Olympic-class ocean liner
When "Titanic" sank in 1912 and "Britannic" sank in 1916, their sinkings did not receive the same attention, due to the death toll (1,517 on "Titanic" and 30 on "Britannic"). Because the exact position of the sinking of the "Britannic" is known and the location is shallow, the wreck was discovered relatively easily in 1975. "Titanic", however, drew everyone's attention in 1912. After several attempts, the wreck was finally located by Jean-Louis Michel of Ifremer and Robert Ballard following a top secret mission for the US Navy to investigate the wreckage of two nuclear submarines, USS Thresher (SSN-593) and the USS Scorpion (SSN-589), that sank in the North Atlantic in the 1960s. The discovery of the wreck occurred on 1 September 1985, at 25 kilometres from the position given of the sinking. The wreck lies about 4,000 metres deep, broken in two. The bow is relatively well preserved, but the stern partially imploded, and to a large extent disintegrated during the descent and impact on the seabed.
Legends and myths regarding RMS Titanic
The root of this claim comes from the testimony of one of the "Samson"'s officers, Hendrik Bergethon Naess, who told a Norwegian newspaper in 1912 that his ship had been near a large liner with "many lights" shooting rockets into the sky the morning of April 15th. Because the "Samson" was seal hunting illegally in territorial waters, the ship's officers decided to move on quickly to avoid detection. This claim seems unlikely as the Titanic was 400 miles off the coast of Newfoundland, well beyond territorial waters in 1912. The ship had no radio, so they wouldn't have received any of the "Titanic"s distress signals. Naess claimed that the crew only became aware of the "Titanic"s sinking after they arrived in Isafjordur, Iceland in mid-May. If correct, the coordinates of "Samson" place her within 10 miles of "Titanic"s position as the ship was sinking. .