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The idea of finding the wreck of Titanic, and even raising the ship from the ocean floor, had been around since shortly after the ship sank. No attempts were successful until 1 September 1985, when a joint American-French expedition, led by Jean-Louis Michel (Ifremer) and Dr. Robert Ballard (WHOI), located the wreck using the side-scan sonar from the research vessels Knorr and Le Suroit. The wreck was found at a depth of 2.5 miles (4 km), slightly more than 370 miles (600 km) south-east of Mistaken Point, Newfoundland at 41°43?55?N 49°56?45?WCoordinates: 41°43?55?N 49°56?45?W. Ifremer, the French partner in the search, records a depth of 3,800 m (12,467 ft). These are approximately 2.33 miles (3.75 km), and they are often rounded upwards to 2.5 miles (4.0 km) or 4 km.

The most notable discovery the team made was that the ship had split apart, the stern section lying 1,970 feet (600 m) from the bow section and facing opposite directions. There had been conflicting witness accounts of whether the ship broke apart or not; it was generally assumed, before the discovery of the wreck, that the ship did not break apart. Surrounding the wreck is a large debris field with pieces of the ship, furniture, dinnerware and personal items scattered over 2 square miles (5.2 km2).

The Titanic

Approximately 5,500 artefacts have been removed from the wreck. Many of these were put on display at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, England, and later as part of a travelling museum exhibit.[120] The Merseyside Maritime Museum in the Titanic’s home port of Liverpool also has an extensive collection of artefacts from the wreck located within a permanent exhibition named ‘Titanic, Lusitania and the Forgotten Empress’.

Many scientists, including Robert Ballard, are concerned that visits by tourists in submersibles and the recovery of artefacts are hastening the decay of the wreck. Underwater microbes have been eating away at Titanic’s steel since the ship sank, but because of the extra damage caused by visitors the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration estimates that “the hull and structure of the ship may collapse to the ocean floor within the next 50 years.”

The Titanic

Titanic’s rediscovery in 1985 launched a debate over ownership of the wreck and the valuable items inside. In 1994 RMS Titanic Inc., a subsidiary of Premier Exhibitions Inc., was awarded ownership and salvaging rights by the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. (See Admiralty law) On March 24, 2009, it was revealed that the fate of 5,900 artefacts retrieved from the wreck would rest with a U.S. District Judge’s decision. The ruling was later issued in two decisions on 12 August 2010 and 15 August 2011. As announced in 2009, the judge ruled that RMS Titanic Inc. owned the artefacts and her decision dealt with the status of the wreck as well as establishing a monitoring system to check future activity upon the wreck site.

On 12 August 2010, Judge Rebecca Beach Smith granted RMS Titanic, Inc. fair market value for the artefacts but deferred ruling on their ownership and the conditions for their preservation, possible disposition and exhibition until a further decision could be reached. On 15 August 2011, Judge Smith granted title to thousands of artefacts from the Titanic that RMS Titanic Inc., did not already own under a French court decision concerning the first group of salvaged artefacts to RMS Titanic Inc., subject to a detailed list of conditions concerning preservation and disposition of the items. The artefacts can be sold only to a company that would abide by the lengthy list of conditions and restrictions. RMS Titanic Inc. can profit from the artefacts through exhibiting them.

Several legends and myths surround the ship and the events of the sinking. Many of them have been speculated upon by the press, in books, and are continuously seen elsewhere within popular culture, most famously perhaps in the 1958 film A Night to Remember and in James Cameron’s Titanic from 1997.

The Titanic

Even though Titanic was called “unsinkable” in news stories after the sinking, the fact is neither The White Star Line nor Harland and Wolff declared Titanic unsinkable before its maiden voyage. Regarding the actual sinking, one of the most well-known stories is that of the ship’s band, who, according to witnesses, heroically played on while the great steamer was sinking. There has been conflicting information about which songs were played and which one of them was the last heard, the most reported being “Nearer, My God, to Thee”. There were several claims of predictions of the disaster, especially during the first years after the tragedy; some of them became part of folklore, like the story involving first class passenger William Thomas Stead, who—according to the legend–had foreseen his own death on Titanic.

This had been suggested in two fictional stories Stead had written decades earlier. One widespread myth is that the internationally recognised Morse code distress signal “SOS” was first put to use when the Titanic sunk. While it is true that British wireless operators rarely used the “SOS” signal at the time, preferring the older “CQD” code, “SOS” had been used internationally since 1908. The first wireless operator on Titanic, Jack Phillips, sent both “SOS” and “CQD” as call for help. Titanic has also been said, in different meanings, to be cursed. It has been proposed that Titanic sank due to a mummy’s curse.

