Photos of recovering the lifeboats why is there no wreckage in the water

Tarn Stephanos · Jun 20, 2002

Of all the photos of the lifeboats coming alongside Carpathia, or of the icefield in the area, I have yet to see any photos of floating wreckage from the disaster (excluding the photos of abandoned lifeboats later discovered).

Mabey my eyes are failing me- in the photos of the lifeboats being recovered, can any small wreckage be seen in the water? Where was this vast floating debris and body field later found by the Minia & mackay Bennett? How could Carpathia have missed it?

regards

Tarn Stephanos

Michael H. Standart · Jun 21, 2002

I've never noticed any myself, but from the testimony I've been reading, the boats were doing quite a bit of rowing around, even if only to keep warm. Just pick a direction and go...which would likely have been away from the wreck site. Certainly they did so to put a safe distance between themselves and the sinking ship. (I sure would!) Those that weren't moving would have headed towards the Carpathia as soon as she arrived.

The difference with the Mackay-Bennett and the Minia is that they would have followed the prevailing currents in the search. It's not a given that the lifeboats would have done the same.

Cordially,
Michael H. Standart

Bill Wormstedt · Jun 21, 2002

In general, the lifeboats headed away from the Titanic - the port side boats to the north west, the starboard boats to the south east. These starboard boats were the first to see and be picked up by the Carpathia. The port boats would have had to come back thru the floating debris to get to the Carpathia. (The Titanic is on the ocean floor pointing slightly east of north, and I'm fairly sure that's the direction it was pointing on the surface. QM Rowe also mentioned the stern swinging to the south).

So, the Carpatha probably never got far enough to the north to see the floating debris or bodies. IMO, anyway.

Daniel Klistorner · Jun 23, 2002

If the boats did not follow the currents, and the currents were moving NE anyway (as I read elsewhere on this board) in the few hours during the night, the debris would have moved slightly already and even more so by the time Carpathia finished picking up all the boats. There was an intensive discussion a few years ago on ET whether there was a cover up, that the bodies were seen. I can't remember what the thread was called, but I'm sure it's still archived somewhere here.

Bill Wormstedt · Jun 23, 2002

If I remember correctly, the current was moving SSE, not NE. Regardless, somewhat out of the direct path the Carpathia was taking

Daniel Klistorner · Jun 23, 2002

Thanks for the correction Bill. Yes the point does remain that it was movin away from the boats and Carpathia.

Chris Gregory · Dec 4, 2002

Captain Rostron at the bottom of page 67 of his book - 1931 first edition mentions the wreckage and sums it up as " no more flotsam than one can see on a seashore drifted in by the tide "

Gregory German · Feb 27, 2003

You'd think after a ship sinking and one of that size there would have to be some debris. If not where did it all go, did it just sink like the Titanic did. And what happened to all of the bodies floating in the water you don't see any pictures of that do you.

Michael H. Standart · Feb 28, 2003

Gregory, there was plenty of debris. The reason the Carpathia didn't see a lot of it was because the lifeboats had moved well away from it and the Carpathia went to where the lifeboats were. There was really very little point to doing otherwise.

As to where the debris went, it simply went wherever the prevailing currents carried it. It's really not much of a mystery.

Don Tweed · Mar 4, 2003

If the men of the Mackay-Bennett had taken photos of the job they were undertaking, no pun intended, I wonder how those photos would have been received by the public. Of course there are some photos of the bodies on the deck of Mackay-Bennett and a few of bodies being recovered.
Were these pictures shown to the general public right after the disaster?
For the age it ocurred in I feel the public, especially the relatives, would find this rude and in poor taste.
Just wondering, Don

Michael H. Standart · Mar 4, 2003

>>Were these pictures shown to the general public right after the disaster? <<

Not that I'm aware of. If some were released, I would expect that they wouldn't be all that revealing. I'm sure that the reletives of the deceased would have gone ballistic if they had.

Lee Gilliland · Mar 4, 2003

A lot of the debris mentioned was cork, which disperses rather readily, so that also might have something to do with it.

Richard Paola · Mar 13, 2003

passengers on board the Carpathia took photos that morning..i'm sure some of them must have taken photos of debris they undoubtedly saw..as to where those photos are ? ... who knows ?

Michael H. Standart · Mar 13, 2003

IF they exist, then like a lot of extant Titanic photos, they can probably be found in private collections and family albums.

Bill Wormstedt · Mar 14, 2003

I suspect any photos taken from the Carpathia the next morning, were too far away from any wreckage to see anything specific.

If a camera could 'see' it, then so could the passengers. And if the passengers could see it, I'm sure we would have MANY accounts of this.

Another thought - if there were photos of the wreckage, I'm sure the NY papers would have paid real good money for them!

Photos of recovering the lifeboats why is there no wreckage in the water

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