The RMS Titanic - Why Did She Really Sink?
News Type: Event — Mon Jun 9, 2008 1:37 PM EDT
By spiggles
The RMS Titanic at Southampton port.
The wreckage at the bottom of the Ocean.
Britannic - Titanic's sister ship that had the same fate
Cartoon Titanic
The heart of the Ocean
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Everyone at some point in their life has/should've heard the story of the Titanic.
- Her maiden voyage that turned into a tragic disaster.
- Her sister ship that ended in the same fate as her.
- The iceburg that no one saw until it was to late.
- The man that insisted on speeding the engines up
and above all...
- The 2,200 people aboard the ocean liner, and not enough life boats.
The RMS Titanic On April 10th 1912 set sail from Southampton
The Titanic was a British four funnelled ocean liner built for the transatlantic passenger and mail service between Southampton and New York.. The Titanic was constructed at the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast, Northern Ireland and at the time of her voyage was the largest vessel afloat.
It has been 96 years, 1 month and 25 days (From publish date of this article) that the Titanic hit the destructive iceburg and sunk to the bottom of the Ocean. One surviver that is still alive today is Miss Elizabeth Gladys "Millvina" Dean, from 3rd class, who was 2 months when she was aboard the Titanic when it supposedly struck the iceburg . She managed to survive via life boat and was taken to shore.
1,500 people died that night. 700 where saved in the life boats, but it is said that these boats were not nearly as full as they should have been.
Over the years many stories have been told about how she sunk, and alot of these have been adapted over time. I think the only true story would come from the survivers, if not, the story will be buried with the ship.
I have found a few examples of theories to how the RMS Titanic sunk.
In the following text I would like to point out that the information is taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titanic_alternative_theories
1) A suggested source of a Titanic "curse" is the Princess of Amen-Ra who lived in 1050 B.C. According to legend after her discovery in the 1890s in Egypt, the purchaser of the mummy ran into serious misfortune. The mummy was donated to the British Museum where it continued to cause mysterious problems for visitors and staff. The mummy was eventually purchased by journalist William Thomas Stead who dismissed the claims as quirks of circumstance; though he did arrange for the mummy to be hidden under the body of his car for fear that it would not be taken aboard the ship because of its reputation. He reportedly revealed to other passengers the presence of the mummy the night before the accident. The mummy itself was placed in the first-class cargo hold. However, eyewitness accounts report that, once the Captain gave the order to abandon ship, the mummy appeared on deck.[citation needed]
This is another urban legend as the British Museum never received the mummy, only the lid of its sarcophagus which is on display at the museum. Additionally, except during war and special exhibits abroad, the coffin lid has not left the Egyptian room.
2) There have also been stories of German U-boat involvement. By 1912, the new German navy was ready for war and had perfected the use of submersible ships. Lights seen by survivors, which are believed by historians to either be the nearby SS Californian or an unknown third ship, after the ship sank has been cited as possible evidence of a submarine. The theory claims that a German U-boat had been stalking the Titanic and that the sub fired a torpedo at the iceberg when collision between the Titanic and the iceberg seemed inevitable. This theory of the sinking was granted more credence following the 1915 torpedoing of the RMS Lusitania, though the motivation of such an act by the German navy is rarely satisfyingly explained. Indeed, despite their naval preparations at this time, the German monarchy in 1912 was not seeking a war with Britain and passenger accounts of the sensation of the impact do not tally with those who experienced a torpedo attack. The collision of the Titanic and the iceberg created nothing more than a shudder, which was so slight that many 1st class passengers were not even awakened.
3) In 2003 Captain L. M. Collins, a former member of the Ice Pilotage Service published The Sinking of the Titanic: The Mystery Solved proposing, based upon his own experience of ice navigation and witness statements given at the two post-disaster enquiries, that what the Titanic hit was not an iceberg but low-lying pack ice. He based his conclusion upon three main pieces of evidence.
At 11:30pm on the night of the sinking the two lookouts spotted what they believed to be haze on the horizon, extending approximately 20 degrees on either side of the ship's bow, despite there being no other reports of haze at any time. Collins believes that what they saw was not haze but a strip of pack ice, three to four miles (6 km) ahead of the ship. (Collins, 2003, p16)
The ice was variously reported as 60 feet (18 m) high by the lookouts, 100 feet (30 m) high by Quartermaster Rowe on the poop deck, and only very low in the water by Fourth Officer Boxhall, on the starboard side near the darkened bridge. Collins believes that this was due to 'an optical phenomenon that is well known to ice navigators' where the flat sea and extreme cold distort the appearance of objects near the waterline, making them appear to be the height of the ship's lights, about 60 feet (18 m) above the surface near the bow, and 100 feet (30 m) high alongside the superstructure. (Collins, 2003, p17-18)
A ship such as the Titanic turned by pivoting about a point approximately a quarter of the ship's length from the bow, with the result that with her rudder hard over, she could not have avoided crushing her entire starboard side into an iceberg were such a collision to occur, with the result that 'the hull and possibly the superstructure on the starboard side would have been rent. In all probability the ship would have flooded, capsized, and sunk within minutes.' (Collins, 2003, p24-25)
4) Coal FireOhio State University engineer Robert Essenhigh released a theory in November 2004 that a coal fire had led to the disaster.[1] A pile of stored coal started to smoulder and to get control over that situation, more coal was put into the furnaces, leading to higher speeds while navigating the iceberg-laden waters.
