PHOTOS: Discovery of a long-lost Titanic statue, decay of the ill-fated ship

New images of the Titanic were released on Monday, revealing the sight of a long-lost goddess statue and the decay of history's most famous shipwreck.

A recent expedition by RMS Titanic, Inc., an organization dedicated to preserving the Titanic's legacy, spent 20 days at the wreck site this summer mapping the sunken ship and capturing over 2 million images and videos, according to the team.

During this expedition, they discovered a statue called “Diana of Versailles,” a 2-foot-tall bronze statuette of Diana, the ancient Roman goddess of wild animals and the hunt. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, Diana's name was related to the Latin words for “sky” and “daylight.”

The RMS Titanic, Inc. team said Diana served as the centerpiece of the First Class Lounge, which was torn open when the Titanic sank in 1912. While Diana embodied the sky and daylight, her final resting place was in the darkness of the sea floor.

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The statue was not discovered until 1986, over 70 years later, but was lost again until the final expedition of the RMS Titanic, Inc. The images of Diana taken by Marine Imaging Technologies show the intricate details of the statue.

View and close up of Diana.

(RMS Titanic, Inc. / FOX Weather)

While the rediscovery of the Diana was an exciting discovery during the expedition, the team also discovered remnants of decay and destruction on the Titanic that were over 100 years old.

One of them affected the bow of the ship. Where there was once a “miraculously” intact railing, a 15-foot section on the port side is now missing, the expedition team said.

Together with their partners from 3D at Depth, they then examined multibeam images of the bow and found that the railing had fallen off in one piece and was lying on the seabed.

Side by side the port railing intact (2010) and then disappeared (2024).

(RMS Titanic, Inc. / FOX Weather)

“We are saddened by this loss and the inevitable deterioration of the ship and the wreckage,” said RMS Titanic, Inc. “Over the coming weeks and months, we will continue to examine Titanic's condition and how it has changed over time.”

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“Although the sinking of the Titanic is inevitable, this evidence reinforces our mission to preserve and document everything we can before it is too late,” they added.

Picture of the missing port railing at the bow.

(RMS Titanic, Inc. / FOX Weather)

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The RMS Titanic sank in April 1912 after colliding with an iceberg in the North Atlantic. According to NOAA, most of the ship lies 12,000 feet below sea level and about 400 miles off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada.