I congratulate Mr. Maltin on his research. Something he did not mention was the terrible fact that Lookout Frederick Fleet was not good at judging distances. This came out in the inquiries after the sinking. It is yet another horrible thing that came together that awful night.

Thank you for solving how the Titanic sank.

Here are some questions i have how many passengers were on the ship and where did the Ice berg hit the titanic

The movie was awsome until it got to the end then i cryed!!!

All researchers should agree on a common reason why the Titanic sunk.

At last someone who has an answer to all the idiots that think that the Titanic was sunk on purpose or did not hit a berg or was switched. I have seen the documentary 3 times now in full and 7 times in part and have read one book. I have read other books, but not one that deals with the natural events of that night. The clear night with no moon, the warm air above cold, the stars as a thousand lights, the stillness of the sea, all came together to cause a mirage effect. It both explains why the lookouts did not see the iceberg until it was on top of them and why Captain Lord may have not realized that he was looking at the Titanic and got confused by the lights and signals. It also proves that it was the Titanic that sank because the plates and the design of the ship are looked at and how strong her steel and rivets were. The berg did not make one clean slice in the side of the ship, it made several smaller ones side by side and the steel rivets were forced out, partly as they were iron in places. I have been looking at all of the ridiculous conspiracy theories all night and it was refreshing to finish by reading a proper scientific explanation for the sinking of the Titanic: an iceberg hit her, but the natural forces around her made it almost impossible that she did not collide with this berg. A perfect cold night, that was too perfect for the human eye to cope with; and when nature and human error conspire; then disaster follows. 1500 people may have gone to their deaths because there were not enough life boats, but nature created the disaster that sank an 'unsinkable' ship in the first place, and human beings sadly gave her a hand.

Captain Smith was responsible for Titanic's speed, yet to back him up he was following protocol at the time. It was common practice to sail through Danger zones as quickly as possible and Smith took into consideration of Icebergs by sailing a more southern route. Cpt Smith also had faith in his ship and trusted his experience. It is easy to see why Smith acted on Ismays word and he wanted to end his career on a mega high by arriving into New York earlier than expected. A COMPLACENT CAPTAIN left The RMS TITANIC flying in the face of God. Crew members, particularly 2nd Officer Lightoller who warned Cpt Smith of ice being hard to see at night but under Smith's orders was told to maintain speed and heading, speed being the critical concern.

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

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.

Titanic hit the ocean bottom at 30 knots. A new speed record for the time.

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 !

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.

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.

Just saw the documentary and I agree with the findings 100%. It was a freak accident that nobody wanted to happen.