Rare unseen video of dive through Titanic wreckage being released

Rare and in some cases never before publicly seen video of the 1986 dive through the wreckage of the Belfast-built Titanic is being released.

About 1,500 people died during the ship’s maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City.

A team from the Massachusetts-based WHOI, in partnership with the French oceanographic exploration organisation Institut francais de recherche pour l’exploitation de la mer, discovered the final resting place of the ship in 12,400 feet (3,780 metres) of water on September 1 1985 using a towed underwater camera.

Nine months later, a WHOI team returned to the site in the famous three-person research submersible Alvin and the remotely operated underwater exploration vehicle Jason Jr, which took images of the ship’s interior.

“More than a century after the loss of Titanic, the human stories embodied in the great ship continue to resonate,” ocean explorer and filmmaker James Cameron said in a statement.

“Like many, I was transfixed when Alvin and Jason Jr ventured down to and inside the wreck. By releasing this footage, WHOI is helping tell an important part of a story that spans generations and circles the globe.”