Did the Titanic Sink Because of an Optical Illusion?
New research may have found the reason why the ship struck an iceberg: light refraction
- By Tim Maltin
- Illustrations by Charles Floyd
- Smithsonian magazine, March 2012
(Charles Floyd)
An unusual optical phenomenon explains why the Titanic struck an iceberg and received no assistance from a nearby ship, according to new research by British historian Tim Maltin. Atmospheric conditions in the area that night were ripe for super refraction, Maltin found. This extraordinary bending of light causes miraging, which, he discovered, was recorded by several ships in the area. He says it also prevented the Titanic’s lookouts from seeing the iceberg in time and the freighter Californian from identifying the ocean liner and communicating with it. A 1992 British government investigation suggested that super refraction may have played a role in the disaster, but that possibility went unexplored until Maltin mined weather records, survivors’ testimony and long-forgotten ships’ logs. His findings—presented in his new book, A Very Deceiving Night, and the documentary film Titanic’s Final Mystery, premiering on the Smithsonian Channel at 8 p.m. on April 15—are distilled here:
1. The Titanic was sailing from Gulf Stream waters into the frigid Labrador Current, where the air column was cooling from the bottom up, creating a thermal inversion: layers of cold air below layers of warmer air. Extraordinarily high air pressure kept the air free of fog.
Additional Sources
Adapted from A Very Deceiving Night, by Tim Maltin. Copyright © 2012. With the permission of Airborne TV & Film.
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Comments (23)
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Dear ice4444 (and everyone else sharing this opinion),
Before you throw out this "theory" in disgust, WATCH THE DOCUMENTARY! Mr. Maltin presents a mountain of EVIDENCE to prove his point, I would like you to watch and weigh every piece yourself.
And, much more importantly, I'll tell you who cares: the hundreds (thousands?) of fishermen (and other ship users) who regularly travel in this same exact part of the North Atlantic, and who have to occasionally deal with this EXACT SAME weather phenomena.
Although it is rare, this phenomenon DOES OCCUR from time to time (the "Titanic" disaster was certainly not the only time) and it is extremely important for ALL SAILORS and SHIP CREWMEMBERS (to say nothing of the captains!) to know about it, to help prevent a nautical tragedy from ever occuring again for these same reasons.
Trust me, any kind of weather phenomena which distorts the horizon, presents a false horizon, and/or either completely obscures or distorts the images of other nearby ships, can have exceedingly dangerous consequences for all parties involved IF they have no reliable means of communication AND IF they are not fully aware of said phenomena.
All training of any ship's personnel in any country (or just the training of sailors in general), should include a full day's (or week's) training/tutorial on this particular phenomena (Super Refraction), and how to properly and safely deal with it, whether in the presence of other ships, or not.
-sincerely
A. Barrett
Posted by A. Barrett on April 16,2012 | 01:53 AM
The NASA site 'Astonomy Picture of the Day' has a shot today about the so-called Fata Morgana, a recognized optical illusion much like the one Matlin describes. See a discussion in Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fata_Morgana_(mirage)
While a whole armada of things went wrong, it seems plausible there were visual oddities under weather conditions that Night to Remember that contributed to the collision by making the iceberg pretty much invisible on a moon-less, extremely still night with no whitecaps or waves to break visibly against the berg.
Posted by John Lindros on April 16,2012 | 04:54 PM
Titanic hit the ocean bottom at 30 knots. A new speed record for the time.
Posted by Bob34333 on April 16,2012 | 08:56 AM
So the theory is that they could see further than normal ? It's not clear how that causes hitting icebergs and missing signals ... the opposite is more likely - icebergs more visible and sighnals travelling further !
Posted by Only Me on April 15,2012 | 03:11 PM
Saw the documentary, I think it's a very revealing explanation that solved the mysteries of the clear sky, the California, etc. Most enlightening definitely.
