Poor choice of materials made Titanic more vulnerable – Quirks and Quarks

Studies of the steel that made up the hull and rivets of Titanic have shown that the ship was made with lower-grade metals that were more brittle, suggesting that lives might have been saved had the vessel been constructed with better material.

As memorial services this weekend mark the 100th anniversary of the famous disaster at sea, scientists who have studied samples of the hull brought up from the wreck have found the ship was built with sub-standard steel. They suggest that there might have been less damage from the collision with the iceberg had the ship been made with a higher grade of metal.

Titanic might have stayed afloat longer if the damage has been less severe, allowing more time for rescue ships to arrive before the ship slipped beneath the waves.

The problems with steel quality arose from the attempt by the builders of Titanic – Harland and Wolff – to construct two other vessels of equal size at the same time, Britanic and Olympic, intended to be the largest passenger ships in the world. But this massive feat of construction was hard on suppliers of steel and rivets, causing shortages that were greatest during the construction of Titanic.

When pieces of hull were brought up from the famous wreck on the ocean floor, laboratory tests in the 1990s showed the steel contained higher levels of sulfur than was customary for ship construction at the time. It made the metal more brittle, especially in the icy waters of the North Atlantic. The edges of the steel fragments were also jagged, indicating that it had shattered on impact, rather than being bent and torn as lower-sulfur steel would have been.

In addition to a shortage of steel plates for the hull, there was a shortage of steel rivets and expert riveters to piece the hull together. The company was forced to use lower grade wrought iron rivets which, under impact tests, also turned out to be more brittle.

via Poor choice of materials made Titanic more vulnerable – Quirks and Quarks.

Strange Random Steel Quote:

“Men are like steel. When they lose their temper, they lose their worth.” – Chuck Norris

Related articles

• Clinkers, Rivets and Flatcaps: Celebrating Titanic and the Men Who Built Her. (sluggerotoole.com)
• Titanic: was it all right when it left here? (sluggerotoole.com)
• Why the Titanic Sank (gizmodo.co.uk)
• Why the Titanic Sank [Video] (gizmodo.com)
• Rusted Titanic Wreck Will be Painted and Sold? (socyberty.com)
• Poor quality rivets sank Titanic (indiavision.com)
• Titanic tale continues to fascinate (teddyoshea.wordpress.com)
• Titanic centenary marked worldwide (scotsman.com)

Titanic’s dead mourned 100 yrs later in poignant ceremony at sinking site | Reuters

Reuters – At the shrill sound of a ship‘s whistle in the North Atlantic, relatives of some of the more than 1,500 people who died when the Titanic sank after hitting an iceberg remembered their ancestors in a poignant ceremony a century later.

On a still, starry night and with little glare from the moon, the memorial cruise ship MS Balmoral floated above the wreckage of the famous ‘unsinkable’ luxury liner precisely 100 years to the day it foundered.

At 2:20 am all was quiet, as it would have been 100 years ago when it went deathly quiet, when the screaming stopped,” British Titanic historian Philip Littlejohn told Reuters on Sunday. Littlejohn’s grandfather, Alexander Littlejohn, was a 1st class steward in charge of lifeboat 13 when the ship began to go down.

About 700 people were rescued that night, including his grandfather, but there were too few lifeboats to save the rest.

David Haisman, 74, a retired seaman from the English port town of Southampton, mourned the loss of his grandfather who had been on his way to Seattle to start a new life in the United States with his wife and daughter.

“I’ve been brought up with the story but now I could feel it,” he said.

“My mother used to tell me how she got into lifeboat 14 and her feet became soaked with the 3 to 4 inches of water that remained in the bottom despite bailing.”

The last time she saw her father was when he cupped his hands and shouted “I’ll see you in New York“.The story of the world’s most famous maritime disaster has gripped the world’s imagination, inspiring Hollywood films.

While some of those on board the memorial cruise were relatives of the victims, others had paid thousands of pounds in order to retrace the vessel’s fateful journey from Southampton to New York.

The ship, the biggest in the world at the time, foundered in frigid Atlantic waters off Newfoundland on April 15, 1912.On Saturday, Balmoral’s ship’s whistle pierced the air at 11.40 pm, the exact time the Titanic hit the iceberg, followed by a two-minute silence.

via Titanic’s dead mourned 100 yrs later in poignant ceremony at sinking site | Reuters.

Strange Random Titanic Quote:

It’s a funny thing, but today the Titanic is probably much more – that is people are much more aware of it than they were in 1954, when I was doing my research. – Walter Lord

Related articles

• Tears for the Titanic: Memorials around the world mark centenary of ship’s sinking (mirror.co.uk)
• A century after the Titanic sank, a community in the west of Ireland is finally mourning its dead. (teddyoshea.wordpress.com)
• Memorial ceremony mark Titanic’s 100th anniv. (cbsnews.com)
• Memorial cruise passengers mark 100 years since Titanic tragedy on spot where … – Daily Mail (dailymail.co.uk)
• In memoriam: Somber ceremony at sea marks 100 years since Titanic tragedy (PHOTOS) (rt.com)
• Titanic Remembered On 100th Anniversary Of Ship’s Sinking (newyork.cbslocal.com)
• Titanic Dead Remembered 100 Years Later (myfoxorlando.com)
• Prayers and Silence Mark Titanic Centenary (abcnews.go.com)
• Titanic Sinking Remembered 100 Years On (news.sky.com)
• Titanic Dead Remembered 100 Years Later (myfoxphoenix.com)

BBC News – Cannabis fed to ducks by French farmer for ‘deworming’

Image via Wikipedia

Cannabis fed to ducks by French farmer for ‘deworming‘

A French farmer has been given a one-month suspended jail sentence and fined 500 euros (£428) for feeding his ducks marijuana to rid them of worms.

Police arrested Michel Rouyer after they discovered 12 cannabis plants and about 5kg (11lb) of the drug during a visit to his home after a theft.

Mr Rouyer said there was “no better worming substance” for ducks and that his flock was in excellent health.

A police spokesman said it was the first time they had heard such a claim.

Mr Rouyer, who lives in the village of Gripperie-Saint-Symphorien on France’s Atlantic coast, did also admit to smoking some of the marijuana.

via BBC News – Cannabis fed to ducks by French farmer for ‘deworming’.

Strange Random Cannabis Quotes:
It really puzzles me to see marijuana connected with narcotics dope and all of that stuff. It is a thousand times better than whiskey. It is an assistant and a friend. – Louis Armstrong

Marijuana is taken by …..musicians. And I’m not speaking about good musicians, but the jazz type… – Harry J. Anslinger, Federal Bureau of Narcotics, 1948

Related articles

• You: Farmer gives ducks cannabis (nation.com.pk)
• French farmer fined after deworming ducks with cannabis (newsinfo.inquirer.net)
• French farmer fined for giving cannabis to ducks (thehimalayantimes.com)
• High French Ducks (slog.thestranger.com)
• Passing The Joint (Venture): General Cannabis Inhales Weedmaps (techcrunch.com)
• “The Bathtub Gin of Cannabis” (andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com)