Why did the Titanic sink?

National World - News and sport explainers

A freak weather event may have occurred on the night of the disaster, according to freshly examined accounts in The Times archive, meaning hazards lurking in the ocean were harder to spot

Transcript

00:00 It has long been thought that RMS Titanic sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on 15th April

00:09 1912 as a result of striking an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton.

00:16 But freshly examined evidence from the Times Newspapers archive suggests a freak weather

00:21 event may have occurred on the night of the disaster.

00:25 Witness accounts from a passenger lucky enough to have secured a place on a lifeboat suggest

00:29 a clear night with stars plainly visible.

00:33 But the crew seem to have seen something different altogether.

00:36 From their vantage point 90 feet above the sea, the horizon was obscured by a haze that

00:41 prevented them spotting an iceberg in their path.

00:45 A new theory suggests a thermal inversion occurred on that fateful night causing a mirage

00:51 tricking crew into thinking objects on the true horizon were nearer than they actually

00:55 were.

00:58 Observers at a higher altitude, such as the crow's nest of a ship, may see the gap between

01:03 the true horizon and the refracted one as a haze.

01:08 The false horizon, created by temperature conditions, not only hindered the Titanic's

01:13 crew from spotting the iceberg, but sowed confusion amongst those who might have come

01:17 to the rescue.

01:19 A thermal inversion is a meteorological event in which a band of cold air forces its way

01:24 beneath warmer air.

01:27 It's now thought possible that cold air, driven by the Labrador current, pushed beneath

01:31 warm air carried by the Gulf Stream.

01:35 This inversion could have bent light rays downwards towards the cooler air, making the

01:39 horizon appear higher than it was.

01:43 The Titanic, which struck the iceberg at 11.40pm, slipped beneath the waves at around 2.20am

01:49 on April 15th, 1912.

01:53 Of the 2,240 passengers and crew who set sail on the Titanic, more than 1,500 died in the

02:00 disaster.

02:01 [music]

02:03 (upbeat music)

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