We know now that the Titanic broke in two when it was sinking - Robert Ballard discovered this when he found the wreck in 85. However, before this, and from seeing movies such as A Night To Remember, the ship is depicted as sinking whole. Did eyewitness accounts at the time not say otherwise? Why is this so?
2007-07-27 14:59:54 · 6 answers · asked by Sarah T 2 in Arts & Humanities ➔ History
Greetings....in the inquiry, a couple of people had testified that they thought the bow returned quickly to the surface before going down, but apparently that was overlooked or just discarded as "different witnesses seeing different things".
You can find that in the Inquiry section of Ballard's book, "Discovery of the Titanic".
All survivors reported to hearing a very loud rumble as the ship dropped it's nose and the lights went out on the ship.
Ballard believes it was then that the ship broke in two.
Most of the testimony that was accepted came from 2nd Officer Lightoller (the highest ranking crew member to have survived) that the Titanic sunk in one piece.
I strongly suggest you read the book, "Discovery of the Titanic" by Robert Ballard. It basically explains three stories in one....the maiden voyage and the observed sinking, the history of the search and discovery, then the retelling of the story based on the CQD position of the wreckage and the physical wreckage itself.
Take care.
2007-07-27 15:22:35 · answer #1 · answered by TeacherGrant 5 · 3⤊ 0⤋
When a ship floats, its total weight is evenly distributed by the water. Should it sink and there is a weak spot on the hull, as there was where the berg tore a huge hole it is possible it twisted on the way down the 2 parts of the hull separating and falling to the bottom at different speeds. Since the heavy weight of the engines were in the stern it would sink faster and fall almost straight down, the bow being much lighter would "corkscrew" and sort of float down and land much further away from the stern. Don't mean to sound "preachy" but sounds about right to me.
2007-07-27 15:09:57 · answer #2 · answered by Seadog 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Perhaps the ship broke in half when already under the water and not really when it was above the water like in the movie with Kate and Leonardo. Or why not just go ask Robert Ballard yourself! =<)
2007-07-27 15:15:28 · answer #3 · answered by Sir Grandmaster Adler von Chase 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It was dark, cold, raining lightly and people were panicked. Hardly the conditions for anyone to be watching the ship. A few survivors said they didn't watch it slip beneath the water because they couldn't bear to watch their loved ones go. It is possible the pressure of going down at the last cracked it in two because there was a lot of displacement of air, water and solid ship. And it's possible some of the furnaces blew.
2007-07-27 15:08:25 · answer #4 · answered by Jess 7 · 3⤊ 0⤋
I read somewhere the boilers blew and that was enough for the ship to break up as it descended. Water pressure would have helped as well.
Once it was under water the survivors would have seen little.
Historyman.
2007-07-27 16:58:11 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
It may have been already far enough below the water level before it broke that no one saw it.
2007-07-27 15:02:31 · answer #6 · answered by marconprograms 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