Okay everyone, I've got a question for you. After watching the latest special on the Titanic where they find the sections of keel and the new "breaking-up" theories, there's something I wonder about. Before I ask the question though, for those of you who haven't seen it, here's the key points on thier theory.

--The Titanic started the breaking-up process at about 11 degrees as she listed forward.

--The initial split started at the bottom and worked it's way up, according to research done on the steel plates they've examined.

--Just before Titanic broke, the lights went out (probably from wires and cables breaking as she split).

So, here's the question....

If the Titanic started splitting up EARLIER during the sinking, wouldn't the power and lights gone out a lot earlier also? And why have there been no reports of "gaps" in the floors or walls from the surviving 3rd class passengers as they made thier way aft?

I'm asking this out of curiosity, because the theory DOES seem to be valid, but I think there's holes in it. And no, no pun intended.

I have not seen the new documentary, so I probably am not qualified to answer this question correctly.

I have always been suspicious of this new information, because of hull stress tests that they have done in earlier years that seem to prove the theory that she started to split up early incorrect. See the stress test on the Discovery channel Documentary Titanic: Anatomy of a Disaster.

You have some good points on people not seeing the ship split earlier. The only instance where I remember hearing someone say that the ship started to split (earlier than the main breakup) is when (I think it was Lightoller) said that he saw the forward expansion joint open up, which, as he put it, caused the first funnel to collapse soon after.

Interesting point about the wires breaking, but I don't know if the lights went out because of that, or that it was just the dynamos finally failing because they did not have enough steam power to keep them going.

The reason I say this is that I have read that the lights were starting to get dim and red and fluctuate in intensity as the forward superstructer of the ship started to go under.

But, then again, who knows?