While 1,500 people died in the sinking of the Titanic, no skeletons were found in the wreck.
The story of the Titanic, the transatlantic liner that sank in 1912 after colliding with an iceberg, still intrigues. Around 1,500 people lost their lives. After the survivors were rescued, three ships set out to recover the bodies. They recovered 328 bodies. Only 59 were identified, while 116 were thrown back into the sea due to lack of space on board and embalming equipment.
In 1985, the wreck of the missing ship was discovered. Many underwater expeditions followed. Despite the large number of victims, no human remains were found, unlike in many other wrecks. In his documentary National Geographic, Titanic: 25 years later with James Cameron broadcast in 2023the director of the hit film about the sinking, has claimed that there are indeed no skeletons left in the wreck of the Titanic.
During his dives for his film, he only saw clothes or pairs of shoes: “You won’t find any bodies near the Titanic, no skeletons, no bones… They dissolve far too quickly at such depths. The only things we’ve been able to find while exploring the wreck are pairs of shoes.” Information confirmed by Robert Ballard, the explorer who discovered the wreck, to Associated Press.
At first glance, the most obvious hypotheses seemed to be the dispersion of the bodies with the sea current or even the disappearance linked to marine creatures. However, another element played a role as the two divers specified. The absence of human remains is, in fact, also linked to the depth to which the Titanic fell, namely 3,800 meters below the surface.
Below 900 meters depth, the water is undersaturated with calcium carbonate, the component of bones. The human skeleton then begins to dissolve and ends up disappearing completely in a few years. Thus, after the shipwreck, as soon as the flesh was consumed by the sea creatures, the bones gradually dissolved in the water.