What Happened to the ‘Titanic’ After It Sank? See the Ship 113 Years Later

Nearly everyone knows the history of the RMS Titanic thanks to the 1997 blockbuster film starring Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio, but fewer know what became of the British ocean liner after it sunk beneath the waves on April 15, 1912.

On April 14, just before midnight, the 882-foot ship struck an iceberg, sparking a chain of events that would lead to one of the most dramatic shipwrecks in history, killing roughly 1,500 people, per Britannica.

One hundred and thirteen years later, much of the great vessel — and what’s left of its splendors — remains in the same spot it was found four decades ago in 1985, though decay and human interference have changed its form over time.

Oceanographer Robert D. Ballard, who discovered the Titanic 73 years after the crash, claimed to National Geographic in 2012 that tourists were “destroying” the underwater site, saying, “We have smoking gun evidence of all kinds of damage.”

Other parts of the ship and artifacts found within it have been excavated and more than 300 of those items will be on display at Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition in Las Vegas beginning on April 16, 2025.

Here is everything to know about where the Titanic is today and what condition the British ocean liner is in now.

When was the Titanic discovered?

According to National Geographic, Ballard discovered the Titanic on Sept. 1, 1985, when he spotted one of the ship’s great boilers.

The oceanographer revealed to the outlet that had been investigating the wreckage of two U.S. nuclear submarines in secret when he made the life-changing discovery.

Where is the Titanic now?

Britannica cites the ship’s exact geographical coordinates as 41°43′57′′ N 49°56′49′′ W.

However, as CNN reported in September 2024, the wreckage site is shrinking by the day. A July 2024 expedition by RMS Titanic Inc. revealed that a 15-foot section of the ship’s iconic bow had fallen away from the port side.

“We are saddened by this loss and the inevitable decay of the Ship and the debris,” the company stated via its website. “Although ‘Titanic’s collapse is inevitable, this evidence strengthens our mission to preserve and document what we can before it is too late.”

The company also gave an update on the artifacts found within the great ship, writing on Instagram, “Much of TITANIC’s fine art was made of organic materials, breaking down into the earth after many decades submerged in the hostile environment of the #NorthAtlantic.”

Five years prior, an exploration team from Triton submarines found evidence of similar damage during a series of five dives, per CNN.

“The most fascinating aspect was seeing how the ‘Titanic’ is being consumed by the ocean and returning to its elemental form while providing refuge for a remarkably diverse number of animals,” Triton Submarines president and cofounder Patrick Lahey told the outlet in 2019.

Have any parts of the Titanic wreckage been taken out of the sea?

In addition to the natural decay that the Titanic has seen over its time underwater, parts of the wreckage have been removed from the ship by various companies.

National Geographic reported in 2024 that 1,800 treasures were removed from the ship by Titanic Ventures Limited Partnership company as far back as 1987. The outlet reported that 2,000 more items were removed throughout the ‘90s by the company, which was granted exclusive salvaging rights by a U.S. federal court in 1994 under the condition that none of the items could be sold, per SFGate.

In 1998, a 15-ton piece of the boat’s starboard hull, known as “The Big Piece,” was removed from the ocean floor. Now, The Big Piece is one of the over 300 artifacts that will be on display at the Vegas exhibition in April 2025, according to its website.

Why can’t they raise the Titanic?

As author Daniel Stone wrote in his 2022 book Sinkable: Obsession, the Deep Sea, and the Shipwreck of the Titanic, “It will never come out. Not only is the exposed steel on the upper bow too brittle for even the most industrious crane operation, but the mud has also acted as deep-sea quicksand for longer than most humans have been alive.”

According to Business Insider, the ship will also remain underwater due to its memorial site status, with the U.S. and British governments agreeing to preserve the wreckage rather than salvage it.

Why did it take 73 years to find the Titanic?

Efforts to locate the Titanic began almost directly after it sank in 1912, but expeditioners were limited by the technology of the time.

Ballard reportedly led his first Titanic search in 1977 but it wasn’t until 1985, when he was equipped with an experimental submersible developed by the U.S. Navy called the Argo, that he was able to locate the Titanic.

How deep is the Titanic wreckage?

“The Titanic lies now in 13,000 feet of water on a gently sloping Alpine-looking countryside overlooking a small canyon below,” he said, per The Indian Express. “There is no light at this great depth and little life can be found. It is a quiet and peaceful place—and a fitting place for the remains of this greatest of sea tragedies to rest.”

Were bodies found in the Titanic shipwreck?

Ballard told NPR that the ship’s depth may be to blame, as it is deeper than what is known as the calcium carbonate depth.

“On the Titanic and on the Bismarck, those ships are below the calcium carbonate compensation depth so … the bones dissolve,” he explained.