Titanic sank during 'average iceberg' year : study

British researchers have dispelled a long-held theory that the Titanic was unlucky for sailing in a year with an exceptional number of icebergs and say the risk of icebergs is actually higher now.
Titanic set sail on its maiden voyage, travelling from Southampton, England to New York on April 10, 1912.

More than 1,500 of the ship's crew and passengers died when it hit an iceberg and sank, five days into its trip across the Atlantic.

It had been suggested that the seas which sank the famous cruise ship had an exceptional number of icebergs caused by lunar or solar effects.

Researchers at the University of Sheffield have now shown the ship was not as unlucky as previously thought.

Using data on iceberg locations dating back to 1913 - recorded to help prevent a repeat of the Titanic - they have shown that 1912 was a significant ice year but not extreme.

"We have seen that 1912 was a year of raised iceberg hazard, but not exceptionally so in the long term," said Professor Grant Bigg who led the research.

According to Bigg, the year 1909 recorded a slightly higher number of icebergs and more recently the risk has been much greater - between 1991 and 2000 eight of the ten years recorded more than 700 icebergs and five exceeded the 1912 total.

"As use of the Arctic, in particular, increases in the future with the declining sea-ice the ice hazard will increase in water not previously used for shipping," Bigg said.

"As polar ice sheets are increasingly losing mass as well, the iceberg risk is likely to increase in the future, rather than decline," Bigg said.

The iceberg which sank the Titanic was spotted 500m away just before midnight on April 14, 1912.
Despite quick action to slow the ship it was not enough and the ship sank in just two and a half hours.