Titanic`s 100th anniversary: The deep sea graves at the wreck site

Haunting pictures of boots and a coat show deep sea graves of Titanic victims for first time

Daily Mail/ASSOCIATED PRESS
PUBLISHED: 08:15 EST, 15 April 2012 | UPDATED: 11:32 EST, 15 April 2012

Newly-released photos show the haunting images of Titanic victim's clothing lining the bottom of the ocean floor 100 years after the New York-bound ship sank in the North Atlantic.

A 2004 photograph, released to the public for the first time this week in an uncropped version to coincide with the disaster's centenary, shows a coat and boots in the mud at the legendary shipwreck site.

It came as the passengers of a cruise ship retracing the route of the ill-fated liner RMS Titanic held an emotional memorial service at the exact spot where the ship sank on its maiden voyage a century ago.

'These are not shoes that fell out neatly from somebody's bag right next to each other,' said James Delgado, the director of maritime heritage at the National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration.

What remains: The fact that the pair of boots were found so close to each other implies that they were probably on the feet of a victim whose body has since disintegrated,
photo credit: AP/Daily Mail

The way they are 'laid out' makes a 'compelling case' that it is where 'someone has come to rest,' he said.

The image, along with two others showing pairs of boots resting next to each other, were taken during an expedition led by NOAA and famed Titanic finder Robert Ballard in 2004. They were published in Ballard's book on the expedition. Mr Delgado said the one showing a coat and boots was cropped to show only a boot.

The New York Times first reported about the photographs in Saturday editions.

Filmmaker James Cameron, who has visited the wreck 33 times, told the newspaper that he had seen 'zero human remains' during his extensive explorations of the Titanic.

'We've seen shoes. We've seen pairs of shoes, which would strongly suggest there was a body there at one point. But we've never seen any human remains,' Mr Cameron said.

More findings: A number of pairs were found near a coat and some other items in the sea bed, photo credit: AP/Daily Mail

For Mr Delgado, who was the chief scientist on an expedition in 2010 that mapped the entire site, the difference in opinion is 'one of semantics.'

'I as an archaeologist would say those are human remains,' he said, referring to the photograph of the coat and boots specifically.

'Buried in that sediment are very likely forensic remains of that person.'

He said in an email that the images 'speak to the power of that tragic and powerful scene 2 1/2 miles below' and 'to its resilience as an undersea museum, as well as its fragility.'

Extrapolating: Though previous expeditions, like that of film-maker James Cameron, said that they did not see human remains, others feel that it is obvious that the victims bodies were there at one point, photo credit: AP/Daily Mail

'This is an appropriate time to note the human cost of that event, and the fact that in this special place at the bottom of the sea, evidence of the human cost, in the form of the shattered wreck, the scattered luggage, fittings and other artifacts, and the faint but unmistakable evidence that this is where people came to rest, is present,' he said.

He said the images are also evidence that society could do a better job protecting the site.

There has been a long fight to protect the Titanic since it was rediscovered by Mr Ballard in 1985, beginning with a federal law passed by Congress aimed at creating an international agreement to transform the shipwreck into an international maritime memorial.

Senator John Kerry introduced what some observers see as stronger legislation April 1 aimed at protecting the site from 'salvage and intrusive research...'

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