magnificenttitanic:
The “Big Piece” is a 15-ton section of the Titanic’s shell plating that was raised from the wreck in August, 1998, and is the largest piece recovered from the wreck. The GIF above shows what it looks like now, the original coat of white, yellow and black paint long gone, and how it looked freshly-painted in 1912.
Below is an inside view of the Big Piece.
(Source: www.hellovegas.com)
At nearly 27 feet long, this fragment of the shell plating extended from frame 38A to 29A (each frame in this area being 3 feet apart, and a frame being one of over 300 “ribs” of the hull’s structure), and extended from the top of the portholes on D Deck to the top of C Deck, on the starboard (right) side. On C Deck, this section of the hull plating formed the outside wall of and contained the portholes (technically called sidelights) for staterooms C-78 and C-81, as well as those rooms’ bathrooms. On D Deck, this section of plating formed the top portion of and contained portholes for part of Titanic’s immense and well-equipped 1st and 2nd class galley (kitchen), where food was prepared for the 1st and 2nd class passengers, and a glassware storage room.
The image below shows what was behind this section of the hull plating. (Hull section marked in red, green indicates where the fragment ends in those areas.)
(Source: Titanic General Arrangement plans by Bruce Beveridge.)
The image below shows a perspective view of this part of the hull on a virtual model of Titanic. The recovered “Big Piece” is outlined in green, and the walls and ceilings/floors of the aforementioned rooms are outlined in red.
The Big Piece was located in an area of the ship that was practically obliterated when the ship split in two. It was one of many fragments of shell plating, along with countless other pieces from the ship’s interior, shed from Titanic as she broke up. The tattered edges, bent plates and twisted beams of the Big Piece are a reminder of the most violent aspect of the sinking.
