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Scientists finally reveal the truth about the Titanic.
On April 14th, 1912 at 11:40 p.m,
RMS Titanic had a terrible accident that led to its ultimate demise three hours later.
By 2:20 a.m,
In the early morning of April 15th the biggest ship of its time had completely
disappeared under the ice-cold surface of the Atlantic Ocean.
The Titanic took more than 1500 lives with it as it sank to its watery grave.
That's more than two-thirds of all the people on board.
The cause of this horrible disaster leading to so many deaths was an iceberg the ship crashed into or
so we've always been told but scientists most recent findings have debunked this theory.
we'll tell you the whole truth that has been buried for over 100 years.
175 feet tall and with a usable volume of 46,328 tons,
the Titanic seemed indestructible.
People could walk for miles along her myriad passages and decks.
Even the ship's officers needed over two weeks to remember their way around this huge
construction. The Titanic had four massive smokestacks. Each of them weighed 60 tons, and they extended
81.5 feet above the deck. Such an impressive height was necessary to avoid covering the passengers in
100 tons of soot blown off daily. The smokestacks were placed at a 30-degree angle
to look even more astonishing and imposing.
No less inspiring was the cost of the ship. It's construction demanded
7.5 million dollars. If we take into account modern exchange rates and inflation.
In 2016, they would be paying 166 million dollars.
Surprisingly, it would turn out cheaper than the production of the world-famous movie Titanic in 1997.
Which costs 200 million dollars.
Harland and Wolff shipyard took on 3,000 men to build the ship.
Even with a huge labor force working six days a week from 6:00 in the morning,
it still took 26 months to complete the monumental task.
It was a difficult and dangerous work.
Imagine doing something at the height of a 20-storey building with no safety ropes.
But these people needed money to support their families, the builders got 2 pounds a week, which doesn't sound like much,
but it was a competitive wage back then.
Unfortunately 8 people died during the building process and
So it's really hard to fathom that such a complicated mechanism,
with all the work effort and money spent on its creation could just sink because of one iceberg.
Well, new findings give us reason to believe that the original cause of the catastrophe was not ice, but fire.
Journalist Senam Molony has been studying the fate of the Titanic for more than 30 years.
It was he who discovered a huge 30-foot long black spot on the hull of the ship.
He noticed it after examining a photo taken before Titanic's departure.
The journalist got hold of an album of previously unpublished
photographs that showed the construction of the ship and the preparations for her first and last journey.
The fire had to have been burning for three weeks at a very high temperature before somebody noticed it.
Metallurgy experts are sure that such conditions could have easily weakened the metal,
reducing its strength by as much as 75 percent.
That's why the iceberg didn't have any problems tearing a hole in the side of the ship.
If not for the fire it would have been impossible.
But the fact that the iceberg hit exactly the spot with the compromised metal is one of the incredible links in the chain of the
The management of the project knew about the fire and the fact that the ship shouldn't have set off on that fateful voyage.
But it would have meant bankruptcy for the ship's owners. The thing is that at the time
miners all over the country were on strike.
So there was no coal to sustain the Titanic.
But the tickets had already been sold out and other ships had been cancelled since
everybody wanted to be the first to sail on the largest ship known to mankind.
That's why the owners of the Titanic bought all the coal they could find and even the coal from other ships.
Canceling the trip seemed out of the question.
the ship was turned in such a way that the marks from the fire faced away from the docks toward the sea.
Therefore the passengers couldn't see them.
Thus the journey began the interior of the Titanic was based on that at the Ritz Hotel in London.
The grand staircase went down seven out of the ten decks on the ship.
It was decorated with paintings, bronze cherubs and oak paneling.The facilities for the first-class passengers
included a swimming pool with heated water, a Turkish bath, a gym, a squash court and a beauty salon.
Ladies could even order a stylist to help them get ready for dinner.
They had an onboard newspaper called The Atlantic Daily Bulletin. There was even a special place for first-class
The pets were fed, taken for walks and could even be trained during the voyage.
The meals for the first class included 13 courses each with its own wine. They were a big occasion
There were one and a half thousand bottles of wine,
20,000 bottles of beer and 8,000 cigars, yet there were no binoculars.
Why is this fact worth mentioning?
Because having binoculars could have saved the Titanic. Here is another tragic coincidence in the chain of unfortunate events.
There were no sonar systems in those times. So to detect threats ahead of a liner, special people kept watch using binoculars.
But the binoculars on the Titanic had been locked away in a special compartment.
The only person with the key to the locker, second officer David Blair was replaced at the last minute.
He was in such a hurry to leave the ship, that he forgot to hand the key over to his replacement. This fateful
forgetfulness was discovered only three days later when the ship was already at sea.
If the crew had gotten the binoculars, they would have noticed the iceberg earlier and would have just enough time to avoid the crash.
Perhaps the crash could also been avoided if the ship hadn't been breaking the speed limit.
They were falling behind schedule, and this was unacceptable as it could ruin the Titanic's reputation.
That's why the ship was moving at a speed much higher than the one it was designed for.
Another criminal negligence was connected with the lifeboats. In order to contain all the people on board, the Titanic
needed about sixty lifeboats. The chief designer
Alexander Carlisle, planned to equip the ship with only 48 boats.
But eventually the number was reduced even more to 20. This was done purely for cosmetic reasons.
Since the deck looked too cluttered with 48, these 20 boats could seat only one third of all the people on the ship.
insufficient amount of lifeboats was technically legal.
According to the laws of that time the number of boats depended not on the number of passengers, but on the tonnage of a ship.
What's more, at the time of the Titanic's construction, lifeboat drills were standard practice on ocean liners.
This way, the crew could prepare passengers for an emergency should it occur.
But this type of drill never took place on the Titanic.
Captain Edward John Smith cancelled the drill scheduled on the morning of the day the Titanic sank.
Nobody knows the reasons for his decision.
Especially considering the fact that other ships had been passing on warnings about ice in the water in that vicinity.
Perhaps this is why it took the crew over a half an hour to launch the lifeboats, instead of the standard 10 minutes.
Some people also blame Captain Smith for allowing the first batch of lifeboats to leave half empty. The first boat with 65 seats
contained just 27 passengers.
In the beginning people were reluctant to leave the ship and didn't realise that they were in grave danger.
In 2012, researchers found out that Captain Smith had failed his first exam in navigation.
Eventually he passed, but who knows, maybe this too played its own role in the disaster.
As the Titanic was sinking, the crew sent several distress signals.
However, a ship sailing nearby, the Californian ignored the emergency flare shot in the sky.
The captain of the Californian later lost his job after this fact came out.
But modern researchers have managed to prove his innocence. Well, better late than never.
The reason nobody noticed the signals from the Titanic could be due to the phenomenon of light refraction.
When layers of cold air are positioned below layers of warmer air it causes thermal inversion.
Thermal inversion in turn, leads to the light refracting abnormally. In short,
all this creates mirages. And such mirages had been recorded by several other ships sailing in that area.
Historian Tim Moulton is also convinced that light refraction that night could be the reason why the lookouts missed the iceberg
Tragic and unfortunate chain of coincidences, fire, or ice.
Whatever it was, it took the lives of hundreds of people, and still keeps the minds of scientists busy to this day.
What theory about the catastrophe do you believe? Share your opinion in the comments below.
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