Shocking, never-before-seen footage of the Titanic wreck to be finally released after 35 years

On Wednesday, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) is releasing rare and never-before-seen footage of the 1986 dive through the wreckage of the Titanic, reported the Associated Press. The footage, which lasts over 80 minutes, can be found on WHOI’s YouTube channel and showcases some of the remarkable achievements of the dive led by Robert Ballard. Using a towed underwater camera, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution team from Massachusetts, in collaboration with the French oceanographic exploration organization Institut français de recherche pour l’exploitation de la mer, located the ship's final resting place at a depth of 12,400 feet (3,780 meters) of water on September 1, 1985.

The release of the footage coincides with the 25th-anniversary release on February 10 of a remastered version of the Academy Award-winning movie Titanic directed by James Cameron. In a statement, James Cameron, who is also an explorer expressed that the human stories embodied in the great ship continue to resonate more than a century after its loss, and by releasing this footage, WHOI is helping to tell an important part of a story that spans generations and circles the globe.

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“More than a century after the loss of Titanic, the human stories embodied in the great ship continue to resonate. 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," he said.

Also Read:'Titanic' at 25: Eight facts you didn't know about James Cameron's watery epic

Originally released in 1997, the film dramatised the 1912 sinking of the HMS Titanic. The passenger liner, the largest afloat ship at the time and said to be unsinkable, collided with an iceberg in North Atlantic Ocean during its maiden voyage from UK's Southampton to New York, and sank. Somewhere between 1400 to 1600 people lost their lives. Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet played the lead roles, while Billy Zane, Kathy Bates, Frances Fisher, Gloria Stuart, Bernard Hill, Jonathan Hyde, Victor Garber, and Bill Paxton were in the supporting cast.

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