What Really Sank the Titanic: New Forensic Discoveries [Hardcover]

Jennifer Hooper McCarty (Author), Tim Foecke (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2008

On the starry night of April 14, 1912, at the dawn of a century charged with human ingenuity and hope, the largest and most advanced passenger ship in the world struck an iceberg and sank to the bottom of the frigid North Atlantic. In the decades that followed, despite numerous official inquiries and the eventual discovery of the wreck itself, key questions have gone unanswered: Why did the double-bottomed, 46,000-ton RMS Titanic, built above and beyond the most exacting specifications, sink in less than three hours? Was the iceberg alone responsible for the tragedy? Or did other factors contribute to the collision's deadly toll? A conclusive explanation has not been given--until now.

With the same methodology used by forensic scientists in crime-scene investigations, researchers Jennifer Hooper McCarty and Tim Foecke applied new tools to the century-old mystery. By analyzing step by step how the ship was designed and constructed, what vulnerabilities were overlooked, and how this marvel of modern engineering may have been a disaster waiting to happen, they build a compelling new scenario.

We are vividly taken into a bygone era, when luxury ocean travel and ruthless business competition fueled ever mightier ship construction projects built by Belfast shipyard workers, some mere children, laboring in unsafe, exhausting conditions. With Britain, the shipbuilders, and an entire industry caught up in a mad dash to build the greatest vessel ever, shocking lapses went unnoticed. Using modern microscopic techniques, the authors reveal those failures and show how they doomed the lives of at least 1,500 of the Titanic's passengers and crew.

Grippingly written, What Really Sank the Titanic is illustrated with fascinating period photographs and modern scientific evidence. It includes little-known Titanic facts and lore, colorful portraits of the ship's designers, builders, and crew, eyewitness accounts, and a dramatic timeline of the ship's last hours. In an age when forensics can catch killers, this book does what no other book has before: fingers the culprit in one of the greatest tragedies ever.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Citadel; 1 edition (March 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0806528958
• ISBN-13: 978-0806528953
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #850,183 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Based on hard facts and scientific analysis, March 12, 2008

By 

Bruce Trinque (Amston, CT United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: What Really Sank the Titanic: New Forensic Discoveries (Hardcover)

Far too often, books dealing with the sinking of RMS Titanic contain little more than old information covered with groundless speculation. "What Really Sank the Titanic: New Forensic Discoveries" is entirely different. Both McCarty and Foecke have doctorates in Materials Science, and both have long been engaged with testing metal samples recovered in the past two decades from the Titanic wreck site. Although in passing they examine various previously discussed facts and theories (such as the speed of the vessel on the fatal night, a fire in a coal bunker, and the variability of witness testimony), the heart of their book revolves around the testing and analysis of rivets used to hold together the ship's steel hull plates. I suppose that the ideal audience for this book is a Titanic buff with a technical background (I qualify on both grounds), and although I found myself reflecting back to my single college metallury course, I think it written lucidly enough for any intelligent reader. The authors present a convincing case that many of the rivets used in the Titanic's construction were of inferior material and many probably not optimally installed. The result was that, under stress from the glancing blow against the iceberg, too many rivets failed and allowed the seams between some of the hull plates to open, admitting water and causing the ship to sink before any help could arrive. Along the way, McCarty and Foecke refute the formerly popular theory that the hull plate material itself was overly brittle and failed during the collision.

16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Essential Facet of Titanic History, March 11, 2008

By 

C. Pellegrino "timewalker" (Long Beach, New York) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: What Really Sank the Titanic: New Forensic Discoveries (Hardcover)

I have a few minor nits here and there (including a too brief and too simplistic overview of rusticle biology); but not even all of them put together are of such magnitude as to preclude a five-star rating. Even the sidebars (or long foot notes) are not only must reading on this subject, but fascinating reading as well. New data are presented requiring, among other things, a re-examination of questions surrounding the coal bunker fire, and whether or not the steel was sufficiently damaged at a critical bulkbead to make any difference in the rate of the ship's sinking - or even to determine whether or not she floated through the crisis altogether.

Just when you thought there was nothing really new or interesting (or sane) to be written about the Titanic, Hooper and Foecke come along.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Forensic Ananlysis, April 19, 2008

By 

Samuel W. Halpern "Titanicology" (Matawan, NJ United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: What Really Sank the Titanic: New Forensic Discoveries (Hardcover)

The authors did a superb job on assessing the quality and workmanship issues regarding the steel and rivets used in the construction of the Titanic and her sister ships. I especially liked the way they explained some of the complexities of steel making and the riveting process in the early part of the 20th century. All the explanations of technical matters were written so that someone without a technical background is able to appreciate and understand them. I especially liked the many analogies that are used throughout the book, and some of the sidebar issues that were brought up. The authors did an excellent job in assessing the claims of others, and in presenting their own assessment of the various issues involved and work that they did in the search for answers. They fully supported their conclusions, and made a very clear and logical case for what contributed to the sinking of this great ship.