Lights fail and the hull breaks in two
With the stern lifted clear of the water the lights blinked once and went out, and the hull tore apart between the third and fourth funnels. Many survivors described exactly this; the British inquiry rejected their evidence and recorded that the ship sank intact. The 1985 discovery of two widely separated sections settled the question in the survivors' favour.
Historical — it happened, and the record is settled.
Subjects
- RMS Titanic · vessel · not located
- Titanic wreck site · wreck site · International waters
- British Wreck Commissioner's Inquiry into the loss of the Titanic · public inquiry · not located
Evidence
Verified — Every field is supported by a cited authoritative source. This is the standing of the weakest source, not an average.
Report on the Loss of the S.S. Titanic — British Wreck Commissioner's Inquiry
Found the loss due to collision with an iceberg brought about by the excessive speed at which the ship was navigated; recorded the ship's particulars, the voyage timings, the ice messages received and the lifeboat complement; held that Titanic exceeded the Board of Trade requirement; found the Californian could have reached her; concluded (incorrectly) that the hull sank intact.
Wreck Commissioner's Court / Board of Trade, London · 1912-07-30 · Verified
Lord Mersey presiding; 36 sitting days, 97 witnesses
Records of the 1985 Franco-American Titanic search (R/V Le Suroît and R/V Knorr, Argo imaging sled)
The wreck was located on 1 September 1985 by the towed imaging sled Argo; the hull lay in two major sections roughly 600 m apart with an intervening debris field, at approximately 3,800 m depth.
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and IFREMER · 1985 · Verified
R/V Knorr cruise, August-September 1985, with the Argo towed imaging sled (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution), preceded by the R/V Le Suroit sonar sweep (IFREMER)
Recorded on RMS Titanic
- Keel of yard number 401 laid at Harland and Wolff
- Titanic launched at Belfast
- Sea trials in Belfast Lough and delivery to White Star
- Maiden voyage departs Southampton
- Titanic anchors in Cherbourg roadstead
- Titanic sails from Cherbourg for Queenstown
- Titanic anchors off Roche's Point, Queenstown
- Titanic sails for New York — last sight of land
- Baltic's ice warning handed to Ismay and pocketed
- Mesaba reports heavy pack ice and bergs directly ahead
- Californian's ice message cut off — 'keep out, I am busy'
- Iceberg sighted and struck
- Andrews establishes the ship cannot float
- First distress call transmitted — CQD, later SOS
- First lifeboat lowered; first distress rocket fired
- Last boat launched from the davits
- Lights fail and the hull breaks in two
- Titanic founders
- Carpathia reaches the boats and begins the rescue
- Cable ship Mackay-Bennett sails from Halifax to recover the dead
Related
Related because they share a subject in the Atlas — never because the text looks similar.
- Wreck becomes eligible for UNESCO protection · 2012-04-15
- First human visits to the wreck · 1986-07
- Wreck located by the Argo camera sled · 1985-09-01
- Mersey report published · 1912-07-30
- British Wreck Commissioner's inquiry opens in London · 1912-05-02
- Cable ship Mackay-Bennett sails from Halifax to recover the dead · 1912-04-17
- Andrews establishes the ship cannot float · 1912-04-15 00:05
- First distress call transmitted — CQD, later SOS · 1912-04-15 00:15