2004 photo of a boot and possibly a coat on the seafloor near the Titanic. Photo:Institute for Exploration/Center for Ocean Exploration at the University of Rhode Island/NOAA Office of Exploration and Research

Very few of the bodies of the 1514 passengers and crews who died on the Titanic were ever recovered.  Recently released photographs, which raise the question of whether or not here are human remains at the wreck site, have become central to a larger battle over who should protect the wreck and  how it should be preserved.

In the last few days, the National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration has released photographs that they suggest show human remains at the wreck site. One photo, which actually dates back to 2004 (but which was previously cropped for publication)  shows boots and clothes laid out in a  pattern which might suggest a human body.  “There are people inside,” said James Delgado, director of maritime heritage at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Not everyone however is convinced that human remains have survived for a century underwater. James Cameron, the moviemaker and explorer, who has visited the wreck 33 times and extensively probed its interior says, “I’ve seen zero human remains.  “We’ve seen clothing.  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.”

The photographs were released days after Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) introduced a bill that would give the Commerce Department more power to protect the site from artifact hunters and intrusive expeditions.  Designating the ship as a cemetery would strengthen the government’s case.

Whether human remains exist at the wreck site may be definitional. As explained by NOAA’s Delgado. The bodies may be reduced to sediment in the boots and under the coat: “I, as an archaeologist, would say those are human remains,” whereas explorers like Cameron might call them mud.”