. The canisters compressed with the inactive foam would survive the trip all the way down. And once in position, they can be released. The foam expands, envelops and sticks to everything inside. Then the foam will start to float the ship up, while holding it together. I do not remember what kind of foam it was, or how it reacts to cold water, but was an interesting idea.

[@daniellclary]

That's a good point. @robertstallard7836

[@josea.nievessoto8000]

Yes! Always a treat to see your videos, Mike!

[@IntrepidMilo]

It would have been possible to raise the ship within the first few decades after she sank. When she was discovered 70 years later, she would have been too delicate. Now it would be impossible.

[@ALROD]

I don’t think it would’ve been possible ever, because of how deep it is. Also, how do you lift tons and tons of a ship, even if it was as deep as Britannic is?

[@Nostalgic-Mechanic]

@@ALROD When doing the calculations, Britannic could be raised with a lot of work done prior, like installing large external floating aids (metal pontoons) and using large sea cranse like the used for Kursk, Costa Concordia, etc. Brittanic is well enough from her structural condition to manage it. As averything it would "just" be down to the cost

[@gamerxt333]

@@Nostalgic-Mechanic I read Britanic is more rusted than people realize, since the coral disguises the true state of it.

[@Nostalgic-Mechanic]

@@gamerxt333 Well, that might be. Sadly I was never there 🙁 I would like to though

[@kenkahre9262]

Probably not even then. Its estimated that she was travelling around 30 mph when she hit the bottom. That's what caused the middle section to collapse, as well as the upper decks. She's not called a 'wreck' for nothing.

[@Fk8_Joey]

I would love to see a video about this concept but with the Britannic! Also, I LOVE your content anytime I see you uploaded I know my day is gonna be a good one 🙂

[@MacAdvisor]

"Having seen the light of day, for the last time, on the morning of April 15th, " Not to pick a nit, but the last parts of the Titanic sank beneath the waves at approximately 2:20 am. in the wee hours of the morning on April 15, 1912. At that hour, the sun would not yet have risen. There wasn't any light of day yet. Thus, the Titanic saw the light of day for the last time on April 14, 1912, as the sun set. Other than that, another simply great video, with real insight.

[@timpritts1499]

EXACTLY!

[@ReturnToNormal777]

The nicest fantasy about recovering the Titanic I have ever watched was the movie of the same name; RAISE THE TITANIC! that came out in 1980 with stunning visual effects that gave the illusion that such a feat might actually be possible. Alas, such was not to be reality after the discovery of the true condition of the wreck by Dr. Robert Ballard in 1985.

[@kellyalvarado6533]

❤ Loved that movie! Wish I could find it online somewhere to watch again.

[@clivedavis6859]

@@kellyalvarado6533 I had it on VHS tape which a was able to digitize onto DVD. It should be available somewhere online, probably Amazon.

[@EarlTheWhiteNinja]

Nah the movie is terrible. It was a complete disgrace to the book

[@ReturnToNormal777]

It's still available on DVD at a number of places. @@kellyalvarado6533

[@TBone-bz9mp]

@@kellyalvarado6533 The full movie is available on KZbin.

[@James_Rivett]

The union flag you used is a pre 1801 version (no second red cross for Ireland), that predates the act of union of 1800, which merged the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom. Some of those dreamers sounded colourful characters lol. Another wonderful video, many thanks. I would imagine it would me many times cheaper to build a true replica than ever try to raise the bits that survive on the Atlantic floor of Titanic.

[@Deadsea_1993]

It would be cheaper, sure, but there are so many saftey regulations for modern ships today. Many of the features of Titanic wouldn't be allowd today and so nearly everything unique of the ship would have to be replaced to have her travel on the water.

[@James_Rivett]

@@Deadsea_1993 it's the same with so much today. Current debate in UK over the fact heritage coaching stock (unless modified) doesn't have central locking to prevent the passengers exiting the train before the guard allows it, despite being a lack of incidents.

