Did the Titanic Sink Due To an Optical Illusion?

Hugh Pickens writes "According to new research by British historian Tim Maltin, records by several ships in the area where the Titanic sank show atmospheric conditions were ripe for super refraction, a bending of light that caused a false horizon, concealing the iceberg that sank the Titanic in a mirage layer, which prevented the Titanic's lookouts from seeing the iceberg in time to avoid collision. According to the new theory, Titanic was sailing from Gulf Stream waters into the frigid Labrador Current, where the air column was cooling from the bottom up. This created a thermal inversion, with layers of cold air below layers of warmer air, creating a superior mirage. The theory also explains why the freighter Californian was unable to identify the Titanic on the moonless night, because even though the Titanic sailed into the Californian's view, it appeared too small to be the great ocean liner. The abnormally stratified air may also have disrupted signals sent by the Titanic by Morse Lamp to the Californian to no avail. This is not the first time atmospheric conditions have been postulated as a factor in the disaster that took 1,517 lives. An investigation in 1992 by the British government's Marine Accident Investigation Branch also suggested that super refraction may have played a role in the disaster (PDF, see page 13), but that possibility went unexplored until Maltin mined weather records, survivors' testimony and long-forgotten ships' logs."

Ptheh.

[tqk]

I think the fact that all the watertight doors of the "unsinkable ocean liner" were open sort of makes everything else irrelevant.

User error, in the extreme. Bad Captain!

Re:Ptheh.

[Brett Buck]

Incorrect. It was designed to remain afloat with "n" compartments flooded. The gash opened up "n+1" compartments. If it had hit head-on they wouldn't have sunk, the glancing shot (possibly or possibly not due to a last-second attempt at a turn) caused too many compartments to flood.

        Brett

Re:Occam's razor isn't something you shave with

[LateArthurDent]

What's more likely?

When playing poker, the probability any individual has a pair is higher than the probability he has four of a kind. Therefore, by Occam's Razor, nobody has ever gotten a four of a kind.

Clearly the above doesn't make sense. What's more likely, that Occam's Razor is worthless or that you don't understand Occam's Razor?

Occam's Razor only applies to two theories that give the exact same prediction. The moment they can be differentiated by testing hypotheses, you don't invoke Occam's Razor. You test the hypotheses.

Re:The illusion might have added to the many reaso

[Stormy Dragon]

Also they were loading lifeboats according to your travel class. First class passengers were more likely to be saved. Third class passengers had to wait their turns. That's why for the blockbuster Titanic they had a first class woman paired with a third class man.

This is one of those myths that gets repeated despite not being true. The first class passengers had an advantage in that the lifeboats were located on the upper decks and thus the started physically closer to them, but no attempt was made to keep third class passengers from the lifeboats, nor where the first class passengers given preferential seating.

And the actual best/worst survival case was second class children and second class males (in fact, the survival rater for third class males was 50% higher than for second class males).

Re:Occam's razor isn't something you shave with

[gl4ss]

What's more likely?

Lookouts weren't paying attention or a rare optical effect making the iceberg invisible.

optical illusion makes it harder to pay attention.

Re:Insurance Scam

[jandrese]

Like all good crazy conspiracy theories this one requires dozens (probably hundreds) of people in on the scam (in which people are killed!) and nobody ever coming forward to bust them. It's a cute read, but when you start thinking about it this plan was just way way too complex to have even gotten as far as it did.