The real reason the Titanic met its demise was because of a fire — not just because the liner slammed into an iceberg, a new documentary claims.
Senan Molony, an author, cites newly unearthed photos — and expert testimony — to bolster a theory that a blaze sealed the ship’s fate well before it collided into an iceberg.
“The official Titanic inquiry branded (the sinking) as an act of God. This isn’t a simple story of colliding with an iceberg and sinking,” Molony says in the just-released documentary “Titanic: The New Evidence,” according to The Independent.
“It’s a perfect storm of extraordinary factors coming together: fire, ice and criminal negligence.”
Molony pointed to photos showing 30-foot-long black marks he says were caused by the three-weeks-long fire, which he claims weakened the hull — near the iceberg’s point of impact — before the ship even left Belfast, where it was built and underwent sea trials.
Twelve men reportedly tried and failed to quell the flames, and officials were ordered not to breathe a word of the fire to passengers.
The ship sank in the cold waters of the North Atlantic on April 15, 1912, in the most infamous maritime disaster in history. Of the 2,224 passengers and crew aboard the vessel, 1,500 died.
