Where is the Titanic now? Location of shipwreck in 2023 - who was on board and is there a scan of the ship?

A tourist submarine went missing during a dive to the Titanic's wreck on Sunday (18 June) and a search and rescue operation is underway. Contact with the small sub was lost around an hour and 45 minutes into its dive, the US Coast Guard said, and tour firm OceanGate said five people were onboard.

The missing craft is believed to be OceanGate's Titan submersible, which usually dives with a four-day emergency supply of oxygen. The company offers eight-day missions to see the Titanic debris at a cost of $250,000 per person, and they have confirmed that its submarine was lost at sea with crew members on board.

British billionaire Hamish Haring, chairman of private plane firm Action Aviation, Shahzada Dawood, one of the richest people in Pakistan and his son Sulaiman Dawood are confirmed to be three of the five people on board. Renowned French diver Paul-Henri Nargeolet and Stockton Rush, chief executive of OceanGate, is also widely reported to be on the vessel, however, this is yet to be confirmed.

So where is the Titanic now in 2023 and is there are a scan available of the site? Here is what you need to know.

Where is the Titanic now?

The wreck of the Titanic is located in the Atlantic Ocean, lying at a depth of around 2.5 miles (3,800m) and located an estimated 370 miles (600km) off the coast of Newfoundland in Canada. The ship is split in two, with the pieces lying about 600 m apart. The vessel was discovered in 1985 by Dr Robert Ballard from WHOI and a French exploration team. This was the first time the shipwreck had been seen since it sank in April 1912.

Where the Titanic sank:

In an interview with Associated Press, Ballard recalled discovering the shipwreck, he said: “I never looked down at the Titanic. I looked up at the Titanic. Nothing was small. It was like people looking back at us. It was pretty haunting actually.”

The passenger liner, which was the largest ship of its time, hit an iceberg in 1912, as it made its maiden voyage from Southampton to New York. Of the 2,200 passengers and crew onboard, over 1,500 died.

Is there a scan of the Titanic?

For the first time in history, a full sized digital scan has been made of the Titanic, with Parks Stephenson, a Titanic analyst, stating the images could reveal new secrets about the ship. Talking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Stephenson said: "There is still much to learn from the wreck, which is essentially the last surviving eyewitness to the disaster. She has stories to tell."

The scan itself was created in summer 2022 by a deep-sea mapping company Magellan Ltd and Atlantic Productions, which is making a documentary about the endeavour. Earlier this year, rare footage of the 1986 dive to the Titanic’s shipwreck released by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI).

The 80 minute video unveiled never before seen footage of the iconic luxury White Star Liner, which sank off the coast of Newfoundland in April 1912 after it struck an iceberg. An estimated 1,500 people died during the ship’s maiden voyage from Southampton to New York.

The release of the footage comes as the film Titanic celebrates its 25th anniversary, starring Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio it won 11 Academy Awards including best picture in 1997. A remastered version of the movie was released on 10 February, in a statement, its director James Cameron said he was “transfixed” by the footage, adding that “more than a century after the loss of Titanic, the human stories embodied in the great ship continue to resonate.”

Can I visit the Titanic shipwreck?

Visitors have been able to visit the Titanic shipwreck since 2021, but the opportunity doesn’t come cheap, reported by The Independent in 2021, the price to visit the iconic ship on an expedition will set you back £95,000.

Diving expeditions to the site are available through OceanGate, with annual dives to document the ship and its state of decay planned every year. On their website they say the dives will: “collect images, videos, laser, and sonar data” to “allow objective assessment of the rate of decay and documentation of the process.” But the invitation isn’t open to anyone, to be eligible you must be a qualified explorer and be able to join as a “Mission Specialist” crewmember for a 10 day expedition with eight days at sea.

Will it ever be raised?

It’s unlikely the shipwreck of the Titanic will ever be raised. Reported by ABC in 2012 on the one hundredth anniversary of the ship’s sinking, Ballard explained that raising the ship “would destroy it.” Whilst archaeologist James Delgado, chief of the maritime heritage office at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said: “Titanic is a wreck that the world cannot leave alone. We can’t raise her, and we can’t keep her forever as it is now. But we can celebrate her and let her tell her story to future generations.”

How can you watch Titanic shipwreck footage?

The footage is available to watch on the WHOI’s YouTube channel. The dive was led by Robert Ballard in 1986 and offered the world’s first glimpse of the iconic ocean liner, since it had sunk in April 1912.

Speaking about the importance of the footage Titanic director James Cameron said in a statement: “More than a century after the loss of Titanic, the human stories embodied in the great ship continue to resonate. Like many, I was transfixed when Alvin and Jason Jr ventured down to and inside the wreck. By releasing this footage, WHOI is helping tell an important part of a story that spans generations and circles the globe.”