A bronze statue from the Titanic — not seen in decades and feared to be lost for
good — is among the discoveries made by the company with salvage rights to
the wreck site on its first expedition there in years.

RMS Titanic Inc., a Georgia- based company that holds the legal rights to the
112-year-old wreck, has completed its first trip since 2010 and released images
from the expedition Monday. The pictures show a site that continues to change
more than a century later.

The trip to the remote corner of the North Atlantic Ocean where the Titanic
sank happened as the U.S. Coast Guard investigates the June 2023 implosion of
the Titan, an experimental submersible owned by a different company. The
Titan submersible disaster killed all five people on board, including Paul-Henri
Nargeolet, who was director of underwater research for RMS Titanic.

The findings from this summer’s trip “showcase a bittersweet mix of
preservation and loss,” RMS Titanic said in a statement. A highlight was the
rediscovery of the statue “Diana of Versailles,” last seen in 1986, and the statue
now has a clear and updated image, the company said.

On a sadder note, a significant section of the railing that surrounds the ship
bow’s forecastle deck has fallen, RMS Titanic said. The railing still stood as
recently as 2022, the company said.

The crew spent 20 days at the site and returned to Providence, Rhode Island, on
Aug. 9. They captured more than 2 million of the highest resolution pictures of
the site ever to exist, the company said. The team also fully mapped the wreck
and its debris field with equipment that should improve understanding of the
site, RMS Titanic said.