What happened to the bodies?

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Kind of a morbid one here, but I can't seem to find any reference to this: When the ship sank, what happened to the bodies of those who drowned because they were trapped inside? Were they intact when the ship hit the ocean floor and eaten by underwater organisms through the passage of time, or could the bodies have imploded due to the water pressure increasing at such a dramatic rate as it was sinking?

-- Michael Klimek (foo@bar.com), February 24, 1998

Answers

Several months ago, Robert Ballard, who headed the National Geographic exploration first discovered the Titanic in 1985, answered your question on the Larry King Show (he was on with James Cameron). King asked if Ballard's team saw any bodies (outside the wreckage). Ballard answered, "No, because they were eaten [skeletons and all] by the underwater organisms." Ballard then went on to say that they did see skeletons in the engine room (inside the wreck).

-- Walt Dervin (wdervin@orwell.coweta.k12.ga.us), February 24, 1998.

You can find how the bodies on the surface were recovered at this site http://www.execpc.com/~reva/html3.htm.

-- Mandy (mandy@tm.net.my), February 25, 1998.

I heard Dr. Ballard speak a few weeks ago and he showed a few slides of what he found underwater when he went to visit Titanic and other shipwreck sites. Apparently, underwater organisms have evolved enough so that the bodies were completely gone, however, the shoes of the victims were still intact and lying on the ocean floor. Dr. Ballard also said that what was the saddest thing was to see a pair of mother's shoes lying next to the shoes of a baby. That must have been very emotional to see.

-- Emily (etwong@ucdavis.edu), February 27, 1998.

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