Category: Dai

When the Titanic sank 105 years ago, people said it hit an iceberg. It did in fact hit an iceberg, but a journalist just found that the sinking of the ship may have accelerated because of a giant coal fire in its hull.

The fire appeared to have started as long as three weeks before the Titanic set off on it’s journey from Southampton, England, to New York, America. They put out the fire, but it weakened the hull. “The fire was known about, but it was played down. She should never have been put to sea.” Says the journalist. That means the people knew about the fire, but didn’t make a big deal about it.

The Irish journalist who spent more than 30 years studying the Titanic argues that the fire was in a three story high bunker, a large container or compartment for storing fuel, in this case a coal bunker near one of the ships boiler rooms. (A boiler room is a compartment in a ship containing heating or steam-generating equipment).

If the fire never happened the ship would sink slower, so more people could get off in time. If the fire never happened, then the Titanic’s hull would have never been weakened so it might have never sank. There were about 1,500 deaths, and there could have been 1,000 less.

This is related to me because I have an ancestor from Southampton, who went to America.

Link to New York Times Post