Theatrical Print with Additional Scenes

I first saw RAISE THE TITANIC at the theatre on the first day the film opened in 1980. I enjoyed it so much I saw it at least another 3 or 4 times during its first-run engagement. When it opened several months later at the dollar theatre I saw it again and I was SHOCKED to see additional/extended scenes that were not in the print shown first-run! Searching the net I'm not finding any threads or sites to explain why two different theatrical versions were in release at the same time. Amazing that the extended version plays at the dollar theatre and the cut version at the more expensive first-run theatre.

As best as I can recall the additional scenes consisted of huge steel plates being lowered to the ocean floor and welded over the ships gaping hole, foam being pumped into the hull, extended scenes of the ship surfacing and being towed to NY, and several other extended/additional scenes at various spots in the film. These scenes were fairly short and added to the film's running time no more than 8 to 10 minutes if that.

Here's one example of a scene that was cut: in the scene where the tugboats begin hauling the Titanic on it's way to NY, the cables extend and stretch out over the water and the bow of the Titanic slowly enters the screen on the right. In the EXTENDED version the camera remains stationary as the entire length of the ship slowly makes its way across the screen as John Barry's beautiful score plays. As the stern finally comes into view and slowly crosses the center of the screen the camera pans towards the left following the stern as it glides towards the horizon. In the CUT version (the only version seen today) the bow enters the screen on the right and about 5 seconds later the scene jump cuts to the stern already gliding towards the horizon. Obviously this cut was made to simply shorten the scene.

Anyone else remember seeing this rare extended version? If a print could be located today in good condition and made available for a DVD release, what a find it would be for the small but loyal RAISE THE TITANIC following which has evolved over the years!