LOOK: New details of Titanic's final hours revealed in 3D scans

Detailed 3D scans of the doomed liner RMS Titanic revealed more insight into the ship’s final hours. 

The "digital twin" of the ship served as a key resource for Titanic: The Digital Resurrection, a new documentary from National Geographic and Atlantic Productions.

The scans by deep-sea mapping company Magellan revealed the full view of the shipwreck on the seabed, showing it had been broken into two.

A prominent finding was that of the ship’s boiler room. Analysis of the scan revealed that some boilers were concave, suggesting they were still functioning as the ship sank. Additionally, an open valve indicated that steam continued to flow into the power generation system.

This proves eyewitness reports that engineers remained at their posts, maintaining the ship’s electricity.

“[The engineers] kept the lights and the power working to the end, to give the crew time to launch the lifeboats safely with some light instead of in absolute darkness,” Titanic analyst Parks Stephenson told the BBC. 

Additionally, a computer simulation suggested that rips the size of A4 paper in the hull caused the ship to sink.

The detailed scan also revealed new close-up features, including a porthole likely shattered by the iceberg. This corroborates survivor accounts of ice entering some cabins during the collision.

Finally, the 3D scans help in clearing the name of First Officer William Murdoch, who was previously accused of abandoning his post. 

The scans reveal the position of a lifeboat davit, the equipment used to lower lifeboats, which aligns with eyewitness testimony that Murdoch was washed into the sea while the crew was attempting to deploy them.

The RMS Titanic sank in 1912 after it collided with an iceberg. The accident resulted in the tragic loss of around 1,500 lives, a devastating end for the ship touted to be unsinkable.