Today is the 100-year deathaversary of the sinking of the Titanic—and if you haven't figured out by now that it was a real event that really happened and not just a movie about Kate Winslet's boobs in 3D, then let these vintage photos from the Library Of Congress convince you. Below, you can see a vintage newsreel all about the Titanic and its rescue ship, the Carpathia.
NPR has a thorough look at the media free-for-all in covering the story: the editor of the then up-and-coming NY Times who pulled some strings to interview the Titanic's 22-year-old wireless operator Harold Bride, including paying off his employer Guglielmo Marconi. “Stop. Say nothing. Hold your story for dollars in four figures,” Marconi messaged Bride, who was on the Carpathia, that day.
Also in the news today: experts are debating whether there are human remains amongst the shipwreck of the Titanic. A 2004 photograph released to the public this week shows a coat and boots sunken in the mud near the Titanic's stern. James P. Delgado, director of maritime heritage at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (which monitors the wreckage), thinks this is the real deal: “The articulation of the coat and boots are highly suggestive of someone coming to rest here,” Delgado told the Times. “This is the first full release of the whole image and the first explicit captioning.”
James Cameron isn't so convinced: “I’ve seen zero human remains,” he said, noting he's been down to the wreckage 33 times. “We’ve seen clothing,” he added. “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.” Nevertheless, Delgado told the Daily News the wreck is a kind of burial ground, and needs more protection:
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.
