Lifting the Titanic The idea of lifting the wreck of the Titanic raises many engineering and logistical

challenges, along with moral and environmental issues. The wreck is currently submerged on the sea floor 3840m below sea-level and around 530km from the ewfoundland coast. !s it sank it s"lit into two large sections, the bow and the stern, with many other "ieces of debris being scattered in a #km radius around these two "ieces. There was an unsuccessful attem"t in #$$% to raise a "iece of the Titanic&s hull, which had a mass of around '0 tonnes. This was a""roached by attaching four floatation bags to the "iece, which raised it to around '00m below sea level. These floatation bags were full of diesel which is lighter than water and therefore "rovides u"thrust. (owever, on the first attem"t, a boat which was "ulling the "iece '00m below sea level was caught in a storm, which "ut large stresses on the towing chains, causing them to break. The "iece sank back to the seabed. (ere then, clearly, it shows the difficulty in lifting )ust a single &small& "iece. *onsidering the combined mass of the entire shi" is around 40,000 tonnes, the man"ower and time it would take to lift the shi" "iece by "iece would need to be massive. Trans"orting individual "ieces to the mainland is not a +uick "rocess and would "robably take a number of days "er item. ,n #$$8 the "iece that had been dro""ed was relocated. ,t was again lifted by floatation bags but this time was winched on board a trans"orting shi" instead of attem"ting to drag it through the sea again. The recovery of this "iece showed some of the "roblems that would face anyone wishing to lift the entire shi"wreck. There are two main constraints- the time it would take to lift the shi"wreck "iece by "iece and then either reconstruct it or dis"lay the "ieces in various museums, or the sheer si.e of the vessels that would be re+uired to move an entire section such as the bow or stern. ,f one of these sections was somehow lifted to the surface, then it would "ose "roblems with what to do with it after that. ,t could not realistically be lifted onto another shi", leaving towing it to shore the only feasible o"tion. /ven then it would need somewhere to rest and would still need buoyancy aid to kee" it afloat. To re"eat this "rocess for the other main section would )ust double the cost and double the s"ace needed to store the two "ieces. This scenario also assumes that the "ieces would stay structurally intact once moved. (owever, this is highly unlikely. 0tudying the small "iece that was lifted, rusting had e1"ectedly occurred over the many years that the metal had been on the sea floor, slowed only slightly by the cold tem"erature of the water. (owever, in '0#0, a new threat to the shi"wreck was discovered in the form of a new strain of bacteria. This bacteria feeds off iron o1ide, causing the shi" to disintegrate at an even faster rate. 0cientists "redict that within #5 or '0 years the shi"wreck may be little more than a &rust stain& on the sea floor. There are also moral and environmental issues to consider. 2any believe that as it is a grave shi", it should be left where it sank to act as a resting "lace for the hundreds or "eo"le that died in the tragic accident. The environmental issues "osed are that an ecosystem has evolved around the shi"wreck, with various scientific e1"editions uncovering new s"ecies of "lants and animals along with newly discovered bacteria. 3isru"ting this ecosystem could "ossibly lead to the e1tinction of these new s"ecies, something many scientists would be against. 4verall then, it seems +uite clear that the conce"t of lifting the wreck of the Titanic is an unrealistic one. 3egradation of the metal combined with how dee" and heavy the "ieces are shows that even if a very large amount of money was invested in the idea, the chances of success would be e1tremely low. 5hen cou"led with the moral and environmental issues, it seems best to leave the shi"wreck where it lies, and let it act as reminder to humanity of the vulnerability we have when faced with the forces and ha.ards of nature.