[@trevorblue4531]

@@Deadsea_1993 Plus, Ships wear out quite quickly in salt water, so a Titanic shaped hotel would be much more feasible! There's already hotels shaped like cruise ships, after all!

[@Greenpoloboy3]

When the 1985 film Raise the Titanic is on TV, they usually always give it a 1 star rating.

[@bodan1196]

Soo... not a white star rating then?

[@evilchaosboy]

The novel was quite an entertaining read though! :)

[@Greenpoloboy3]

@@bodan1196 I'll give you that! :)

[@Greenpoloboy3]

I never read it, but maybe will idk @@evilchaosboy Giving me something to think about now

[@Cool-Tina]

I love movies that are so terrible, they're great. I'll have to track this one down!

[@ExUSSailor]

There was a movie, made in 1980, called "Raise the Titanic". It kinda fits in the "So bad, it's good" category.

[@rrrosadorr]

Fun Fact: "Raise the Titanic" was adapted from Clive Cussler's 1976 novel of the same name which featured his protagonist Dirk Pitt. It was a failed attempt to launch a movie franchise much like James Bond. "Raise the Titanic" was the third novel in the Dirk Pitt series. Clive Cussler's 11th Dirk Pitt novel, "Sahara" (1992), was also adapted into a movie in 2005. It also failed to launch a Dirk Pitt movie franchise. Clive Cussler had written total of 25 novels featuring Dirk Pitt prior to his death in 2020. Clive Cussler's son, Dirk Cussler, has published two additional Dirk Pitt novels in 2021 & 2023.

[@KentuckyRain]

I loved that scene where Admiral Sandecker asks when the Titanic would surface? The answer “Is now soon enough for you Admiral?” Then the music swells, and the beautiful ship breaks into daylight again.

[@merafirewing6591]

​@@rrrosadorr I didn't know he passed away three years ago, my condolences.

[@macupgrader]

The film itself isn't great, but John Barry's score is just beautiful. The scene where Titanic sails into New York Harbour past the World Trade Center with that music behind it never fails to make me well up 🥲Sadly the master recordings were lost but the Prague Philharmonic did a fantastic re-recording of it some years ago.

[@42lookc]

I was born in 1966, 54 years after the Titanic sank, and 20 years before she was rediscovered. I never understood how a gigantic ship, designed to slice through the waves, could possibly have survived a plunge to the bottom. The Olympic class liners were not the Sea Biscuit or Seattle Slew of their time, but they ran in the same race; they were still _fast_ . They were _superliners_ not rusty old scows. So, designed to be fast, they were sleek. 45000 ton darts. What happens when a 45000 ton dart hits the bottom, supposing it was intact? DEVASTATION. Well, the fact that she broke in two and therefore already lost enormous amounts of her integrity meant that her arrival on the bottom was going to be positively CATASTROPHIC. I can hardly believe she is as intact as she is after slamming into the bottom at a speed of 35 MPH. Had she remained intact she likely would have been travelling faster. All that said, I don't understand how so many people knowing so much more than me could have ever figured there'd be any chance at all of her surviving the largest collision of all time involving a manmade object. Impacting the ocean floor after 2½ miles of head start is going to be stupendous. It was well known the Brittanic snapped her nose almost clean off in only 400 feet of water! What about 13000 feet of unimpeded descent? What was I missing? What made people of industry think there'd be an intact ship waiting for them on the ocean floor to be raised and towed to New York instead of the hideously smashed, debris field generating WRECKAGE that is actually there?

[@gaemlinsidoharthi]

Well, obviously, there are a few repairs that need to be done before raising the Titanic. Just a few panels and supports here and there. Maybe some of the fittings and furniture need replacing. No doubt some of the machinery and electronics need to be replaced after so long. Probably be a good idea to do all of that replacement up here on the surface and just rebuild her from scratch.

