The books seem to indicate diffrent things..one suggested that when the California went to the site of the sinking there were very few to be recovered and other books suggested that quite a few were recovered. Does anyone know ?

tami, there were 338 bodies recovered from the disaster:

mackay-bennett= 306
minia= 17
montmagny= 4
algerine= 1
carpathia= 6 bodies, buried at sea shortly after the sinking (this number is not definate)
ilford= 1
oceanic= 3

hope this helps a bit.

Thanks... I appreciate the data. I cant help but wondering [i:bb59887e0d]why so few [/i:bb59887e0d]? I know a very few, including Astor, were found washed up on the shores of Newfoundland..Did lifevest or lack thereof.. play a part in that ? I remember the scene from the movie Titanic... that is a lot of people in the water...
I apologize if this is morbid - one of my best friends is a forensic pathologist and we discuss the mechanics of this type of thing.

hi Tami,
Astor, was recovered at sea, on april 22 by the mackay-bennett. he was taken to halifax and from there he was transpotred to new york where he was buried at Trinity Cemetry, NY.
there are many reasons why there were so few bodies found, a large proportion of passengers and crew may well have been trapped inside the ship. those floating in the sea were exposed to the battering waves and strong currents also they were an easy meal for hungary sea life.
also, according to a captain on another titanic board, a human body is extremely small object to try and find in the vast ocean.
the one body the algerine found was that of mr james mcgrady, recovered on 23 may 1912, and that was after 10 days of searching.
i dont really think the life belt played much of a part in the bodies found, little 14month old eino panula, was found floating on the surface, he had no life belt to support him.

dont worry about it being a morbid subject, i've discussed much worse than this.

The entire subject of the Titanic and its massive loss of lives is morbid, however, we choose to discuss it lest someone forget the tragedy that it was. Any question that is posed as a legetimate attempt to learn is acceptable to most people on this and other forums, even though there will be those who disagree and those who think we dig too deeply into the event. Keep seeking the truth and the truth will eventually find you.
Will

I'll do morbid with ya.

Re: why there weren't more corpses floating on the surface:

When the grave of Titanic was discovered, Ballard et al. saw many pairs of shoes on the sea floor. ... Fact: leather is not broken down by sea fauna (hence the suitcases displayed at the Titanic exhibit)

mull over that one a while. (shudder)

Oooh. I see. I saw a photo once of the debris field and what they said was the closest to human remains they ever found and it was a pair of boots all laced up tight and rigid in the shape like feet still occupied them. And their position on the ocean floor.. well, it is just surprising to look at them without seeing a body there too.
So why would some bodies float without lifejackets while others would sink to the bottom?

[quote:c9c55072dd="Starry"]Oooh. I see. I saw a photo once of the debris field and what they said was the closest to human remains they ever found and it was a pair of boots all laced up tight and rigid in the shape like feet still occupied them. And their position on the ocean floor.. well, it is just surprising to look at them without seeing a body there too.
So why would some bodies float without lifejackets while others would sink to the bottom?[/quote:c9c55072dd]

Starry, i dont want to be morbid, but if someone died with air in their lungs, they would be more likely to float, so those who were still afloat with no life jacket on, died of hypothermia, whereas those who sank to the bottom drowned, there lungs got full of water and their was no air in their body to old them up. also alot of people went down inside of the ship, or were dragged under by the suction. so i guess it all depended where they were when the ship sank and if they could swim or not.

yeah, I get it. Oh the morbidity!

Good argument there bess! :P