# The 5 Titanic Sub Victims: what would they look like now? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 23, 2023, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-5-titanic-sub-victims-what-would-they-look-like-now/985993 "2023-06-23T12:35:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2023, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-5-titanic-sub-victims-what-would-they-look-like-now/985993/1 "2023-06-23T12:35:41Z")
Corpse recovery is not happening here. But if we could find the remains of 5 people who suddenly compressed at the bottom of the ocean what would they look like? A tiny crack would send water pressure so fast it would cut iron bar, but I’m guessing compression all happened at once in a crunch. So the bodies would look like they were in a massive car/train accident? Or would they be bobbing around looking like wet Romero Zombies because human bodies are also made of water and hard stuff. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2023, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-5-titanic-sub-victims-what-would-they-look-like-now/985993/2 "2023-06-23T12:58:24Z")
[![](https://moorlandseater.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/making-Homemade-Potted-Beef-Moorlands-Eater-DSC05090.jpg) ](https://moorlandseater.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/making-Homemade-Potted-Beef-Moorlands-Eater-DSC05090.jpg) Probably not even that solid. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2023, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-5-titanic-sub-victims-what-would-they-look-like-now/985993/3 "2023-06-23T13:00:24Z")
Over in the main thread, the most agreed-upon answer was “basically a bit of goo, probably unrecognizable as individuals,” but some thought that a few bone fragments or the like might have moved outward in the split second before everything moved inward. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2023, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-5-titanic-sub-victims-what-would-they-look-like-now/985993/4 "2023-06-23T13:10:46Z")
I read that the implosion force was akin to having 400 house-sized blocks of concrete all dropped on you at once. Instant death, liquidated/smashed. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2023, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-5-titanic-sub-victims-what-would-they-look-like-now/985993/5 "2023-06-23T13:16:03Z")
Never has the phrase “water hammer” sounded so sinister and yet completely appropriate. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2023, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-5-titanic-sub-victims-what-would-they-look-like-now/985993/6 "2023-06-23T13:18:09Z")
Yeah. The meat would be paste. The bones would be dust. And of course since the whole greasy mess is sitting in a (very large) slowly moving tub of water you’d expect it to slowly spread out in a fog of particles drifting away at whatever the speed of the current is. Probably a small fraction of a mile an hour, but even 0.1 mph is 2+ miles per day. The oilier parts would be lighter than water and slowly rise, while the minerally parts would be heavier and settle onto / into the existing bottom ooze. Some stuff would be sticky enough to stick together in lumps for awhile. But just like soaking a used mixing bowl of tuna salad in the sink, eventually everything is just tidbits floating around in the water. And that’s before any local animals decide to ingest the nutrients. ---
**Author:** ![Common\_Tater](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/common_tater/32/13846_2.png) [@Common\_Tater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Common_Tater)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2023, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-5-titanic-sub-victims-what-would-they-look-like-now/985993/7 "2023-06-23T13:28:36Z")
In the Norwegian drill rig diving bell incident, one of the divers was . . . extruded shall we say in a split second through a 1/4” wide opening and pieces found roughly thirty feet away. This was a 9 atmospheres difference, above water. Nothing like the pressures involved in thousands of feet of seawater though. Complete implosion in milliseconds, there won’t be anything but dissolved solids. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2023, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-5-titanic-sub-victims-what-would-they-look-like-now/985993/8 "2023-06-23T13:31:44Z")
Scott Manley did a livestream last night about it. Two points he made that stuck with me: The energy involved would have been approximately equivalent to 50 kilograms of TNT. The energies involved would mean that the bodies would stop being biology and start being physics. (Pretty sure he cribbed that from Culture novels). ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2023, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-5-titanic-sub-victims-what-would-they-look-like-now/985993/9 "2023-06-23T13:43:14Z")
And remember it’s more than just the pressure. I mean, that’s the main thing but the people are inside a submarine. That pressure hull and other bits become a big Ginsu slicing things apart in a fraction of a second. (Perhaps the only fortunate thing here is it was instantaneous). ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2023, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-5-titanic-sub-victims-what-would-they-look-like-now/985993/10 "2023-06-23T13:56:13Z")