[@ApethGrader]

Everything would probably tear away and fall out of the bottom.

[@davidstephan5116]

I think duct tape could hold the hull together. Maybe bring some bungee straps along just in case we need them

[@gaemlinsidoharthi]

@@davidstephan5116 Good idea. 😉

[@timpritts1499]

The wooden furnishings are all rotted! And there would obviously be more than a few repairs! The ship broke in pieces FOOL!

[@davidbaldwin1591]

Mike, did you do an in depth about how Titanic was discovered, and about the first sub to reach her, and film her? What equipment and techniques found her, how long did it take to get there later, in a sub, in number of hours? What challenges and quirks happened along the way? Maybe you can do a "cutting edge" technology video on what the future holds for deep sea wreck exploration. What valuable wrecks out there are worth searching for, and how much tresure is there? Where did they go down? What failures occured in the attempt(s)? I want to know what we use in modern times, what things we may be able to do and see in the future, and how regulations are changing that landscape. Thanks Capt'n Brady!

[@TopHatTITAN]

I wonder how people felt about trying to find the ship before we started mapping the ocean floor. Was it a case of "she sank into the abyss, this will take forever" or was it more like "it IS deep, but it can't be that deep!"

[@Deadsea_1993]

For the times, I don't believe that people realized just how deep the ocean was. I don't believe that people knew that the Atlantic was many miles deep within the ocean and reaching the Titanic would be like crossing a number of Empire State Buildings stacked and in an extremely hostile environment. No one knew where to start to even look for her and so rescue efforts were halted

[@John_Snowbird]

People have been mapping the seafloor for a long time. They may not have known the exact depth of her resting place, but surely conceived that it could have been miles down.

[@WintonMc]

I love the subtle sarcastic humour you injected.

[@jakubstrumillo]

I read lots of books of Clive Cussler, they are great even if totally absurd in many cases

[@nmccw3245]

Yes, but Dirk always got the girl and a cool car/boat/airplane to add to his collection.

[@dwashbur]

One of Clive Cussler's earliest novels is called Raise the Titanic! (His punctuation). He wrote it before the wreck was found and assumed it was in one piece, like everyone else did.

[@kyoto9916]

I think there are quite a few ways we could raise her today if we really wanted. Would be expensive and would require a hell of a lot of engineering and resources.

[@clivedavis6859]

Put Elon Musk onto it.

[@carlmontney7916]

Something like the extensive undertaking to build the Glomar Explorer. All that just to raise a Russian submarine.

[@stevenkarnisky411]

Send Elon Musk to live in it!

[@user-xu2pi6vx7o]

That liquid nitrogen plan would be a lot more feasible today, when you could just turn an oil rig into a nitrogen liquefaction plant, powered by one or more small nuclear reactors.

[@timpritts1499]

​@@user-xu2pi6vx7oThe experts like Cameron and Ballard say the ship is so fragile it would break into pieces and be completely destroyed before it reached the surface! They say the Titanic will be completely gone in another 10 to 15 years!

[@bhsbmd]

A couple of possible subjects I would find very interesting….how ships are built to accommodate the movement of the sea. Seems so challenging, especially before computer modeling, to calculate the “give” needed with relation to the water’s motion. Another would be how tugboats were used to help giant ships like the Titanic navigate out of the docks and down the channels. Lastly, perhaps an exploration of the collision accidents involving the White Star, and other ships, with vessels, upon leaving their berths. Just some random thoughts. Thank you for creating such well presented and fascinating subject matter. You do an awesome job!

[@thatsmarco7413]

4 videos in 10 days, each with quality content and unique research, go like a bomb (or torpedo 🤣✌️)

[@dimebagdave77]

Manythnx Oceanliner Designs🤘

[@SeanJ2A]

I think we should've been focused on preserving Olympic. That would've been the closest thing to Titanic. It was a crime that Olympic was ever scrapped.

