Wreck of the RMS Titanic the debris field was surveyed in Robert Ballard's 1986 expedition, pairs of shoes were observed lying next to each other on the sea bed. The flesh, bones, and clothes had long since been consumed but the tannin in the shoes' leather had apparently resisted the bacteria, leaving the shoes as the only markers of where a body had once lain. Ballard has suggested that skeletons may remain deep within "Titanic"s hull, such as in the engine rooms or third-class cabins. This has been disputed by scientists, who have estimated that the bodies would have completely disappeared by the early 1940s
Wreck of the RMS Titanic but the plans were abandoned for financial reasons. The following year, the British billionaire financier and tycoon Sir James Goldsmith set up Seawise & Titanic Salvage Ltd. with the involvement of underwater diving and photographic experts. His aim was to use the publicity of finding "Titanic" to promote his newly established magazine, "NOW!". An expedition to the North Atlantic was scheduled for 1980 but was cancelled due to financial difficulties. A year later, "NOW!" folded after 84 issues with Goldsmith incurring huge financial losses. Fred Koehler, an electronics repairman from Coral Gables, Florida, sold his electronics shop to finance the