I have read some articles that claim that because of Gay-Lussac’s law, that an implosion would cause some sort of instant incineration due to the extreme pressure rise, and consequent increase in temperature. Kind of like being in a diesel engine cylinder, where the fuel combusts like that. It doesn’t wash to me; I suspect that the time frames are too short for any effective heat transfer to take place for incineration, but I don’t know if this is true or not. Anyone got any actual idea if this is true? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2023, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-5-titanic-sub-victims-what-would-they-look-like-now/985993/11 "2023-06-23T14:01:13Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > That pressure hull and other bits become a big Ginsu slicing things apart in a fraction of a second. - Ginsus don’t work on liquids. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2023, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-5-titanic-sub-victims-what-would-they-look-like-now/985993/12 "2023-06-23T14:13:17Z")
I’m not sure exactly how it plays out in this case but when things get compressed (like air) it heats up. Not sure how hot things got here for a fraction of a second but willing to bet super-duper hot would fit. They were cooked mush. EDIT: I missed @bump 's post on this. Sorry. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2023, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-5-titanic-sub-victims-what-would-they-look-like-now/985993/13 "2023-06-23T14:15:56Z")
Temperature is a function of pressure, and doesn’t need any time for heat transfer to take place. Once again, it’s like 50kg of TNT went off inside of that little space. But it would be more vaporization than incineration, as it would be more physics than chemistry at those energies, and there wouldn’t have been enough oxygen to burn more than a fraction of the organic material. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2023, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-5-titanic-sub-victims-what-would-they-look-like-now/985993/14 "2023-06-23T14:18:23Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > Pretty sure he cribbed that from Culture novels More likely xkcd: [https://what-if.xkcd.com/141/](https://what-if.xkcd.com/141/) ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2023, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-5-titanic-sub-victims-what-would-they-look-like-now/985993/15 "2023-06-23T14:22:10Z")
Huh, I wonder if _he_ thought that was where he was getting the phrase from then. I got the impression that that was what he was implying. Anyway, it’s a good phrase, but a terrible fate. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2023, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-5-titanic-sub-victims-what-would-they-look-like-now/985993/16 "2023-06-23T14:24:06Z")
The good news, such that it is, is that it would have all happened in a tiny fraction of a second, short enough that there wasn’t even enough time for any nerve signals to make it from the outside of their bodies to their brains before it was all squished. ---
**Author:** ![3AxisCtrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/ecd19e/32.png) [@3AxisCtrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3AxisCtrl)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2023, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-5-titanic-sub-victims-what-would-they-look-like-now/985993/17 "2023-06-23T14:26:21Z")
> [@bump](#): > > I suspect that the time frames are too short for any effective heat transfer to take place for incineration … Agreed. A brief dose of very hot air, followed immediately by a flood of very cold water would seem to preclude anything that could be called incineration. Maybe some singed hair. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2023, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-5-titanic-sub-victims-what-would-they-look-like-now/985993/18 "2023-06-23T14:30:10Z")
True… although if there were warning signs (e.g. an alarm that something is wrong) then there might be time to be scared considering where they were. But yeah, if it imploded they felt nothing. Effectively instantaneous to them. A better fate than facing suffocation a few days in the future. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2023, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-5-titanic-sub-victims-what-would-they-look-like-now/985993/19 "2023-06-23T14:53:41Z")
I suppose it’s better for everyone that they turned instantly into a wet version of fish food flakes. 5 more crosses down there, graves for a specific combination of wealthy and stupid. Starting to have a Everest thing going. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2023, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-5-titanic-sub-victims-what-would-they-look-like-now/985993/20 "2023-06-23T15:08:53Z")
For what it’s worth I have a friend who works at NASA who got bored at work the other day and did some Excel-style back-of-the-envelope calculations: [![](https://i.imgur.com/j6pBAGx.jpg) ](https://i.imgur.com/j6pBAGx.jpg) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-5-titanic-sub-victims-what-would-they-look-like-now/985993.md?page=2)