Nearly 83 years after the Titanic sank, a British television documentary has come up with a new theory on the cause of one of the great sea disasters of all time - a fire in a coal bunker.
And that fire began before the majestic ocean liner ever set sail from Southampton, England."An uncontrollable fire started in a coal bunker (coal storage bin) before the Titanic sailed that was not extinguished, forced the chairman of the liner to ignore iceberg warnings and to order a faster course to New York," George Tulloch, chairman of RMS Titanic said Friday.
RMS Titanic, a New York based company, has exclusive rights to the wreck site and has recovered more than 4,000 artifacts.
In "Explorers of the Titanic," the television documentary to be broadcast Sunday in Britain, two witnesses who survived offer differing accounts as to what occurred in boiler room 6, Tulloch said. One fireman said the fire was put out Saturday, April 13, 1912, at 1 p.m. Another said the fire wasn't extinguished until the ship sank.
During the British Parliamentary Inquiry held soon after the disaster, fireman Fred Barrett said the fire was put out Saturday, April 13, 1912, at 1 p.m.