Rocket Scientist Claims Explosions on Titanic Resulted In Sinking

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Rocket Scientist Claims Explosions on Titanic Resulted In Sinking

Casper, Wyoming, USA – August 17, 2018 – An aerospace engineer claims explosions on the Titanic led to its sinking, not the collision with an iceberg.

“In 1912, the Titanic engineers did not understand the dangers of electrolysis, a process where direct electrical current converts seawater into explosive hydrogen gas and deadly chlorine gas. They made the mistake of keeping the lights on as the Titanic sank lower in the water,” John Wickman concluded in his book, Titanic The Hidden Evidence.

“If they had simply turned the power off to those parts of the ship underwater, the Titanic would have stayed afloat until rescue ships arrived at dawn on Monday morning. The passengers and crew would have all survived and the Titanic disaster would have simply been an embarrassing incident for White Star. Most people today would never have heard of the Titanic,” said Wickman.

The Titanic could produce 16,000 amperes of direct current at 100 volts to generate enormous quantities of hydrogen gas and deadly chlorine gas. The Titanic’s fuses were designed for high amounts of currents so they did not blow as live electrical circuits went underwater. “We know that power was flowing to circuits underwater, as there are multiple eyewitnesses, including Second Officer Lightoller, who saw electrical lights operating under water,” said Wickman. As the gas built up, a spark or open flame was all that was needed to set it off.

Wickman conducted an experiment in his laboratory to show what happened to the seawater inside the Titanic as it sank. A video of that demonstration is shown below

Wickman said during the electrolysis process, the seawater inside the Titanic became saturated with chlorine turning its color to green. “Both Second Officer Lightoller and Lead Fireman Barrett observed that the seawater inside the Titanic was indeed this color. Lightoller observed it by looking down inside the ship from the Boat Deck, while Barrett saw it in boiler room five when seawater came pouring in,” said Wickman.

The Titanic wreckage shows evidence of explosions as well. The starboard hole in the Titanic’s bow shows the metal is bulged out as would be expected by an explosion. The steel decks above and below the hole, centered on the gangway door, have been destroyed by a powerful explosion. Wickman said there were multiple eyewitnesses as well, but their stories were dismissed as no one could find a cause for explosions. In newspaper accounts, a few passengers described the first explosion as so severe that the entire ship moved sideways knocking some people off their feet.

Wickman believes the first explosion occurred between 1:10 a.m. and 1:20 a.m. He said there was another explosion that split the ship in half, but left the stern floating on the surface. “Multiple survivors said the stern floated for several minutes after the forward half of the ship sank,” said Wickman.

Unfortunately, trapped hydrogen gas in the stern section ignited resulting in an explosion that destroyed the stern section and killed most of the survivors remaining there. Wickman said, “The stern wreckage clearly shows an explosion occurred when you look at how the decks and plating are peeled back. In over 40 years of working with rocket engines, one thing I know is what debris from an explosion looks like. The stern’s appearance is classic.”.

Rather than write a dry engineering analysis report that nobody would read, Wickman said he decided to present his findings in a narrative non-fiction format similar to that used by Michael Shaara’s book “The Killer Angels” on the Battle of Gettysburg. “The book includes events leading up to the sinking, the sinking, and the U.S. Senate investigation afterward. There are also some more revelations on the Titanic, besides the explosions, that are in the book as well,” said Wickman.

Background:  John Wickman has designed propulsion systems for the MX missile second stage, Small Launch Vehicle, rocket and jet engines for use on Mars, rocket engines using lunar soil propellant and solid propellant satellite thrusters. During his career, Mr. Wickman established a reputation for finding the cause of engineering failures and identifying the solution. He did this for the Minuteman ICBM and Polaris missile, which lead to re-manufacturing programs for both of them. After the Space Shuttle Challenger accident, Wickman was hired by Morton-Thiokol to find out why the solid rocket boosters failed and provide guidelines for the new design. His engineering experience was crucial in analyzing the Titanic blueprints, wreckage and sifting through eyewitness accounts and documents to determine the factual reasons for the Titanic sinking.