Made of steel

A modern ship might not survive the damage that Titanic sustained

It is a myth that Titanic was built using poor quality steel.

The steel plate for the Titanic was made using acid lined open hearth furnaces.

The steel did have a higher phosphorus and sulphur content and more brittle than modern ship plate at low temperature, but this was not “poor quality steel“ it was the best ship’s plate available at the time and the plates for the earlier Mauretania would have been very similar.

Wrought iron rivets were used on less stressed areas of Titanic, where riveting was more difficult, but the areas of worst damage used steel rivets.

Steel rivets recovered from the damaged hull sections of Titanic were found to be of good quality and steel plating recovered was found to be less brittle than expected for the icy conditions.

A modern ship might not survive the damage that Titanic sustained.

Has anyone blamed the sinking of the Costa Concordia on the quality of its steel?

Colin Findlay, Glasgow

Next letter: The end of the cannon