Titanic interview at Warsash
Lecturers at Warsash Maritime Academy have been using their expertise to shed light on one of the biggest maritime mysteries of all time.
A team of filmmakers producing a rare insight into the facts and fantasies behind the sinking of the Titanic descended on the Warsash campus to interview Senior Lecturer in Merchant Vessel Operations, Francois Hugo and Deputy Director and Head of Maritime Training, Bob Joughin on the ‘science bits’.
Meterology Lecturer Francois Hugo on the shore at Warsash
The team were looking at the so-called ‘mystery ship’, which was close by when Titanic foundered. As part of their 1992 new look at the evidence, the Marine Accident Investigation Branch touched on the possibility of ‘abnormal refraction’ on the night in question.
Meterological expert Francois gave his weighty thoughts on light refraction and how this may have impacted on whether the Titanic’s rockets could have been seen, and if it was possible that the Titanic was seen by the ship, The Californian, as it headed into peril.
Bob Joughin talked about the safety procedures that would have been followed, including the notorious launching of lifeboats.
The 50-minute documentary is part of the True Story series produced by Blink Films, which will air on Discovery and Channel Five in the UK, as well as Smithsonian Channel in the USA from around October 2010.
Each documentary takes a major Hollywood movie and explains the true events behind the film – in this case the 1997 James Cameron movie, Titanic.