Titanic's Sister, Britannic, Sank in 1916. Divers Have Recovered Artifacts
Posted3 months agoActive3 months ago
smithsonianmag.comResearchstory
calmpositive
Debate
20/100
Underwater ArchaeologyTitanicMaritime History
Key topics
Underwater Archaeology
Titanic
Maritime History
Divers have recovered artifacts from the wreck of the Britannic, Titanic's sister ship, which sank in 1916, sparking discussion about the ship's history and the significance of the recovery.
Snapshot generated from the HN discussion
Discussion Activity
Moderate engagementFirst comment
2h
Peak period
10
3-6h
Avg / period
3.1
Comment distribution22 data points
Loading chart...
Based on 22 loaded comments
Key moments
- 01Story posted
Sep 26, 2025 at 10:08 AM EDT
3 months ago
Step 01 - 02First comment
Sep 26, 2025 at 12:07 PM EDT
2h after posting
Step 02 - 03Peak activity
10 comments in 3-6h
Hottest window of the conversation
Step 03 - 04Latest activity
Sep 28, 2025 at 4:01 AM EDT
3 months ago
Step 04
Generating AI Summary...
Analyzing up to 500 comments to identify key contributors and discussion patterns
ID: 45386690Type: storyLast synced: 11/20/2025, 1:30:03 PM
Want the full context?
Jump to the original sources
Read the primary article or dive into the live Hacker News thread when you're ready.
I do not know many people who would rent a rebreather, as those tend to become fairly personal to the diver when doing that kind of dives, and the required dive training is based on specific brands and units.
I'm aware of the ultimate reasons for those sanctions, but it seems weird in this narrow context to say it's "because of Russia". No, it's expensive because of the EU, which decided to make it expensive, unilaterally.
1. https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/qanda_...
In combination, US military decided to sell a large portion of their stored helium to a single private firm around the same time, rather then sell it off in smaller chunks, and that seems to also have decreased the global supply.
As a semi-new idea people are experimenting with hydrogen as a replacement for helium, which could become much cheaper and renewable compared to helium. Time will tell how bad idea it is to mix high pressure, oxygen and hydrogen while under water.
I don't see why you're insisting on this passive and inaccurate description.
Someone unfamiliar with this might infer that Russia considered Helium a strategic asset and forbade its export, when the reality is that to the extent that your initial claim is in any way relevant to Helium prices, it's the other way around: The EU forbade the import of Russian helium.
CCRs are a specialist apparatus, and CCR certification is against a particular model or family of rebreathers – e.g. Buddy Inspiration/Evolution, Kiss Sidekick, Kiss Spirit, etc. Unlike open-circuit scuba certification, there isn't a generic "CCR certification".
Anyone intending (and qualified) to dive to 100m+ on a rebreather will certainly want to do it on their own equipment.
What a strange concept, owner of a shipwreck... But, indeed, TFA links to a Q&A with the British owner who purchased the wreck in 1996:
https://thehistorypress.co.uk/article/qa-with-simon-mills-ow...
If I own a ship on land I have to pay property taxes but if I just sink it to the bottom of the ocean I have people pay me!
Maritime laws just seem overly weird though. If I lost a car in the woods then after 100 years it seems pretty reasonable that any scrapper could take it and salvage what they want ...
Of the fees alone are $6k that’s moderately high but not unreasonable.
There were less people non-commercial diving below 100m, than people reaching the top of the everest. If someone has Britannic on his list, then he's ether an extremely talented very serious technical diver with 500+ logged dives or it's just a pipe dream.
In the header image, the interesting gray-bar informational panel placed on the wreck caught my eye. I wonder what it's for?
I assume it's to calibrate scale and color for the underwater photography equipment, but would be interested to learn more from someone who knows for certain.
The NPS has a few different ones for paleontology, underwater archaeology, etc.
Olympic was the first of this trio, was damaged and retired in 1935 and some artifacts from it is in White Swan Hotel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Swan_Hotel,_Alnwick#Gall...
Belfast is a really easy city to get around. The airport is very close to the centre and there are cheap regular flights from the UK.