The brass wheel has still pieces of the oak wood preserved according the
reports. It was recovered by an expedition to the wreck, which lies two-and-a-half
miles under the sea.
Photo. Cover from the
last great movie about the Titanic catastrophe.
The Titanic's
skipper, Captain E.J. Smith, declined to leave his post at the wheel as the ship
sank. 1,523 people lost their lives on its maiden voyage from Southampton to
New
York on the 15th April in 1912.
According to the legend, the skipper remained standing, shouting "Be British!"
as the ship began to sink after hitting an iceberg.
Detailed
information about the exploration was transmitted yesterday to
Britain via
Captain Ron Warwick on the Queen Elizabeth II. The ship had passed the Russian
vessel Akademik Keldysh, mother-ship for the Titanic Expedition 2000.
Graham Jessop,
at the expedition headquarters in Atlanta, said: "It is a very significant find." Earlier
this week the research team revealed that the wreck was disintegrating like
"melted chocolate".
| Photo: Items
from Titanic are displayed in the Maritime
Museum in
Halifax in
Canada. |
 |
RMS Titanic Inc,
which has exclusive rights to recover and conserve artefacts from the area, says
it is still retrieving items from the wreck lying 2½ miles under the sea, but
expedition members are worried about that it will not take too long before the
ship's remains falls apart.
The president of RMS Titanic, Arnie Geller,
says: "There is incalculable value down below and we are determined to
recover as much as possible."
The expedition is planned to
continue its work until the end of August this year.
Stein Morten Lund. 18 August
2000
Additional
information
For they who are particular interested to
see some of the remains from Titanic, can go to
Halifax in
Canada. At
the Maritime
Museum there is
it an own exhibition for ships wrecks where items from the Titanic are
displayed.
For more information about the Titanic ship and
the expedition, take a look at The Times` web site: www.the-times.co.uk
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