Newly discovered ships logs solve Titanic mystery, 100 years after the event

With the 100th Anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic later this week, and following the recent discovery by British author and historian, Tim Maltin, of 75 previously unseen ships log books from April 1912 in the area of Titanic’s wreck site, we hope you will be interested in covering the following story, which sheds new light on the Titanic disaster:

Newly discovered ships logs solve Titanic mystery, 100 years after the event

100 years after the momentous events of 14th/15thApril 1912, new research from Britain and America reveals that the Titanic disaster was a true tragedy caused by the extraordinary power of nature, rather than simply by any human blunders:

• On 4th January 1912 the unusually close proximity of the Sun, Moon and Earth caused the highest tide for 1,700 years, which re-floated an armada of icebergs grounded along the Labrador coast

• These huge volumes of ice and freezing melt-water swelled the Labrador Current, which carried the ice much further south than usual, into the warm waters of the Gulf Stream

• The cold, dense air over the freezing Labrador current caused light to bend abnormally downwards, around the curvature of the Earth, lifting up a ‘false’ horizon which camouflaged the fatal iceberg

• This effect, known as a ‘superior mirage', is common in cold water areas and appeared to Titanic’s Lookouts like a slight haze on the horizon, which revealed the iceberg too late

• Ships logs in the area at the time record miraging and abnormal refraction, as well as unusually high pressure at Titanic’s crash site, which would have compounded these effects and made the night look deceptively clear

• Looming in the abnormally refracting conditions, Titanic appeared to a nearby rescue ship, the Californian, to be too near and small to be the Titanic - the only ship in the immediate area with radio

• Captain Lord of the Californian therefore began to signal the nearby stranger by Morse Lamp, but the unusually stratified air in the thermal inversion at Titanic’s wreck site scrambled the Morse lamp signals between the two vessels

• Titanic’s distress rockets, exploding in the warm, normally refracting air high above the striken liner appeared low relative to the looming Titanic, which appeared higher than normal in the cold, dense air near the freezing surface of the sea

Editors notes

Tim’s discoveries are covered in his current National Geographic film on the subject, which airs on UK TV tonight and they are the subject of his latest book “A Very Deceiving Night”. If you would like to interview Tim Maltin about the Titanic, his discoveries, his film or any of his books on the Titanic, then please do not hesitate to contact me. Thanks and best wishes, Colette.

Contacts:

Colette Smith: colette@maltinpr.com, 0207 287 2575

Tim Maltin: tim@maltinpr.com, 07590 057 232

Photograph of Tim Maltin with the log of the Marengo: http://www.maltinpr.com/tim-maltin-titanic-case-closed

Biography of Tim Maltin: Tim is one of the world’s leading experts on the Titanic and the author of several books on the subject, including “101 Things You Thought You Knew About The Titanic...But Didn’t!” and “Titanic: First Accounts”, both published by Penguin, and his latest book “Titanic: A Very Deceiving Night”, on which his current National Geographic film, “Titanic: Case Closed”, is based. Tim works in London and lives in Wiltshire with his wife and two children.