Essenhigh states that records prove that fire control teams were on standby at the ports of Cherbourg and Southampton because of the fire in the stockpile, and that such fires are known to have and still rage. The reason behind why the Titanic actually set off from Southampton with one of its bunkers on fire, to this day, is unknown (spontaneous combustion of coal, however, is not an unknown phenomenon and it is possible that the fire arose after the ship left port). Such fires were a common phenomenon aboard coal-fired ships and one of many reasons why marine transportation switched to oil in the early 1900s. It is similarly theorized that such a bunker fire was responsible for the explosion of the USS Maine in 1898, by setting off her powder magazines.
5) The common belief is that the Titanic, after hitting the iceberg, began to take on water at the puncture point of the iceberg. After some time the ship's bow and mid-section had filled up with water and the stern began to rise out of the water as the bow sunk into the ocean. The stern rose into the air high enough to make a 30 degree angle between the bottom of the stern and the surface level of the ocean. At that point, due to stress of the unsupported weight of the stern, the ship broke into two pieces and separated completely. However a theory has been presented by naval architect Roger Long that says there was a critical flaw in the design of the Titanic. In fact, the ship actually only rose to about an 11 degree angle, and did not break into two pieces immediately. Expansion joints are commonly used in a variety of projects to allow for thermal and other types of expansion between materials. Today, expansion joints are rarely used in ship building. At the time of the building and design of the Titanic, expansion joints were not understood very well but were in the plans for the Titanic. The main joint was to be placed directly down the middle of the vertical axis of the ship to allow for bending stress of the ship when in rough waters. Unfortunately, this also critically weakened the vessel. Long's theory originates from an examination of two pieces of double bottom hull discovered in 2006 and that the crew of the Titanic seemed to have thought they had much more time to get people into lifeboats than they did. Long believes the ship actually failed along the expansion joint and that pitching of the stern would not have been nearly as drastic as 30 degrees, but as gentle a maximum of 11 degrees. This would mean the ship would have appeared to the passengers and crew that the ship was simply stagnant in the water and was sinking very slowly.
In the years following the sinking of the RMS Titanic many alternative theories about how she sank have popped up. The 'popular' reason for the sinking, in which 1,500 people perished, was that the ship struck an iceberg at 11:40 PM on 14 April 1912, and sank two hours and forty minutes later.
- Her sister ship that ended in the same fate as her.
- The iceburg that no one saw until it was to late.
- The man that insisted on speeding the engines up
and above all...
- The 2,200 people aboard the ocean liner, and not enough life boats.
The RMS Titanic On April 10th 1912 set sail from Southampton
The Titanic was a British four funnelled ocean liner built for the transatlantic passenger and mail service between Southampton and New York.. The Titanic was constructed at the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast, Northern Ireland and at the time of her voyage was the largest vessel afloat.
It has been 96 years, 1 month and 25 days (From publish date of this article) that the Titanic hit the destructive iceburg and sunk to the bottom of the Ocean. One surviver that is still alive today is Miss Elizabeth Gladys "Millvina" Dean, from 3rd class, who was 2 months when she was aboard the Titanic when it supposedly struck the iceburg . She managed to survive via life boat and was taken to shore.
1,500 people died that night. 700 where saved in the life boats, but it is said that these boats were not nearly as full as they should have been.
Over the years many stories have been told about how she sunk, and alot of these have been adapted over time. I think the only true story would come from the survivers, if not, the story will be buried with the ship.
I have found a few examples of theories to how the RMS Titanic sunk.
In the following text I would like to point out that the information is taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titanic_alternative_theories
1) A suggested source of a Titanic "curse" is the Princess of Amen-Ra who lived in 1050 B.C. According to legend after her discovery in the 1890s in Egypt, the purchaser of the mummy ran into serious misfortune. The mummy was donated to the British Museum where it continued to cause mysterious problems for visitors and staff. The mummy was eventually purchased by journalist William Thomas Stead who dismissed the claims as quirks of circumstance; though he did arrange for the mummy to be hidden under the body of his car for fear that it would not be taken aboard the ship because of its reputation. He reportedly revealed to other passengers the presence of the mummy the night before the accident. The mummy itself was placed in the first-class cargo hold. However, eyewitness accounts report that, once the Captain gave the order to abandon ship, the mummy appeared on deck.[citation needed]
This is another urban legend as the British Museum never received the mummy, only the lid of its sarcophagus which is on display at the museum. Additionally, except during war and special exhibits abroad, the coffin lid has not left the Egyptian room.
