Titanic expedition team flees hurricane

Officials from Expedition Titanic said in a statement yesterday that

they were heading back to Newfoundland because high seas and winds brought on by hurricane Danielle were preventing researchers from carrying out their work.

The scientists were using a pair of robots to take thousands of photographs and hours of video of the wreck, which lies roughly 2.5 miles below the surface.

The hi-resolution images include shots of the ship's bow, clearly showing the railing and anchors.

The expedition left Newfoundland earlier this month to the spot in the Atlantic where the ship struck an iceberg in 1912 and sank.

More than 1,500 passengers and crew perished on the ship's maiden voyage.

Scientist are using imaging technology and sonar devices that were never used before on the Titanic wreck. They are probing nearly a century of sediment in the debris to make a full inventory of the ship's artefacts.

The expedition is a partnership between RMS Titanic Inc, which has exclusive salvage rights to the wreck, and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts.

The expedition will not collect artefacts but is due to probe a two-by-three-mile debris "field".

Expedition officials said they intend to return to finish their work after a few days.

Since oceanographer Robert Ballard and his colleagues discovered the Titanic in 1985, most of the expeditions were either to photograph the wreck or gather items such as fine china, shoes and the ship's fittings.

Titanic film director James Cameron also went to the wreck to record the bow and the stern, which separated during the sinking and now lie about a third of a mile apart.