Science Archaeology Civil War shipwreck remains in'fantastic' shape on ocean floor The USS Monitor was an ironclad ship nicknamed a'Yankee cheesebox.' A bathymetric view of USS Monitor, looking at the stern of the wreck with the boilers and inner framework of the armor belt captured by Northrop Grumman using μSAS . Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. One of the most famous shipwrecks in United States history has received a glow-up, courtesy of stunningly detailed, underwater 3D scanning technology. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) recently released highlights from its 2025 survey of the USS Monitor, the iconic prototype ironclad warship that sank during the Civil War .

The wreck was like a bug on the wall, a jumbly shape splayed on the abyssal plain. It was noticed by a team of autonomous-underwater-vehicle operators on board a subsea exploration vessel, working at an undisclosed location in the Atlantic Ocean, about a thousand miles from the nearest shore. The analysts belonged to a small private company that specializes in deep-sea search operations; I have been asked not to name it. They were looking for something else. In the past decade, the company has helped to transform the exploration of the seabed by deploying fleets of A.U.V.s--underwater drones--which cruise in formation, mapping large areas of the ocean floor with high-definition imagery.

Its discovery 3,000 metres beneath the Antarctic ice in 2022 was nothing short of miraculous. But now, stunning images make it possible to see Ernest Shackleton's ship, Endurance, like never before. Released as part of a new documentary called Endurance, this model shows exactly what the ship would have looked like before it was lost to the ice in 1915. From plates used for the daily meals to the flare gun fired in tribute to the sinking ship, the scan reveals the minute details of life aboard Endurance. Nico Vincent, of Deep Ocean Search who developed the technology for the scan, told the BBC: 'It's absolutely fabulous.

The ship itself remained lost until 2022. Its discovery made headlines around the world - and the footage of Endurance revealed that it is beautifully preserved by the icy waters. The new 3D scan was made using underwater robots that mapped the wreck from every angle, taking thousands of photographs. These were then "stitched" together to create a digital twin. While footage filmed at this depth can only show parts of Endurance in the gloom, the scan shows the complete 44m long wooden wreck from bow to stern - even recording the grooves carved into the sediment as the ship skidded to a halt on the seafloor. The model reveals how the ship was crushed by the ice - the masts toppled and parts of the deck in tatters - but the structure itself is largely intact.

Even after a century beneath the water, the Titanic's bow remains one of the most magnificent and haunting sights in the ocean. However, a new survey of the wreck site has revealed that the railing, made famous by Jack and Rose, has now collapsed into rust. Haunting images snapped by underwater robots through the years show the great ship's bow has gradually eroded. Experts say that its metal construction and frequent human visits mean it is only a matter of time before the Titanic collapses. Dr Rodrigo Pacheco-Ruiz, archaeological data manager for HMS Victory and maritime archaeologist from the University of Southampton, told MailOnline: 'The realistic view is that because she's such a big metal object, she won't be there for very long.' Haunting pictures reveal how the Titanic's iconic bow has decayed in the 37 years between 1987 and 2010 Earlier this week, RMS Titanic Inc, the company which holds the salvage rights for the ship, released new images and footage of the sunken liner.

Adventurers set sail for the wreck of the Titanic on Friday – marking the first expedition since the doomed OceanGate mission over a year ago that tragically killed five men. The Georgia-based firm that owns the salvage rights to Titanic, called RMS Titanic Inc, is probing the sunken ocean liner using two remotely operated vehicles (ROVs). According to the BBC, the robotic vehicles will reach 12,000ft (3,700 metres) down – the bottom of the North Atlantic, where the remains of the Titanic lie. They will capture millions of high-resolution photos to make a new 3D model of the debris, which is quickly deteriorating and could be lost in a few decades. A plaque will also be laid on the seabed in honour of Frenchman Paul-Henri Nargeolet, director of research at RMS Titanic Inc, who was one of the five Titan victims.

The mother of the 19-year-old killed aboard the Titan submersible said the plan had been for her to accompany her husband on a trip to see the wreck of the Titanic at the bottom of the sea. She "stepped back" from going on the trip because of her son's enthusiasm, Christine Dawood told the BBC, and he boarded the ill-fated craft carrying a Rubik's Cube and dreaming of setting a world record. He and his father, Shahzada Dawood, died when the vessel imploded. Christine Dawood told the news outlet the original plan was for her to accompany her husband on the underwater trek roughly 12,500 feet below the surface to view the Titanic. The original trip, however, was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Suleman Dawood, the 19-year-old who died aboard OceanGate's Titan submersible last week, hoped to set the world record for solving a Rubik's Cube in the deep ocean, his mother said Monday. Dawood and his father, Shahzada, had finished the process of applying to the Guinness World Records and entered the submersible equipped with a camera to record the achievement. Christine Dawood and her daughter remained aboard the Polar Prince mother ship while the submersible descended toward the wreck of the Titanic earlier this month, she told the BBC in an interview. Christine spoke of the moment the crew of the Prince informed her they had lost communications with the submersible. "I didn't comprehend at that moment what it meant – and then it just went downhill from there," she said.

A necklace'made from the tooth of a megalodon shark' is revealed in new images from the wreckage of RMS Titanic. The stunning artefact – which has not been worn since the ship's sinking in April 1912 – was identified in footage taken last summer by Guernsey-based firm Magellan Ltd. The footage was shot during efforts to capture the first digital scans of the shipwreck, which present the wreck almost as if it's been retrieved from the water. Other objects surrounding the necklace have not been identified, although it appears to be surrounded by small ring-shaped beads. Magellan Ltd, which is working with Atlantic Productions on a documentary about last year's expedition, is prohibited from taking them from the sea floor, however.

A whopping 350 years after it sank off the coast of Norfolk, authorities have revealed on Friday that HMS Gloucester has finally been found. The'outstanding' ship, which sank on May 6, 1682 after hitting the Norfolk sandbanks in the southern North Sea, was uncovered 28 miles off the coast of Great Yarmouth half-buried on the seabed. But HMS Gloucester is just one of thousands of shipwrecks that litter the British coast, the majority of which haven't been seen by the human eye for centuries. It's thought nearly 40,000 wrecks could be waiting to be found off the British coast, according to Historic England, providing snapshots of the UK's rich maritime heritage. But at least 90 are known to exist and experts have pinpointed their location, although many likely won't ever be brought to land and could disintegrate to nothing in the decades to come.