HALIFAX, Nova Scotia -- The wreck of Carpathia, the ship that rescued passengers of the Titanic, is intact and sitting upright at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, according to video images released for the first time Friday. The wreck, which was found May 27, rests 500 feet beneath the Atlantic Ocean in waters 120 miles south of Fastnet, Ireland.

The Carpathia was the first ship on the scene after the Titanic sank in 1912. It raced at high speeds through waters filled with icebergs to reach the survivors. Its crew pulled 705 men, women and children from lifeboats bobbing in the icy water.

On July 17, 1918, during the First World War, the Carpathia was traveling in a convoy from England to Boston when it was struck by two torpedoes from a German U-boat and began to sink. A third torpedo hit the ship as the lifeboats were being manned. Five crewmembers died, while the rest of the crew were rescued.

At a news conference in Halifax Friday, the documentary film company Eco-Nova productions presented film showing the Carpathia was intact and sitting upright at the bottom of the sea. There are huge tears in the side of the ship's hull and the boilers appear to have exploded as the ship sank.

After locating the site of the ship with sonar equipment last May, the company sent down a submersible, remotely operated camera to the site late Tuesday.

The search for the Carpathia was funded largely by fiction author Clive Cussler.

Cussler has used the royalties from his many best-selling books -- including the fictional "Raise the Titanic'' -- to fund expeditions to locate and preserve shipwrecks around the world.