In its first expedition to the Titanic in 14 years, the company with exclusive salvage rights to the wreckage site said it had located a bronze statue thought to have been lost forever, and it also discovered some deterioration of the ship.

RMS Titanic Inc., the Atlanta-based company that has recovered thousands of artifacts from the ship over decades, said in a news release on Monday that it had started its expedition on July 12 and spent 20 days at the site, sending remotely operated vehicles to the ship. Researchers brought back two million photos.

But the company did not retrieve any artifacts this time, changing its plans after lawsuits from the federal government and criticism from scientists who believe that the site should be left alone as a memorial to the victims. The expedition comes about one year after the Titan submersible disaster killed a maritime expert who led research for the company.

Last caught on camera in 1986 and thought to be gone for good by most experts, “Diana of Versailles,” a two-foot tall bronze statuette of the Roman goddess Diana, was spotted by the expedition team.

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Finding the statue of Diana had been a priority for the team, according to the company’s news release. The replica once stood in the first-class lounge of the ship on a mantle, but the lounge was torn open when the ship sank and the statue was thrown into a debris field.

The figure of Diana, the Roman goddess of the hunt, was found lodged into the ocean floor with an arm raised from the ground still reaching for her arrow. Her bronze coat barely stood out against the dark sediment.

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