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- Part of Titanic's iconic front tip has fallen off at the bottom of the ocean, researchers report.
- The prow inspired one of the most famous scenes in James Cameron's 1997 film about the shipwreck.
- They also located the site of "Diana of Versailles," a prized statue thought to have been lost.
One of the most recognizable parts of the Titanic has fallen off after more than a century on the ocean floor.
The story of the ship's historic wreck was immortalized by James Cameron's eponymous 1997 movie. One of the film's best-known scenes appears early on when Jack, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, raises Rose, played by Kate Winslet, into the air as they stand at the very front of the ocean liner.
"I'm flying!" Rose says as she spreads her arms.
But an uncrewed dive to the wreck this summer revealed that a segment of that very part of the ship has fallen apart, NPR reported on Monday.
"We discovered when we reached the wreck last month that the port side railing has fallen off," James Penca, a researcher with RMS Titanic, Inc., which has sole salvage rights over the Titanic's remains, told NPR. "This is a very natural thing, different parts of the railing are getting weaker. But for such a high-profile and highly photographed and iconic railing to now be resting on the ocean floor below, it's a significant change."
"Titanic will literally never look the same," he added.
RMS Titanic made the discovery when it sent a vehicle equipped "with high-resolution cameras and scanning equipment" down for the first time since 2010, according to NPR.
One goal of the mission was to find and photograph artifacts that could be recovered in the future, Penca said. The most coveted item was "Diana of Versailles," a two-foot-tall bronze statue from Titanic's first-class lounge, he said. The statue had last been photographed in 1986, and the odds of finding it again were like finding "a needle in a haystack," Penca added.
"After many trials and errors, we did manage to find Diana and take her first photos in 38 years, and we found her with just hours remaining in the expedition," Penca told NPR.
During the dive, researchers also took 2 million photos of the Titanic, NPR reported. Time is of the essence to record as much of the shipwreck on camera as possible, since scientists have predicted that bacteria could consume enough of the metal frame that the ruins could disappear in a handful of years.
More than a century after it sunk during its maiden voyage in 1912, killing more than 1,500 of its passengers, the story of the Titanic has continued to beckon adventurers hoping to view the shipwreck with their own eyes. But the journey to its resting site, more than 12,000 feet below the surface of the Atlantic, is fraught with danger.
Last year, the now-shuttered company OceanGate Expeditions became the center of a global spectacle when five people died after their submersible, the Titan, imploded while en route down, leaving a debris field on the seafloor.
Following the incident, RMS Titanic said it was planning another dive to the ship's wreck, but that it wouldn't go immediately after the disaster.