Sinking Of The 'Titanic' Caused By Fire Not By An Iceberg?

First Posted: Jan 05, 2017 02:12 AM EST
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A new documentary titled Titanic: The New Evidence was aired on Jan. 1 in the U.K. It indicated that the cause of the sinking of the huge ship was fire and not the iceberg that struck it. This was claimed by Senan Molony, an Irish author who researched and wrote about the history of Titanic for over 30 years.

It was reported that the Titanic sank over 104 years ago and killed more than 1,500 people. The tragedy was mysterious and it was said that the ship collided and was struck by an iceberg off the coast of Newfoundland.

On the other hand, in the new documentary, evidence suggests that there was a huge coal fire in the ship's hull and seemed to have started three weeks before it sailed to New York from Southampton in England. Molony said that the fire damaged the hull before it was struck by an iceberg.

He argued in the documentary and said that it is a perfect storm of extraordinary factors coming together: fire, ice and criminal intelligence. He added that the fire was known about, but it was played down. He also said that it should never have been put to sea.

Molony and a collaborator had collected rare photographs of the ship, which were taken by Harland and Wolff's engineering chief. Harland and Wolff was the company that built the Titanic. Mr. Molony found in the images a 30-foot-long diagonal black mark on the hull's front starboard side, which was near the ship, was pierced by the iceberg. Meanwhile, when the engineers from Imperial College London examined the photos, they revealed that the mark was caused by a fire in a coal bunker of the ship.

Richard de Kerbrech, a marine engineer, who had also written two books about the Titanic disaster, said that the fire could have damaged the ship's bulkhead and it became vulnerable after it was struck by an iceberg. He further said that this discovery is a revelation and could change the knowledge of the history of what happened. The documentary will be aired in the United States on the Smithsonian Channel on Jan. 21, according to New York Times.

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