Some of these rivets have been tested to see if they contain any impurities. "There were high concentrations of slag in these, which is a glass-like material that makes them maybe a little bit more brittle in the cold," she says.
"If these rivets were brittle, and one of the rivet heads popped off more easily, then it could have allowed the seam to open up where the iceberg hit and made it bigger than it otherwise would have been."
Still, we do not know how exactly the ship sank, Tomasina says. "We're able to help look into the theories, so being able to contribute to the science and that story behind it is something that we're very happy to do."
Life on board was different for the social classes, even down to the cups and plates they would drink from and eat off. The wealthy first-class passengers were given silver service for their meals, but in second and third class, it was a different story.
A white third-class mug is simple and sturdy, with a bright red White Star logo. A second-class plate has a pretty blue floral decoration and looks a little finer. But a first-class dinner plate is made of more delicate china. It has a gold trim and, under the light, you can catch a glimpse of an intricate garland pattern.
"Third-class passengers would have probably handled the china themselves, so it was definitely meant to be much more stable and much more roughly handled than the other china," explains Tomasina.
Until now, all the artifacts have been collected from the debris field. But recently RMS Titanic Inc has expressed its controversial desire to retrieve an object from the ship itself— the Marconi radio equipment which transmitted the Titanic's distress calls on the night it sank.
Some believe the wreck is a grave site and should be left alone. "Titanic is something that we want to respect," Tomasina says in response. "We want to make sure that we're preserving the memory, because not everyone can go down to Titanic, and we want to be able to bring that to the public."
More room could soon be needed on the shelves of this secret warehouse. The company's latest expedition to the site involved taking millions of images of the wreck to create a detailed 3D scan.
As well as surveying the current condition of the Marconi radio room, the team have also been identifying objects in the debris field that they would like to retrieve in future dives.
Who knows what they will find and what untold stories each item may reveal about the ill-fated Titanic and its passengers.
