00:00 It has long been thought that RMS Titanic sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on 15th April
00:09 1912 as a result of striking an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton.
00:16 But freshly examined evidence from the Times Newspapers archive suggests a freak weather
00:21 event may have occurred on the night of the disaster.
00:25 Witness accounts from a passenger lucky enough to have secured a place on a lifeboat suggest
00:29 a clear night with stars plainly visible.
00:33 But the crew seem to have seen something different altogether.
00:36 From their vantage point 90 feet above the sea, the horizon was obscured by a haze that
00:41 prevented them spotting an iceberg in their path.
00:45 A new theory suggests a thermal inversion occurred on that fateful night causing a mirage
00:51 tricking crew into thinking objects on the true horizon were nearer than they actually
00:55 were.
00:58 Observers at a higher altitude, such as the crow's nest of a ship, may see the gap between
01:03 the true horizon and the refracted one as a haze.
01:08 The false horizon, created by temperature conditions, not only hindered the Titanic's
01:13 crew from spotting the iceberg, but sowed confusion amongst those who might have come
01:17 to the rescue.
01:19 A thermal inversion is a meteorological event in which a band of cold air forces its way
01:24 beneath warmer air.
01:27 It's now thought possible that cold air, driven by the Labrador current, pushed beneath
01:31 warm air carried by the Gulf Stream.
01:35 This inversion could have bent light rays downwards towards the cooler air, making the
01:39 horizon appear higher than it was.
01:43 The Titanic, which struck the iceberg at 11.40pm, slipped beneath the waves at around 2.20am
01:49 on April 15th, 1912.
01:53 Of the 2,240 passengers and crew who set sail on the Titanic, more than 1,500 died in the
02:00 disaster.
02:01 [music]
02:03 (upbeat music)
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