Screengrab from YouTube video A team of maritime historians has identified the surviving remains of the grand piano carried aboard RMS Titanic, more than a century after the instrument disappeared beneath the North Atlantic. The identification was announced through a two-part documentary produced by The Steam & Splendor Network, in collaboration with HFX Studios and members of the historical team behind the book On a Sea of Glass: The Life & Loss of the RMS Titanic. The object appears in only a few seconds of raw remotely operated vehicle footage in the collection of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association collection, recorded in the debris field near Titanic’s bow in 2003. Although the wooden cabinet has largely disappeared, the piano’s heavy cast-iron plate—sometimes called the “harp”—remains recognizable on the seabed. Maritime historian, author and piano technician J. Kent Layton recognized the object while reviewing the footage. The shape and design corresponds with the plate used in a Steinway Model B grand piano. Titanic carried only one grand piano: the Model B installed in the First Class Reception Room. “This was not an upright piano plate,” Layton said. “The distinctive curve around the tail and the arrangement of the structural braces immediately identified it as a grand. When the surviving details were compared with Steinway Model B plans and period examples, it was clear what we were looking at.” According to surviving records, the instrument was Steinway Model B serial number 146272, manufactured at Steinway’s Hamburg factory and specially decorated with an art case to harmonize with the Reception Room’s interior. It was played during Titanic’s maiden voyage by members of the ship’s celebrated orchestra, including bandleader Wallace Hartley. Passengers gathered in the room for afternoon and evening performances, and contemporary accounts mention selections from The Tales of Hoffmann and Cavalleria Rusticana. Part One: Titanic’s Lost G