The Titanic’s mystery continues to captivate us, despite it being over a century since it vanished into the Atlantic’s icy waters. The fascination is so intense that it has inspired bold, albeit tragic, expeditions like the 2023 Titan submersible incident.
Curiosity about the Titanic seems endless, with recent discussions sparked by why its watery grave shows no signs of human skeletons amidst the sunken artifacts.
When the Titanic met its icy end in 1912 after colliding with an iceberg, it’s believed that 1,517 souls perished, many swept away by the ocean’s currents or trapped within its steel frame.
Yet, photographs of the debris field reveal a startling absence of human remains.
This absence is largely due to the Titanic’s final resting place: 3,800 meters beneath the ocean’s surface.
The deep-sea environment is notorious for its bone-decaying properties, where bacteria thrive on the nutrients in bones, and the chemical nature of the seawater erodes what’s left.
Renowned oceanographer Robert Ballard, who uncovered the wreck in 1985, sheds light on the phenomenon, explaining that deep waters can dissolve bones due to its chemical makeup.
“The water in the deep sea is under saturated in calcium carbonate, which is mostly, you know, what bones are made of,” Ballard remarked. He added, “On wrecks like the Titanic and Bismarck, situated below the calcium carbonate compensation depth, bones simply dissolve after marine creatures consume the flesh.”
Ballard contrasts this with conditions in the Black Sea, where the absence of such creatures means bones remain unexposed and possibly mummified.
This revelation stirred quite the reaction online, with many expressing their bewilderment on platforms like Reddit.
Comments ranged from the shocked “I thought they’d be squished into jelly…” to the puzzled inquiries about sinking bodies and humorous declarations like “The sea is human broth, confirmed?”
While the ocean has claimed the bones of the Titanic’s unfortunate passengers, their presence isn’t entirely erased, as their shoes tell the silent story of the lives lost. The chemically treated leather has withstood the harsh underwater environment, leaving behind these poignant remnants of human life.