The Big Picture:
The sinking of the RMS Titanic caused the deaths of 1,517 of its 2,229 passengers and crew (official numbers vary slightly) in one of the deadliest peacetime maritime disasters in history.
The 1985 discovery of the Titanic wreck on the ocean floor marked a turning point for public awareness of the ocean and for the development of new areas of science and technology. April 15, 2012 will mark the 100th anniversary of the Titanic disaster.
The Big Picture, as always, has some amazing photos – including personal effects brought up from the site. Should those artifacts be left at what is, in effect, a burial site? Or is there more value to the living to actually see them?
Stunning pics. As to the question of the artifacts and if they should be left there — sadly, that ship has sailed (pun intended). With so many dives on the site Titanic artifacts by the thousands seem to have been brought up already. I think it would have been better to leave them there, but admittedly a lot of people differ.
The original owners have long since left the scene. Any bodily remains have long since dissolved.
I think the remaining artifacts would be of great historical and societal value if brought to the surface and housed in a museum in Belfast for all to see.
The Titanic disaster is a monument to human arrogance, inept management, executive irresponsibility, and simple lack of common sense and foresight all gone very wrong adding up to a disaster which didn’t really have to happen.
Agreed.
I don’t think of the wreck as a burial site; it’s the aftermath of a tragic series of accidents. And the fascination with its contents never seems to diminish.
Those pictures are riveting. A sad testament to, among other things, poorly-updated and -enforced safety regulations.
“Any bodily remains have long since dissolved.”
True – but look at it this way. Do tourists bring shovels to the Gettysburg cemetery looking for items of historical and societal value?