[@Borninthe80s.]

they couldn’t afford to keep Olympic running hardly anyone was sailing on her and white star were losing money they had to scrap her to pay off their debts and not only that but people were needing jobs to feed their families the scrapping gave a lot of people jobs they need money then not in the future

[@AngryCatMan1982]

Unfortunately, much of the world was still reeling from the great depression at that time. Saving an antiquated ship for posterity wasn't considered a priority then. Sending her to the scrap yard provided much needed jobs at that time. Plus, the interest in Titanic wasn't like it's been over the past 40 years. Look at how many millions of dollars it has taken to keep the Queen Mary in decent shape from 1967-present. Just imagine the cost of upkeep for the Olympic from 1935-present.

[@singleproppilot]

Even Queen Mary wasn’t “preserved” so much as “exploited”. When they brought the ship to Long Beach, they removed all the boilers, all the equipment in the forward engine room, the stabilizers, and three out of four propellers. To do this, they had to remove the original funnels, which collapsed under their own weight on the docks, and were eventually replaced with replicas. They demolished all of the original staterooms, leaving only a handful of the most well known public areas of the ship. Then they filled the oil bunkers with mud to weigh the hull down and compensate for the weight that had been removed. What is on display is really just an empty, rusting hull with a hotel and a handful of tourist areas built inside it.

[@AngryCatMan1982]

@@singleproppilot I agree. She should have been preserved as a floating museum. Much like the USS North Carolina & USS Yorktown here in the Carolinas. Even the SS United States is an empty rusting hulk. Everything of historic value has long left the ship.

[@Ometecuhtli]

Olympic was already built, the closest ever replica to the Titanic that will ever be, and quite similar to the Britannic too. So 2 of the largest shipwrecks in history couldn't save it, but you can still see part of it in a Northumberland restaurant (White swan I think it's called). Part of it was the depression but also people weren't that interested in Titanic back then because of WWI which was (and of course still is) of much greater significance, and not until "A night to remember" the stories became better known by those not directly or related to those involved in the tragedy.

[@DJL78]

I’ve been waiting for someone to cover this fantasy! Thanks Mike! 🍸

[@DJL78]

@@thesterrave God hates you.

[@lylecheckeye6300]

I wonder if you could figure out how many people could actually have gone down with the ship , minus the people rescued and the people in the water at the surface. I would love to have a boiler and engine brought up. and maybe the bow and prop.

[@michekids]

Appreciate your coverage Mike.

[@BryanVonFriently]

Hot take: a wreck being a grave site is an irrelevant cope outed purely so nothing has to be done about it and any (further) responsibility and costs it would take to salvage/raise be done away with. Why am i saying this? Because throughout history a wreck being a "gravesite" has only been considered an issue when the efforts to raise/scrap/salvage have been too high to be desirable. Some that come to mind: 1. Titan, the submersible of recent fame, to my knowledge has been pulled from the sea floor RIGHT in front of Titanic, a ship many screech about as being a gravesite that must not be disturbed, yet the submersible that has killed 5 people only months ago was salvaged pretty much immediately after discovery despite it being just as much of a gravesite as the ship in front of it. Yet noone raised the point to leave it undisturbed, untouched. 2. MV Conception, sunk as a result of fire in 2019, killing 34 people, it was raised from the sea despite being a gravesite. Yet noone raised the point to leave it undisturbed, untouched. 3. Costa Concordia. capsized killing 32 people, rightened, refloated, and scrapped. Yet noone raised the point to leave it undisturbed, untouched. And some especially interesting cases because they all happened from the same event yet had different outcomes. 3. USS Oklahoma, bombed in Pearl Harbor in 1941 after being bombed, it flipped over and sank upside down, killing 429 men, despite this it was flipped back upright and prepared to be moved back to the US for scrapping, no calling it a gravesite and leaving it be. 4. USS West Virginia, also bombed in Pearl Harbor in 1941, sunk in its mooring place killing 106 men, but due to sinking right up and only being damaged relatively minorly the ship was refloated, repaired and served for many more years in ww2, no calling it a gravesite and leaving it be. 5. USS Nevada, also bombed in Pearl Harbor in 1941, hit by several bombs killing 60 people and managed to beach itself before being overcome by water, refloated and repaired, also served in the rest of ww2 (even surviving a nuclear bomb being dropped on and detonated below it), no calling it a gravesite and leaving it be. 6. USS Arizona , again Pearl Harbor, suffered a magazine detonation killing 1170 men, ship was deemed unfixable and was being scrapped, being torn down top to bottom until they reached the water line where very conveniently and suddenly it was declared a grave site and it would be left alone. It is only ever when ships are too expensive or impossible to raise or salvage that it becomes a grave site and shouldn't be disturbed, everything within reach and of value is always, without fail, refloated if fixable or scrapped if not. "Grave site" is just a cope to justify not having to put in the time, money and effort to do it. The most egregious example is Arizona where they scrapped it irregardless of the bodies, all the way down to the waterline and only then did they call it a grave site so they didn't have to put in the effort for underwater salvaging.

