The Titanic hit an iceberg which caused flooding in its front compartments and caused the bow to sink and the stern to rise. As the ship continued sinking, its funnels were lost one by one and the stern rose to nearly 60 degrees. The ship eventually split in two between its third and fourth funnels. The bow sank completely, pulling the stern vertically before detaching. The stern floated briefly before foundering completely. It took over 70 years before Dr. Robert Ballard discovered the wreck of the Titanic on the bottom of the Atlantic ocean in 1985.