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 enlarge | Authors: Jennifer Hooper Mccarty, Tim Foecke
Publisher: Citadel
Category: Book
List Price: $22.95
Buy New: $11.47
You Save: $11.48 (50%)
New (33) Used (11) Collectible (1) from $11.47
Avg. Customer Rating:  17 reviews
Sales Rank: 40157
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 320
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.2 x 1.2
ISBN: 0806528958
Dewey Decimal Number: 363.123091631
EAN: 9780806528953
ASIN: 0806528958
Publication Date: March 1, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand new item. Over 4 million customers served. Order now. Selling online since 1995. Few left in stock - order soon. Code: K20081115112313G
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| Customer Reviews:
What Really Sank the Titanic May 19, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
A very interesting take on what really happened. There were so many different things leading up to the sinking that caused her demise. I don't believe you can really pin point it on one particular thing. There a are a lot of what if's still floating around to this day and what could have been done to prevent this tragedy.
Technically excellent. Needs better editing. May 18, 2008
1 out of 4 found this review helpful
Good Parts: Brings an interesting new version of what caused the disaster. Probably the most technically authoritative review of the various theories, and for my money proves that bad rivets were to blame, not "brittle steel plates," as has been the accepted theory up to now.
Bad: Sloppy editing. Many statements are repeated, redundantly and verbatim, several times in different parts of the book. And, in my copy, all the plates (illustrated pages) are also duplicated! They are in a group in the middle of the book; when you get to the end, they are all repeated again in the same order.
 There might be a problem with the theory May 15, 2008
4 out of 8 found this review helpful
This book is a fascinating study of the production processes involved in building the Titanic and a strongly argued theory as to why those processes help explain the rapid rate at which the Titanic sank.
The basic argument is that the Titanic's collision with the iceberg caused the riveted seams in the ship's hull plating to fail, which led to the fatal flooding of the first six compartments of the ship's hull. More specifically, the authors argue that the rivets failed because they were made of wrought iron and substandard wrought iron at that. They do not argue that the ship necessarily would not have sunk but for the faulty rivets, only that the faulty rivets caused the ship to sink more rapidly than it would have had the builders employed better materials. The rapid sinking of course led to the great loss of life which has made the Titanic such a compelling tragedy over the years.
Harland and Wolff, the builders of the Titanic, employed hydraulically driven steel rivets in the middle "three fifths length" of the ship's hull, where bending stresses were greatest. They used hand driven wrought iron rivets in the remaining two fifths of the ship's hull (that is, at the bow and the stern), because of the difficulties of employing mechanical riveting machines in the more confined spaces at the ships ends.
The authors metallurgically tested wrought iron rivets recovered from the Titanic and found that the rivets were prone to pop out if subjected to the kind of stress involved in the collision with the iceberg. The steel rivets, on the other hand, were much less prone to failure because of their superior strength and ductility. The authors point out that underwater photography reveals missing rivets from a seam in the outer plating in the area of Number 5 and 6 boiler rooms, an area where a surviving eyewitness, Fireman Barret, reported seeing flooding. The missing rivets would appear to support the authors' theory. More especially because they seem to argue that this seam was in the "outer fifths length" of the ship, the area where the builders used wrought iron rivets.
However, it would appear from a cursory examination of the plans and elevations of the Titanic that Number 5 and 6 boiler rooms lay in the middle three fifths length of the ships hull, the area where the authors claim the builders used steel rivets. The forward bulkhead of boiler room Number 6 (the one nearest the bow or front of the ship) would appear to lie just within the middle three fifths length of the hull; the forward bulkhead of boiler room number 6 well with the middle three fifths length.
Hence it is not so clear that the wrought iron rivets were at fault. Still, the authors appear to shed a lot of new light on nature of the building materials and methods used in the construction of the Titanic. I enjoyed reading the book, and I would give it 3.5 stars.
 Science Solves Many of Titanic's Mysteries May 6, 2008
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
"What Really Sank the Titanic" is very different from many of the books about the ill-fated ocean liner out there. While most just retell the story and present some interesting theories, the authors actually confirm some of these theories while putting to rest others.
It begins by providing background on the iron and steel making processes, which can get rather boring, but it's well worth learning for later in the book. It then presents the facts regarding the night of April 14, 1912 from the inquiry's testimonies. The final part analyzes the various theories and, using science, comes up with what we truly know about the iceberg collision. Some controversial issues addressed include the quality of the hull plates and rivets, the coal bunker fire, and where exactly the ship collided with the iceberg.
Overall, this book goes beyond the tragic story and determines what could have been done differently to ultimately save more lives. I highly reccommend this book to any fan of the Titanic who also loves science.
great titanic stuff April 26, 2008
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
really good metallurgy and science-- i enjoyed reading the trail of discovery and how the old ships were built-- but this is not a book for the tragedy of the titanic crowd-- very little melodrama or tragedy! highly recommended for readers of science or marine naval tech.
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