"HEMI - Powered" wrote in message
...
Bouler added these comments in the current discussion du jour ...

There are really two parts of the Titanic disaster/tragedy still
being investigated: the causes related to Capt. Smith's decision to
(apparently) ignore warnings from other vessels and modern
information just now coming to light as to structural weaknesses in
the hull of the ship itself. For the latter, one can point to the
design standards for metalurgy and riveting of the day as well as
theories still being investigated as to whether a gash was actually
ripped open on the starboard side or just many plates that buckled.
Also, new information suggests that the bottom of the hull fatally
scraped along an outcropping the the ice berg which ruptured the
hill longitudinally for some distance. Both are virtually
impossible to prove or disprove even with several successful dives
on the wreakage site because the hull sits in a position where it
is impossible to determine a root cause and reluctance to bring up
any more steel makes it difficult to do more extensive metalurgy
studies. For the former, one can read the eye witness accounts of
the sinking from survivors and see gross inconsistencies, such as
whether the hull did or did not break in half before the ship went
down (it is now clearly known that it did crack in half as the bow
and stern sections of the wreakage are a couple of miles apart).

You're very well informed.

Thank you, I try. This stuff does interest me, although I do have to
admit many areas where my technical expertise is severly lacking. I
know I burned DVDs from some History Channel episodes maybe a year or
so ago. If I get ambitious enough, I'll try to find them but I have
made a mental note to re-record them again on my DVR. It's a dumb
coincidence that a rather long episode or two aired just last week, I
think, relating the story of Titanic's construction, it's major
structural and safety weaknesses, details of the sinking itself, and
results of the most recent dives on the wreak, which I think began in
2002 and maybe ended a year or two later (but I'm rather hazy about
that, please help me out if you can).

If it's the episode I'm thinking of where they found a 60 Foot(?) section
of the keel that was separated from the rest of the two pieces of the
ship. This section of the keel was from the middle of the ship, and it
broke
away from the stresses that was placed on it, thus allowing the Titanic
to break into the two pieces and sink much faster than it normally
would have. It's been a while since I've seen that episode, but
that's what I remember from it.

wizofwas