I've just finished reading 'What really sank the Titanic" by Jennifer
McCarty and Tim Foecke.
I'm sure that most of you know that Foeke's culprit turns out to be
variability in the wrought iron rivets in Titanic's end sections, but
you might also be interested to know that the book thoroughly debunks
a fair number of myths
- brittle steel
- fire weakened the bulkhead
- rusticles are eating the wreck
and I few others that I forget.
It's a good read, particularly the section on experimental methods and
analysis - no Pellegrinism here.
Incidentally, he doesn't claim that Titanic would have survived with
better rivets - only that the damage would have been less severe, and
she might have stayed afloat for a few more hours.
Regards
Doug Urquhart