[@Mabidemonstrations]

I dont think the Arizona was a convenient choice. They could have easily done something for the ship.

[@bernarddickinson9841]

As always Thanks very much for your time and efforts 👌

[@rumplestilskin5776]

Oh Mike, don't you want to see RMS Titanic burst forth from the sea like in the movie, Raise The Titanic???

[@gamerxt333]

When in reality it would rise super slowly, looking like something from the scrap yard.

[@richardparker3273]

If they were to try to raise it in its whole pieces, it would definitely not survive the trip to the surface, even if it did survive the first inch of lifting. If anything did burst forth from the sea, it would be unrecognizable debris

[@teejaynumber13]

Building an exact replica and converting it to a museum would be more feasible.

[@grantsmythe8625]

Amazing! Absolutely amazing at the ways that men can find to waste and literally throw away massive sums of money that could be more wisely spent than such an absurd project.

[@TheMrWhitmore]

You are aware that spending money on "absurd" projects is the reason new things get invented? Like, cars, planes, electricity, all just fancy toys at first, and absurd projects. I mean, honestly, cars will never ever replace the horse! What an absurd thinking!

[@grantsmythe8625]

@@TheMrWhitmore Not all "absurd projects" are created equal.

[@grantsmythe8625]

@robertstallard7836 In other words, one absurd project begets two more which beget .......

[@hughjassol2072]

If someone built a 100% replica, and turned it into a museum, it would make billions.

[@paulf1946]

Hearing Mike mention The Rubaiyat brought back memories of Titanic Adventure Out Of Time.

[@theone2519]

Very well said Mike and a fantastic video. All Ocean Liners have their time. Had Titanic never sank she would have met the same fate as her Sister the Olympic and just be pictures in a book. Sunken Ships are a time capsule into our past giving us an opportunity to look back centuries of marine history. Sadly it is the vast Human cost which strikes home when these behemoths founder. It’s these tragedies that ensure these ships and the people that sailed on them are never forgotten.

[@James_Rivett]

Even the ones who were not scrapped, have had big issues with their preservation, or ended up in trouble and sunk after being sold on to new owners.

[@ianmc87]

Its always been interesting to me that there were people back in 1912 and in the years after the sinking who seemed to genuinely think the wreck could be raised. They didn't know where it was and they seemed oblivious to how deep it was. We don't have the technology to raise it today.

[@carlmontney7916]

Just because a way may someday exist to do this, doesn't mean it should be done. Let those souls RIP Thank you Mike for this very well done presentation.

[@rgemail]

The souls are gone and literally could not care less what happens to the container they passed in. Frankly, if they could have preferences, they'd probably prefer to be among living people who could actively remember them, than compressed to microns in the pitch black alien world of the deep ocean.

