Wreck of the RMS Titanic intact and undamaged dresser behind it. Robert Ballard has suggested that areas within the ship or buried under debris, where scavengers may not have been able to reach, may still contain human remains. According to Charles Pellegrino, who dived on "Titanic" in 2001, a finger bone encircled by the partial remains of a wedding ring was found concreted to the bottom of a soup tureen that was retrieved from the debris field. It was returned to the sea bed on the next dive. The longest-lasting inhabitants of "Titanic" are likely to be bacteria and archaea which have colonized the metal
Sinking of the RMS Titanic reduced the rudder's effectiveness, therefore impairing the turning ability of the ship. Had Murdoch turned the ship while maintaining her forward speed, "Titanic" might have missed the iceberg with feet to spare. In 2010, Louise Patten asserted that her grandfather Charles Lightoller claimed that the helmsman Robert Hichens initially panicked and turned the rudder in the wrong direction and that subsequently Bruce Ismay ordered the boat to continue "Slow Ahead" in the belief that "Titanic" was unsinkable. This, allegedly, had never been revealed because of the insurance implications. In the event, "Titanic"s heading changed just in time to avoid a