Understanding

PUTTING THE PIECES TOGETHER

After Robert D. Ballard and his team of scientists had completed their expedition in 1986, they still had to sift through all of the information. All of the video and photographs had to be sorted and studied. Ballard and his team attempted to come up with new theories to try to shed light on the unsolved mysteries of the Titanic.

What Ballard discovered was that the iceberg probably didn’t punch holes in the hull at all. Instead, the iceberg scraping against the sides popped the steel rivets out of place. This separated the steel plates of the hull, and allowed water to enter into the ship.

Until Ballard’s expedition, it was a popular myth that the Titanic sunk in one piece, even though some survivors, such as Jack Thayer reported seeing it sink in two separate pieces. Ballard’s team verified this claim when they discovered the bow and stern laying 1,970 feet apart, and facing in different directions. As the water in the bow caused it to sink, more and more pressure was placed in the center of the ship. Eventually it snapped between the third and fourth funnels. As the bow went down, it pulled the stern upright, before breaking in two. Witnesses described the sound of the ship breaking as ‘thunder.’ The stern sunk soon after the bow, eventually landing at its final resting place.