2) There have also been stories of German U-boat involvement. By 1912, the new German navy was ready for war and had perfected the use of submersible ships. Lights seen by survivors, which are believed by historians to either be the nearby SS Californian or an unknown third ship, after the ship sank has been cited as possible evidence of a submarine. The theory claims that a German U-boat had been stalking the Titanic and that the sub fired a torpedo at the iceberg when collision between the Titanic and the iceberg seemed inevitable. This theory of the sinking was granted more credence following the 1915 torpedoing of the RMS Lusitania, though the motivation of such an act by the German navy is rarely satisfyingly explained. Indeed, despite their naval preparations at this time, the German monarchy in 1912 was not seeking a war with Britain and passenger accounts of the sensation of the impact do not tally with those who experienced a torpedo attack. The collision of the Titanic and the iceberg created nothing more than a shudder, which was so slight that many 1st class passengers were not even awakened.
3) In 2003 Captain L. M. Collins, a former member of the Ice Pilotage Service published The Sinking of the Titanic: The Mystery Solved proposing, based upon his own experience of ice navigation and witness statements given at the two post-disaster enquiries, that what the Titanic hit was not an iceberg but low-lying pack ice. He based his conclusion upon three main pieces of evidence.
At 11:30pm on the night of the sinking the two lookouts spotted what they believed to be haze on the horizon, extending approximately 20 degrees on either side of the ship's bow, despite there being no other reports of haze at any time. Collins believes that what they saw was not haze but a strip of pack ice, three to four miles (6 km) ahead of the ship. (Collins, 2003, p16)
The ice was variously reported as 60 feet (18 m) high by the lookouts, 100 feet (30 m) high by Quartermaster Rowe on the poop deck, and only very low in the water by Fourth Officer Boxhall, on the starboard side near the darkened bridge. Collins believes that this was due to 'an optical phenomenon that is well known to ice navigators' where the flat sea and extreme cold distort the appearance of objects near the waterline, making them appear to be the height of the ship's lights, about 60 feet (18 m) above the surface near the bow, and 100 feet (30 m) high alongside the superstructure. (Collins, 2003, p17-18)
A ship such as the Titanic turned by pivoting about a point approximately a quarter of the ship's length from the bow, with the result that with her rudder hard over, she could not have avoided crushing her entire starboard side into an iceberg were such a collision to occur, with the result that 'the hull and possibly the superstructure on the starboard side would have been rent. In all probability the ship would have flooded, capsized, and sunk within minutes.' (Collins, 2003, p24-25)
4) Coal FireOhio State University engineer Robert Essenhigh released a theory in November 2004 that a coal fire had led to the disaster.[1] A pile of stored coal started to smoulder and to get control over that situation, more coal was put into the furnaces, leading to higher speeds while navigating the iceberg-laden waters.
Essenhigh states that records prove that fire control teams were on standby at the ports of Cherbourg and Southampton because of the fire in the stockpile, and that such fires are known to have and still rage. The reason behind why the Titanic actually set off from Southampton with one of its bunkers on fire, to this day, is unknown (spontaneous combustion of coal, however, is not an unknown phenomenon and it is possible that the fire arose after the ship left port). Such fires were a common phenomenon aboard coal-fired ships and one of many reasons why marine transportation switched to oil in the early 1900s. It is similarly theorized that such a bunker fire was responsible for the explosion of the USS Maine in 1898, by setting off her powder magazines.
5) The common belief is that the Titanic, after hitting the iceberg, began to take on water at the puncture point of the iceberg. After some time the ship's bow and mid-section had filled up with water and the stern began to rise out of the water as the bow sunk into the ocean. The stern rose into the air high enough to make a 30 degree angle between the bottom of the stern and the surface level of the ocean. At that point, due to stress of the unsupported weight of the stern, the ship broke into two pieces and separated completely. However a theory has been presented by naval architect Roger Long that says there was a critical flaw in the design of the Titanic. In fact, the ship actually only rose to about an 11 degree angle, and did not break into two pieces immediately. Expansion joints are commonly used in a variety of projects to allow for thermal and other types of expansion between materials. Today, expansion joints are rarely used in ship building. At the time of the building and design of the Titanic, expansion joints were not understood very well but were in the plans for the Titanic. The main joint was to be placed directly down the middle of the vertical axis of the ship to allow for bending stress of the ship when in rough waters. Unfortunately, this also critically weakened the vessel. Long's theory originates from an examination of two pieces of double bottom hull discovered in 2006 and that the crew of the Titanic seemed to have thought they had much more time to get people into lifeboats than they did. Long believes the ship actually failed along the expansion joint and that pitching of the stern would not have been nearly as drastic as 30 degrees, but as gentle a maximum of 11 degrees. This would mean the ship would have appeared to the passengers and crew that the ship was simply stagnant in the water and was sinking very slowly.
In the years following the sinking of the RMS Titanic many alternative theories about how she sank have popped up. The 'popular' reason for the sinking, in which 1,500 people perished, was that the ship struck an iceberg at 11:40 PM on 14 April 1912, and sank two hours and forty minutes later.
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