[@m1co294]

​​​@@rgemail very bleak outlook, but I doubt the families of those who died on it would want the wreck to be touched, after all their ancestors died on it and they wouldn't want such a somber place to be disturbed. It's a graveyard, whether you agree with the morals of everyone else living and breathing right now or not.

[@wyskass861]

I love how there were so many schemes to raise the Titanic when it was still far from being found.

[@Bruno-G]

And what about the britannic? She is in a relative good condition (considering her age) and it's not that deep.

[@Ometecuhtli]

Biggest shipwreck in the ocean (well sea in this case) floor to my knowledge but not enough deaths apparently to make it as headlines grabbing as the Titanic.

[@davidstephan5116]

No movie, no one cares I guess🤷🏼‍♂️

[@JoshBrahmERI]

One more video idea: Do a followup to this video by reacting to this other video on 10 modern ideas for raising the Titanic: kzbin.info/www/bejne/q3LCn2aIjtt2nqMsi=0haJhzlVunfjFw_p Are these concepts insane, or could any of them work (assuming adequate funding and expert staff, etc.)? And what are the ethics of raising it, given that there aren’t any human remains left?

[@apairon2]

Lol uploaded 14 seconds ago

[@kaigabrieljurado897]

Congratulations your first

[@Reimu__Hakurei]

Congratulations for being based and not commenting “first” here’s your medal 🥇

[@apairon2]

@@Reimu__Hakurei lol my gut turned over at the thought.

[@penelopejoann]

This is part of the Titanic story that rarely comes to the surface 😊 In all seriousness, I had heard of the magnet proposal, the ping pong balls, and balloon concept. Liquid Nitrogen? Cool idea 💡 The state she was in 1985, curious if she could have been raised then? I know the degradation is now much more rapid, now that multiple deep sea explorers have exploited the wreck site. The footage of Ballard and his team discovering the wreck with that first boiler, still gives me chills to this day.

[@Sashazur]

Before hitting the bottom she was broken in half, and when she did the stern section partly collapsed. There was never any way to raise her.

[@JerryFisher]

And what would be the point if somehow the Titanic was raised? What would any of us gain? And how would we ensure she remained at least somewhat stable afterwards? Granted, there would probably millions of people who'd love to visit her. I admit I'd be one of them. Buuuuuut, how many of us would want to pay for a ticket if it was realistically priced to cover just the basic facilities necessary for visitors (such as restrooms, an onsite museum, and a lot of other things we take for granted and expect at historic sites)? What if the price of admission had to be adjusted upwards to start covering the costs of recovery, the need for basic stabilization, then ongoing conservation? Is everyone here still as eager to line up yet? If the tickets jumped to three, if not four figures, I doubt the majority would show up. The Titanic would always need money to preserve her. Money would be needed for the facilities. People would need to be paid for their work. If anyone needs real world proof of the folly of having the Titanic on dry land, look no further than the ruins of Pompeii. As long as they stay undisturbed and buried, they will continue to survive and be preserved. We've learned this the hard way after excavating about 3/4 of the town. Nobody seemed to give much thought to what would happen to Pompeii once it was exposed. Large parts of it had to be closed to visitor for safety reasons. The ruins have crumbled from destructive exposure. Artifacts that were left in situ decayed into oblivion, or were vandalized, or stolen. The EU had to step in with emergency funding just to prop up the most dire parts of the ruins. That funding isn't endless, and Italy is so overwhelmed with so much material that needs preservation and protection, that Pompeii, despite its superstar status, keeps falling through the cracks of bureaucracy. Thank God we don't have the technology or inclination to spend money on trying to raise the Titanic. She is better off where she is now. She earned her right to peace over a century ago. If we want to return to her, do it remotely through technology. We can watch over her, monitor how she and the surrounding site change over time, and learn far more than we would have if we somehow raised her. Titanic still has much to teach us if we are willing to listen.

