Could this be why the Titanic sunk so fast?

[Zakama]

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/15/science/15titanic.html?pagewanted=2&ei=5070&en=250f85c362bb4b02&ex=1208836800&emc=eta1

My mom sent me this article, and I learned some interesting things from it. Article spoiler: Particularly that Harland & Wolff, the shipbuilding company, was making two other ships at the time it was making the Titanic. The weak rivets plus that make this believable.

[Pyrian]

Note that the hypothesis is merely that stronger rivets would have made it take longer to sink, thereby giving rescuers more time. Could've saved a lot of lives, true, but nobody's actually claiming it wouldn't have sunk.

EDIT: My post made more sense before Zakama fixed his. :smallcool:

[reorith]

it is a well documented fact that ebaums was behind the tragedy of the sinking of the titanic.

[DraPrime]

I think the fact that they crashed into a gigantic piece of ice was the probable cause of the titanic sinking.

[Zakama]

I think the fact that they crashed into a gigantic piece of ice was the probable cause of the titanic sinking.

Heh, that probably didn't help.

[Jimorian]

They also think that the sulfur content of the steel plate was probably way too high, making the metal very brittle at winter temperatures, so that it shattered instead of bending under the stress of the impact. Again, that would have speeded up the sinking process rather than avoiding it.

[Groundhog]

So it came down to bad materials? That's sad, considering the press that the Titanic's maiden voyage generated. You'd think they'd put a little more quality into something that was going to be in the international news.

[Bor the Barbarian Monk]

Just an interesting fact that I discovered years ago while temporarily interested in the Titanic...

Had they collided head-on with the iceberg, the ship wouldn't have sank. Yes, there would have been injuries and perhaps a few deaths, but the water would only have filled the first water-tight bulkhead, thereby keeping the ship afloat. Instead, by scraping the sides, water filled several bulkheads, weighing down the front of the ship and causing it to sink.

As for the materials...I thought the whole ship was made of paper? :smallconfused:

[Shas aia Toriia]

Just an interesting fact that I discovered years ago while temporarily interested in the Titanic...

Had they collided head-on with the iceberg, the ship wouldn't have sank. Yes, there would have been injuries and perhaps a few deaths, but the water would only have filled the first water-tight bulkhead, thereby keeping the ship afloat. Instead, by scraping the sides, water filled several bulkheads, weighing down the front of the ship and causing it to sink.

Aye, I had heard the same thing.
However, the "water-tight" containers actually didn't full cover the inside. The very top was open, so water could fill up one container and then easily fill up the next, and so on and so on.

[thubby]

theres no point in pointing fingers. the entire affair was a walking heap of fail.

[Bor the Barbarian Monk]

Aye, I had heard the same thing.
However, the "water-tight" containers actually didn't full cover the inside. The very top was open, so water could fill up one container and then easily fill up the next, and so on and so on.
Well, supposedly the water filling the first bulkhead wouldn't have caused the ship to tilt enough for water to spill over into the others. There would have been 14 other bulkheads not filled with water, which would either have contributed to keeping the ship afloat, or at least keep it afloat longer.

I'm a bit of a strange bird when it comes to such things as a movie that presents historical fiction. Braveheart, 300, and Titanic being perfect examples. I'll see the movie, then jump online to find out what was fact and what was fiction.

With the Titanic, I actually went one step further. I mean, right around when the movie was released, there was plenty of books out there on the topic. I actually bought and read the Congressional hearing documentation that was part of the investigation into the sinking.

My greatest displeasure was how Capt. Smith was portrayed as a doddering old fool who went to the bridge to accept his fate in a near-catatonic state. He was very active during the sinking, helping people into the boats. He was last seen when a wave overtook the ship and he vanished beneath the water.

My head is chock-full of useless information. :smallcool:

[Shas aia Toriia]

Mayhaps so, but did you know that the Titanic was carrying a mummy on board, nicknamed something along the lines of "Shipwrecker", and the mummy had just come on the bridge when the order to abandon ship was given?
Did you know that the Titanic left harbor with a bunker of coal on fire?

[Haydenhawk]

Even if the rivets were stronger, when the Titanic set its emergency flares off, all the other ships thought they were putting on a show because every knew the Titanic was "Unsinkable". So people wouldn't of noticed until the ship went black like how the other ships figured out it was sinking.:smallannoyed:

[Rogue 7]

My head is chock-full of useless information. :smallcool:

There's no such thing as useless information.

[Jack Squat]

Mayhaps so, but did you know that the Titanic was carrying a mummy on board, nicknamed something along the lines of "Shipwrecker", and the mummy had just come on the bridge when the order to abandon ship was given?


Never heard that...but I'm assuming you mean the mummy was carried onto the bridge when the order was given. If he had come onto the bridge, I would say good thing the Titanic sank, and he didn't get a lifeboat.

[Serpentine]

And the bow, as fate would have it, is where the iceberg struck. Well that's not very fair. There was this iceberg, floating out there, minding its own business, when a nasty big ship comes up and elbows by it. And they blame the poor innocent ice :smallannoyed:

[Pyro]

Speaking of the Titanic, here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=saHs6J0OXVI) is a silly video about "The Titanic Conspiracy".

[Jack Zander]

I totally thought he was serious until he did the ice vs metal tests.

[†Seer†]

Well that's not very fair. There was this iceberg, floating out there, minding its own business, when a nasty big ship comes up and elbows by it. And they blame the poor innocent ice :smallannoyed:

Darn you Serp! Woke up my roommates laughing :P