1 week Ago By Fran Winston
Doomed liner Titanic 's legends are being quashed by a new National Geographic documentary Titanic: The Digital Resurrection, and their findings indicate James Cameron got some facts wrong in his 1997 blockbuster about the ship. In Titanic lore, and in the film, the ship's First Officer William Murdoch is painted as a bad guy. For over a century, thanks to eyewitness accounts, it has been believed he shot one or two men during a rush for a lifeboat, and then shot himself.
However the makers say new evidence from scans of the ship's wreck have found evidence “exonerating First Officer Murdoch,” who history labeled a coward for abandoning his post. According to the new film the key factor is “the position of a lifeboat davit” which suggest Murdoch’s crew “was preparing a launch moments before the starboard side was engulfed, corroborating Second Officer Charles Lightoller’s testimony that Murdoch was swept away by the sea.” In James Cameron's multi Oscar winner film Murdoch was played by Scottish actor Ewan Stewart and the scene where he shot at others and then himself was recreated.
The Titanic sank in the early hours of April 15, 1912, after striking an iceberg and this year will mark the 113th anniversary of the tragedy. Over 1,500 of the 2,240 passengers and crew on board died in the disaster..
The documentary will broadcast on Friday April 11, in advance of the anniversary, and a teaser trailer was released on April 8. It sees Titanic analyst Parks Stephenson, Metallurgist Jennifer Hooper and Master Mariner Captain Chris Hearn “dissect the wreckage up close on a full-scale colossal LED volume stage, walking around the ship in its final resting place.” The technology used in the film is supplied by deep-sea mapping and engineering company Magellan.
A pair of Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) named “Romeo” and “Juliet” gathered 16 terabytes of data over three weeks from Titanic's resting place 12,500 feet below the surface. The new simulation has also found more fresh new details about the tragic event including the facts about the ship splitting in two. Professor Jeom-Kee Paik of University College London, who led the simulation, said: "We used advanced numerical algorithms, computational modelling and supercomputing capabilities to reconstruct the Titanic sinking.
" Hull fragments examined in the show appear to indicate Titanic did not split cleanly in two as is widely depicted. It was “violently torn apart,” they explained, “ripping through first-class cabins where prominent passengers like J.J.
Astor and Benjamin Guggenheim may have sought refuge as the ship went down.”.