[@Ometecuhtli]

Preservation is a more modern enterprise than many people believe, even the mighty Egyptian pyramids would be crumbling today if not for the efforts of the last 100 years and because of the special weather conditions of the place they're built. Before that of course it wasn't much about keeping things in their original state as was stealing them from a foreign land, then again they were preserved because in the XXth century people saw value in things being kept for posterity, and it would've taken just one more person to think like Hitler and Paris as we know it today wouldn't even exist. Steamers weren't luxury liners for most people, they were a means to an end which in most cases was a better life in the US so it didn't matter the way we think today if it was the Titanic, Lusitania or the modest SS Niagara. There was always going to be a more modern and better ship, of course given the chance they'd've chosen the Titanic or Olympic because they were better than anything else out there, but wasn't going to be the case 10 years later and it's because it sank young and beautiful that we remember her that way. 1932 I'm sailing on the Titanic, I know, I know, that old rusty ship but what can I do with my meager salary and 4 mouths to feed? We never reached that point, we know of the Astor, Guggenheim, long tenured captain Smith, the ship's builder and chair of the company, who would've never sailed together again even if it lasted for a century. So those special conditions are what made Titanic special, it was the biggest maritime tragedy of its time to prevent another bigger tragedy and, much like the Panam/KLM collision in Las Palmas changes introduced have made just that, keeping them as historical reminders of things going wrong and maintaining almost a legendary status lest we forget and repeat the same mistakes.

[@wafive]

Arthur C Clarkes' book, The Ghost from the Grand Banks. Proposed freezing the Titanic, but with refrigeration equipment powered by retired nuclear submarines. Like all of his books, it was a great read.

[@davidswarckof8025]

Love your channel Mike….seems like the Titanic has been discussed to death but you always find ways to keep things interesting!

[@ericcriteser4001]

Brilliant as always. Thank you. I enjoy your humor.

[@2013internetlover]

Mike. Do you remember your "if Britannic never sank" video? I have a suggestion, if the entire Olympic class have survived both world wars or hmhs resolute never foundered in ww2

[@jamesbennett5189]

Clive Cusslers "Raise the Titanic"is a surprisingly good movie. The effects when they do raise the ship look pretty good!

[@scottsmith4315]

Thanks for another great production

[@d.awdreygore]

This was so entertaining and I really needed that!

[@jeremyschwab6088]

Another fascinating video. I had no idea anyone had actual "salvage rights" to the Titanic, but I knew some parts had been recovered. According to one source the first entity to recover something from the wreck site and present it to an international court is able to claim “ownership” of the wreck. Is that correct? Supposedly Dr. Ballard had remarked he regrets not taking a single half a teacup so he could claim the salvage rights and prevent anyone from being able to disturb the wreck.

[@rlshieldsok]

There's a movie that might interest you called Raise The Titanic. It was made pretty shortly before it was discovered. It's a fun watch for an enthusiast, even if it's completely inaccurate.

[@scarletshadedblack6502]

I find it comforting that even when every remnant of the Titanic has washed away, the bronze propellers will be there for centuries to mark its place

[@trevorblue4531]

8:00: That a picture of The Olympic!

[@Cranbrook53]

Really good video as always. Greetings from a Swedish man!

[@mgjmiller1995]

@Oceanliner Designs, a two-part question from when I was a boy (and now a man): Broadly, Titanic's last known position was conveyed by the distress calls, but people then didnt know the depth in that area? What I mean to say is: had tragedy befallen her on the original, more northerly route, she would have been closer to the Grand Banks, where several hundred feet of depth (though insurmountable in the 1910s) would have been a magnitude less than 12,500 feet down. Do we have anything from the ping ping ball proposal (or others) where they guestimate her depth?