Posted by Rizky on April 15,2012 | 02:19 PM
Given the fact that Astor and many politically connected persons were aboard, there seems no reason not to consider whether the Titanic was sabotaged instead for whatever advantage that might have produced at the time. So many conspiracy theories surround current events that it seems logical to question whether they also surrounded past events, so, in not exploring that potential, great flaws in history can occur that otherwise might reveal devastating data exposed of how criminal minds deceive, and how media can be used for coverups. It seems rather odd that such an historical view has not been the topic of hindsight to a point where the sinking can be attributable only to an accident of such major proportions - that seems more unlikely than not - given the extent of the investment at the time, and the number of socially prominent persons aboard. Wondering if that really does them justice to chaulk it up to an accident.
Posted by Pat on April 15,2012 | 01:04 PM
Just saw the documentary and I agree with the findings 100%. It was a freak accident that nobody wanted to happen.
Posted by Fras on April 9,2012 | 05:45 PM
Exactly. Check the facts first! Binoculars didn't have any influence collision. They wouldn't have been used even if they were available. Any of the watchmen in nearby ships in the same conditions at the very same night didn't use binoculars. Cause binoculars just don't work too well in the dark. Bare eye is better for ice berg spotting in the dark.
Posted by Juha Antero on April 8,2012 | 02:12 PM
This theory is not probably worth your time. Analysis of the titanic event revealed that the key to the cabinet with all the titanic's binoculars was left to london. The lookout guys could not get their hands on the binoculars and thus saw the iceberg too late. Check the facts first.
Posted by pattenden on March 17,2012 | 03:13 AM
As a United States Merchant Marine deck officer, captain, The blame for the lose of the Titanic rests squarely on the shoulders of her Captain. For whatever reason, the captain of the Titanic was traveling at an unsafe speed for the conditions at hand. Ice had been reported to him and he should have been proceeding at a safer speed for the existing conditions. EOM However, to his credit, and thankfully, he did go down with his ship. Unlike the cowardly captain of the recent Greek ship wreck who deserted his ship, his post, his passengers and his responsibilities.
Posted by Eric N. Loos on March 7,2012 | 04:56 PM
The high speed theories, heres another one:
No record attempt, only the standard procedure to burn coal that had selfignited in order to prevent the fire to spread in the hold, this causing the high speeed?
Posted by Peter on March 5,2012 | 01:51 AM
The fictional novel "Futility of the Wreck of the Titan" laid the blueprint for the robber barons to drown opposition. Marconi was funded by Morgan to steal Tesla radio patents, look it up.
Posted by Joseph A Olson on March 5,2012 | 03:57 PM
Nice try, but if the ship had been built to spec in the first place, other research has shown that it may very well have survived the collision damage. It's a nice way to popularize your atmospheric research though.
Posted by Hullabusullah on March 4,2012 | 04:38 PM
There's no real mystery why the Californian did not respond to the Titanic's rockets. The watch officer of the Californian saw rockets, but did not see a distress signal. Protocols for using rockets or cannon to signal distress at night were well defined in 1912. A firing interval of one minute was specified. Signals at longer intervals were used to signal a ship not underway and requesting extra clearance from passing vessels. The Titanic fired eight rockets over a period of one hour - an average of once every seven to eight minutes. Responsibility for the confusion on the watch of the Californian rests with the poorly trained crew of the Titanic failing to follow protocols and sending a signal most logically interpreted as the exact opposite of their intent. It was entirely reasonable for the watch of the Californian to interpret the signals as being from another ship in the Californian's situation - not underway due to ice. Captain Lord of the Californian was not awoken because nothing seen by the watch officer warranted it. The initial inquests into the disaster failed to grasp this fundamental point.
Add one more to the list of bloopers committed by the Titanic's officers and crew that caused and added to the tragedy: maintaining speed in the face of ice warnings, failure of the radio operator to forward the acute ice warning from the Californian to the bridge, demanding that the Californian stay off air with safety messages so the Titanic could load the airwaves with frivolous messages, failing to launch full lifeboats, and sending the wrong signal when in distress.
Posted by GFC on March 3,2012 | 08:42 PM
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