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Found! New chunk of Titanic

The Titanic

Reconstructing the 'Titanic's story piece by piece: pictured here, the ship's bow, found on an earlier expedition (Source: NOAA)


RMS Titanic Inc says the 30-metre hull section was part of a massive debris field, found more than 3 kilometres underwater.

The find comes as a U.S. researcher presents his new theory about why the ship that carried 2227 passengers and crew struck an iceberg four days into its maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York.

Ohio State University engineer Professor Robert Essenhigh has just told the Geological Society of America meeting in Denver that he believes a smouldering fire in a pile of stored coal, and attempts to control it, led to the ship increasing speed as it navigated dangerous, iceberg-laden waters.

Together, the two findings may reveal more information about the ship's final hours, why it collided with the iceberg, and how the vessel eventually broke apart.

Sea strewn with ship debris

The newly discovered debris field includes objects associated with life onboard the ship, as well as several decks, levels and portholes of the hull. It paints a picture of decadence that stands in sharp contrast to the silt-covered wreckage of the hull.

"The found section of the hull is a huge, pie-shaped piece of the ship that broke off from the middle of the Titanic. It weighs over [90 tonnes]," said Arnie Geller, president of RMS Titanic Inc.

The discovery confirms speculation that the ship did not merely break in half, but split apart in sections as it sank.

Geller and his team hope to raise the hull and they have targeted it for future recovery projects.

While the decked section once would have housed first, second and third class passengers, Geller said he and his crew had never found human remains.

"Most of the passengers and crew had lifejackets and were off the ship at the time it sank," he said. "Engineers who kept the lights on, however, might have gone down with the ship."

Geller added that water pressure at the wreckage site was more than 41,300 kilopascals, so it was unlikely that any human remains would be left.

Robotic diver

Expedition 2004, which led to the hull's discovery and concluded early last month, allowed the salvagers for the first time to rely exclusively on a deep ocean remotely operated vehicle with robotic arms.

Geller said the vehicle needed at least two workers to operate it: one to control the overall robot and another to control its arms.

The vehicle enabled the team to find delicate objects within the debris field, such as an intact champagne bottle and a Cantrell & Cochrane soft drink bottle from Ireland.

These objects and many others came out of the ship's first class á la carte restaurant, which was modelled on a restaurant at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Paris.

"We found an absolutely spectacular wall sconce, gilded in gold, that includes three French light fixtures," said Geller. "It provides an elegant representation of what diners would have seen as they descended the grand staircase."

An electric milk scalder that was very high tech for its time and would have been used at the restaurant's buffet also was found during this latest expedition. A crystal decanter, pieces of Turkish bath tiles, parts of beds and possible leather luggage fragments were also found.

All these objects, and the rest of the vessel, sank less than three hours after the White Star Line's steamship hit an iceberg with its starboard bow.

New theory on how the Titanic sank

According to Essenhigh's new theory, the impact occurred because workers may have heightened the speed at which coal was removed from its storage bunker.

He said this was to try to increase the rate of draw-down of the coal pile to put out a smouldering fire.

An increase in the amount of coal fuelling the ship's steam-engine boiler would have raised the amount of steam, which in turn could have led to a sudden, faster cruising speed.

"It's very speculative," Essenhigh said. "This [coal storage fire] was a chronic problem. If the fire is there you know it's there and it's very difficult to get it out."

Essenhigh said there are records proving that fire control teams were at the ports of Southampton and Cherbourg because a fire was reported to have been burning onboard the Titanic.
