I found this on DVD at my public library, a Smithsonian film.
The main investigator featured in the film is what the DVD jacket calls "Titanic Detective" Tim Maltin who apparently has been at it for 20 years. The findings are not presented as a Scientific investigation would be, presenting the summary of findings first, then showing how the findings were arrived at. Instead it is presented as a TV show mystery might be, that is keep you in suspense until near the end. I suppose you have to do that to make money.
Anyway it is an intriguing film, clearly the result of much study. Right before the half-way point in the film, when Maltin introduced the point that some very cold Labrador Current water adjacent to much warmer water was observed the night of the incident, I pretty well figured out where all this was going. The cold water mirage effect.
I happen to be a scientist and an amateur photographer, so always keen to learn about lighting and lenses. The mirage effect occurs when layers of air are at two different temperatures. This creates what in effect is a lens which bends light such that at a distance what we see doesn't really represent the objects we intend to look at. The greater the temperature difference, the greater the effect. And, under the right conditions distance objects can appear much higher than they really are or, conversely, much lower than they really are.
With the detective work to examine many old maritime records from many ships 100 years ago, including one that took the same route as the Titanic, Maltin proved that these great temperature gradients were present that night in April 1912. Plus first-hand accounts of survivors matched what would be expected. The Titanic look-outs were experts, they were alert, but the unusual diffraction of light meant that a large iceberg that normally would be spotted 30 minutes away was spotted only 35 seconds away. It was a perfect set of conditions for the catastrophe.
It also explains why the nearest ship did not respond to the distress call from the signal lamp on the Titanic. The weather conditions and cold water mirage made the lights flicker such that it appeared to be random noise instead of an actual signal.
The conclusions are all circumstantial, because Maltin was not there and could not possibly verify his conclusions. But to me, they seem very convincing and this study appears to best explain why everything happened the way it did that night.
A must-see for those interested in the Titanic story.
The main investigator featured in the film is what the DVD jacket calls "Titanic Detective" Tim Maltin who apparently has been at it for 20 years. The findings are not presented as a Scientific investigation would be, presenting the summary of findings first, then showing how the findings were arrived at. Instead it is presented as a TV show mystery might be, that is keep you in suspense until near the end. I suppose you have to do that to make money.
Anyway it is an intriguing film, clearly the result of much study. Right before the half-way point in the film, when Maltin introduced the point that some very cold Labrador Current water adjacent to much warmer water was observed the night of the incident, I pretty well figured out where all this was going. The cold water mirage effect.
I happen to be a scientist and an amateur photographer, so always keen to learn about lighting and lenses. The mirage effect occurs when layers of air are at two different temperatures. This creates what in effect is a lens which bends light such that at a distance what we see doesn't really represent the objects we intend to look at. The greater the temperature difference, the greater the effect. And, under the right conditions distance objects can appear much higher than they really are or, conversely, much lower than they really are.
With the detective work to examine many old maritime records from many ships 100 years ago, including one that took the same route as the Titanic, Maltin proved that these great temperature gradients were present that night in April 1912. Plus first-hand accounts of survivors matched what would be expected. The Titanic look-outs were experts, they were alert, but the unusual diffraction of light meant that a large iceberg that normally would be spotted 30 minutes away was spotted only 35 seconds away. It was a perfect set of conditions for the catastrophe.
It also explains why the nearest ship did not respond to the distress call from the signal lamp on the Titanic. The weather conditions and cold water mirage made the lights flicker such that it appeared to be random noise instead of an actual signal.
The conclusions are all circumstantial, because Maltin was not there and could not possibly verify his conclusions. But to me, they seem very convincing and this study appears to best explain why everything happened the way it did that night.
A must-see for those interested in the Titanic story.