Rare footage of 1986 dive to be released

Rare video capturing the 1986 dive through the wreckage of the Titanic at the bottom of the Atlantic will be released Wednesday evening, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution announced.

Most of the footage – which was captured by cameras on the human-occupied submersible “Alvin” and the remotely-operated “Jason Junior” in July 1986 – “has never been released to the public,” the WHOI writes.

The 1986 dive led by famed-oceanographer Robert Ballard marked “the first time humans had set eyes on the ill-fated ship since 1912,” the WHOI notes.

During the ship’s maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, the Titanic struck an iceberg and sank into the North Atlantic in April 1912. Some 1,500 people died, according to Encyclopaedia Britannica.