Of a total of 2,224 people aboard Titanic only 710, less than a third, survived and 1,514 perished.The majority of deaths were caused by hypothermia in the 28 °F (?2 °C) water where death could occur in as little as 15 minutes.

Men and members of the 2nd and 3rd class were less likely to survive. Of the male passengers in second class, 92 percent perished. Less than a quarter of third-class passengers survived. All but one of the children in first and second class survived, whereas less than half were saved in third class. 97 percent of the women in first class survived, 86 percent of the women survived in second class and less than half survived in third class. Of men on board, 33 percent of the first class were saved, while only 8 percent of the second class and 16 percent of the third class were saved. Overall, only 20 percent of the men survived, compared to nearly 75 percent of the women. Men in first class were four times as likely to survive as men in second class, and twice as likely to survive as those in third. The greatest disparity between adult male and female survival rates occurs between first class women and second class men, the former twelve times as likely to survive as the latter. Also notable is the fact that even third class women were significantly more likely to survive than first class men, with 46 percent of third class women saved compared to 33 percent of first class men.

The Titanic

Four of the eight officers survived. About 21 of the 29 able seamen survived and all seven quartermasters and eight lookouts survived. Three of the 13 leading firemen survived, around 45 other firemen survived and around 20 of the 73 coal trimmers survived. Four of the 33 greasers survived and one of the six mess hall stewards survived. Around 60 of the 322 stewards and 16 of the 18 stewardesses survived. Three of the 68 restaurant staff survived. All five postal clerks, guarantee group, and eight-member orchestra perished.

Another disparity is that a greater percentage of British passengers died than Americans; it has been suggested that this was due both to the fact that there were very few Americans in third class, and to the fact that Britons of the time were polite and queued, rather than forcing their way onto the lifeboats.

Once the massive loss of life became known, White Star Line chartered the cable ship CS Mackay-Bennett from Halifax, Nova Scotia to retrieve bodies. Three other ships followed in the search: cable ship Minia, lighthouse supply ship Montmagny and sealing vessel Algerine. Each ship left with embalming supplies, undertakers, and clergy. Of the 333 victims that were eventually recovered, 328 were retrieved by the Canadian ships and five more by passing North Atlantic steamships. Most of the bodies were numbered. The five passengers buried at sea by Carpathia went unnumbered.

The Titanic

In mid-May 1912, RMS Oceanic recovered three bodies (numbers 331, 332 and 333) over 200 miles (320 km) from the site of the sinking who were among the original occupants of Collapsible A, which was swamped in the last moments of the sinking. Although several people managed to reach this lifeboat, three died during the night. When Fifth Officer Harold Lowe and six crewmen returned to the wreck site sometime after the sinking with an empty lifeboat to pick up survivors, they rescued a female from Collapsible A, but left the three dead bodies in the boat: Thomas Beattie, a first class passenger, and two crew members, a fireman and a seaman. After their retrieval from Collapsible A by Oceanic, the bodies were then buried at sea.

The first body recovery ship to reach the site of the sinking, the cable ship CS Mackay-Bennett found so many bodies that the embalming supplies aboard were quickly exhausted, and health regulations required that only embalmed bodies could be returned to port. Captain Larnder of the Mackay-Bennett and undertakers aboard decided to preserve only the bodies of first class passengers, justifying their decision by the need to visually identify wealthy men to resolve any disputes over large estates. As a result, third class passengers and crew were buried at sea. Larnder himself claimed that as a mariner, he would expect to be buried at sea. Complaints about the burials at sea were made by families and undertakers. Later ships such as Minia found fewer bodies, requiring fewer embalming supplies, and were able to limit burials at sea to bodies which were too damaged to preserve.

The Titanic

Bodies recovered were preserved for transport to Halifax, the closest city to the sinking with direct rail and steamship connections. The Halifax coroner, John Henry Barnstead, developed a detailed system to identify bodies and safeguard personal possessions. His identification system would later be used to identify victims of the Halifax Explosion in 1917. Relatives from across North America came to identify and claim bodies. A large temporary morgue was set up in a curling rink and undertakers were called in from all across Eastern Canada to assist.

Some bodies were shipped to be buried in their home towns across North America and Europe. About two-thirds of the bodies were identified. Unidentified victims were buried with simple numbers based on the order in which their bodies were discovered. The majority of recovered victims, 150 bodies, were buried in three Halifax cemeteries, the largest being Fairview Lawn Cemetery followed by the nearby Mount Olivet and Baron de Hirsch cemeteries. Much floating wreckage was also recovered with the bodies, many pieces of which can be seen today in the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic in Halifax. Other pieces are part of the travelling exhibition, Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition.