Titanic: The Digital Resurrection

After searching for over a week in 1985, underwater explorer Robert Ballard followed a trail of debris and eventually located some twisted and jumbled steel resting on the ocean floor. Waiting until he identified a large steam boiler, Ballard was confident when he announced to the world that he had found the RMS Titanic 12,467 feet below the Atlantic Ocean, 400 miles off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada.

Since the Titanic was first located in 1985, various expeditions have ventured to the site to document the wreckage and to recover items strewn across the ocean floor. At crushing depths, special submersibles are needed to withstand the immense pressure. Because of the danger and the costly equipment needed, up to this point, the entire rust-covered remains of the Titanic (in total darkness) have been photographed only in pieces and then stitched together with computer software.

This one-hour National Geographic special, Titanic: The Digital Resurrection, documents something that has never been done before. A team of explorers, using high-resolution cameras attached to remotely controlled unmanned submarines, took over 715,000 sonar images to create an exact full-scale 3D digital recreation (called a digital twin) of the Titanic in stunning detail.

As the three expert hosts examine the entire site projected on gigantic screens, they find evidence that either backs up or disproves eyewitness accounts of what happened that night—April 10, 1912—when the unsinkable Titanic scraped an iceberg, flooded with seawater, and sank to the bottom of the ocean. Tragically, the ship took over 1,500 people down into the depths to their final resting place.

The Titanic is the most famous shipwreck in history. Numerous lessons can be learned when reflecting on the events of that night and the personal items still lying on the ocean floor: shoes, plates, cups, leather bags, jewelry, and a child’s doll. For Christian audiences, the greatest takeaway might be that every day is a precious gift that can be lived with the full assurance in God’s love, while never knowing what tomorrow holds. (Rated TV-14, Disney +)