Solar flare may have contributed to the sinking of the Titanic - Daily Mail

The RMS Titanic may have only taken the exact fateful course that saw it holed and sunk by an iceberg on April 15, 1912 because a solar flare threw off the vessel's compass readings, a study has proposed. .

The interference may also have served to disrupt wireless transmissions between the sinking liner and other vessels in the nearby vicinity — blocking some the Titanic's distress calls and the messages sent in response.

The RMS Titanic may have only taken the exact fateful course that saw it holed and sunk by an iceberg on April 15, 1912 because a solar flare threw off the vessel's compass readings, a study has proposed.

Pictured, the sinking of the Titanic.

'Most people who write about Titanic, they don’t know that northern lights were seen on that night,' independent weather researcher and retired computer programmer Mila Zinkova of California told Hakai magazine.

In a similar fashion, second officer James Bisset of the RMS Carpathia — the Cunard line passenger steamer, bound for Fiume in Austria-Hungary (today Rijeka, Croatia), that came to the rescue of the Titanic's survivors — made note of the northern lights in his log around one hour before the Titanic struck the iceberg.

'Most people who write about Titanic, they don’t know that northern lights were seen on that night,' independent weather researcher and retired computer programmer Mila Zinkova of California told Hakai magazine.

Pictured, the Titanic seen at her berth in Southampton.

The Titanic — which sank on April 15, 1912, after a collision with an iceberg — lies on the seafloor around 350 nautical miles off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada.

Pictured, the bow of the Titanic looms out of the murky depths in her resting place off of the coast of Newfoundland.

Responding to the Titanic's distress signal, the RMS Carpathia — a Cunard line passenger steamer bound for Fiume in Austria-Hungary (today Rijeka, Croatia) — received incorrect co-ordinates for the stricken vessel that were out by some 13.5 nautical miles (15.5 miles/25.0 kilometres) from the Titanic's actual location. .

The Carpathia succeeded in rescuing 705 survivors of the disaster from the Titanic's 20 lifeboats.

Responding to the Titanic's SOS, the RMS Carpathia — a Cunard line passenger steamer bound for Fiume in Austria-Hungary (today Rijeka, Croatia) — received incorrect co-ordinates for the stricken vessel that were out by some 13.5 nautical miles (15.5 miles/25.0 kilometres) from the Titanic's actual location?

Pictured, the Carpathia rescuing lifeboats in the film 'Titanic'.

Nevertheless, the Carpathia succeeded in sailing directly to the Titanic's drifting lifeboats (the last two of which are pictured here shortly before their recovery) — a feat Ms Zinkova attributes to the solar-storm-induced compass errors conveniently cancelling out the misstated coordinates.

The Carpathia, pictured here in New York following the rescue of 705 survivors of the disaster from the Titanic's 20 lifeboats.

He added that modelling the Earth's ionosphere on the night of the disaster and simulating known radio broadcasts sent by the ships in the vicinity of the Titanic could help shine a light on why some messages got through and others did not

Nearly five days into her voyage, the Titanic struck an iceberg at around 23:40 local time, generating six narrow openings in the vessel's starboard hull, believed to have occurred as a result of the rivets in the hull snapping

Pictured, the iceberg believed to have sunk the Titanic

The Titanic sets sail from Southampton to New York, calling at Cherbourg and Cork en route

The Titanic's final lifeboat is launched

Nearly five days into her voyage, the Titanic struck an iceberg at around 23:40 local time

The Titanic disaster prompted the drawing up of the Safety of Lives at Sea convention in 1914, which today still sets the minimum safety requirements to which all ships are required to comply