[@nadrewod999]

The thing about sunken shipwrecks is that they were already no longer seaworthy when they sunk, and that was before they filled with water and before they started getting pressed down hard by the deep ocean water pressure. So to even start to raise the ship, you have to either "have undersea divers start making repairs to the ship to restore the hull integrity" or "use external means of lifting the sunken ship up despite it still not being seaworthy on its own". Both options are MASSIVELY expensive even for recent intact shipwrecks in relatively shallow waters close to shore (see: Kursk, Costa Concordia, etc.). The costs, equipment , and expertise required exponentially increase as the wrecks get further from shore, deeper in the water, and as the vessels deteriorate with age, not to mention the insanity of trying to refloat a ship that has broken apart in the middle. The Titanic is a century-old wreck of a ship filled with water-soaked wooden paneling/furniture and rusting metal exteriors that has been rotting away as two ripped-apart halves of a ship in the bottom of the ocean far from shore, at a depth currently only accessible by very small submarines that can safely only contain 2-4 occupants, with more people willing to spend the millions to dive down to the ship than the billions needed to even start to raise it... ...and that's not even mentioning the bad juju from disturbing what is essentially an underwater tomb for the 1,500+ people who never made it off that sinking ship alive...

[@DardanellesBy108]

Cool! An early morning Ocean Liners Design video!

[@NorthernHandle]

Those are crazy plans. We can’t even do that now. What a video 👏.

[@Professional-struggler]

Very interesting 👍 cheers mate

[@mnhoss2100]

Great video as always sir

[@richardcutts196]

Hickey's plan while vastly expensive at least would work. You could use the same equipment to raise other lost ships in the same way. One of the best candidates is USS Yorktown. She's mostly intact and would be the only ship of her class still around. While she's a war grave the numbers are few, 141 officers and men were lost, and any remains could be returned to the families.

[@Straswa]

Great video Mike, thanks for the upload.

[@wingmanjim6]

Great job, Mike - again !!!! Thank you !

[@nancyschaefer3851]

Excellent, enjoyable, and technically very clear! Kudos

[@PedrosGarage]

This video along with a cup of coffee was the perfect start to my day. Cheers.

[@MrZhefish]

there was a media cd documentation around 1998 i got as a kid about all sorts of infos on the titanic with short videos, audio and documents on it. it talked about archibald butt, military advisor to then president taft, the personal relationship between the two promoted taft to inquire about the possibility to retrieve the body. one of the ideas floated was a robotic men to be sent down to search for him. however those "edutainment" media rarely referenced any sources to verify their claims. the physical reprints of the baggage sticker, ticket and menu of the last evening however where quite nice as far as i remember :-)

[@jtheriault16]

Great video. You always do a nice job with all your content! Did I see a picture of the USS Oklahoma being righted with cables during the salvage of ships at Pearl Harbor?

[@OceanlinerDesigns]

Yes that was her! Amazing story that, worthy of its own video for sure.

[@superboyrecordings]

learned so much from watching your incredible content. thanks for your work 💪

[@LeCharles07]

The floating the ship with ice idea is so MacGyver. I kind of actually want to see someone test the concept.

[@Pyxis10]

Heres a strange thought. The wreck is mostly buried in silt, which means that when the bow disintegrates part of it will still be there. Meaning it's possible that part of the Bow and Stern will fossilize. If the atlantic closes in the right way, 100's of millions of years from now, it may finally come to the surface again as a rock.

[@47foxtrotcharlie]

Just a little note. Titanic actually last saw the light of day in the evening of April 14th 1912 and not in the early morning of April 15th because it was very much dark at that time of morning.

[@IvoryRoses26]

Will you do a video on the Queen Elizabeth boat someday!!? It becoming part of the harbor sounds so interesting:)

[@deadislander]

The Titanic exhibition is coming to Melbourne this December!!!! don't forget to get your tickets Mike!!!

[@handsoffmycactus2958]

Good video. Not heard anyone tell me to “stay safe” for a few years though!