Map Shows How Close Titan Submersible Debris Was to Titanic Wreck

The map in the company’s filing displays a large dotted circle, labeled “Titan Debris Field,” in an area off to the right, or starboard side, of Titanic’s intact bow section. The map gives no other details, such as the field’s size. The map does, however, call the location approximate. The Coast Guard, when it announced on June 22 that the Titan submersible had suffered a catastrophic implosion, said the debris field lay about 1,600 feet from Titanic’s bow.

Jessica Sanders, president of RMS Titanic, said the seabed map was included in the legal filing as part of the company’s obligation to keep the court informed of its activities and, in this instance, how it had cooperated with the Titan investigation in the hours and days after the submersible went missing.

“We tried to help,” she said in an interview. “We gave them this map” so investigators could better understand the seabed features around the Titanic and thus stand a better chance of separating information about rocks and natural outcroppings from possible evidence of the craft itself or its remains.

Ms. Sanders said the map was developed partly by her employee who died in the Titan disaster — Paul-Henri Nargeolet, 77, a French submersible expert and a global authority on the Titanic, who was trying to make his 38th dive to the wreckage. “So part of it was his,” she said, referring to the map. She added that a memorial service for Mr. Nargeolet would be held next week in Paris.

Rob McCallum, the founder of EYOS Expeditions, who has led seven trips to the sunken liner, said the map displayed no unexpected features or clues. “Nothing unusual jumps out,” he said in an interview. The wreckage of the Titan submersible, he added, “is essentially where it was supposed to be.”