"Rivets" said the tour guide. I was at Titanica, the exhibit of the lost liner's artifacts, and standing next to a two-ton piece of the liner that had been retrieved from the Atlantic's bottom. It was awesome looking at that old, sunken ship -- and admiring its massive construction. I also looked at the holes where rivits had been "zipped" out during the liner's submersion. I am also now reading a new book on the metalurgy involved in the Titanic's hull plates and the rivits used to hold the hull plates together.Fascinating.
BREE'S BLOG: In The Wake of the Fitzgerald
Titanic: What Sank this Great Boat?
October 8, 2009
2 Comments
Comments
Oct 16, 2009 9:18 AM EDT
I also read in Proceedings of the US Naval Institute that the metal used in TITANIC was of poor quality, easily cracked when ice cold especially around the area where rivets were placed. This made the hull particularly prone to to break up.
- Stephen D. Regan, Ed.D.
Oct 16, 2009 1:16 PM EDT
Forensic scientists tested the Titanic's steel and found it to be OK and in fact, similar in strength to today's lower grade metal. However, the rivits were deficient. My source is the book, What Sank the Titanic. It's two two authors who tested the metals over a period of years, including the rivits. The thought here is that the rivit heads are small, often formed improperly and under stress when they are hammered in, and a pressure on one of the two overlapping plates where the Titanitc's hull was held togther by rivits, snapped the heads off. There are many holes in the steel hull I saw where the ice pressure simply "unzipped" the hull. This rivit weakness investigation seems to hold up the best in my estimation.
- Marlin Bree