Busted Rivets...

"'The board was in crisis mode,' one of the authors, Jennifer Hooper McCarty, who studied the archives, said in an interview. 'It was constant stress. Every meeting it was, "There’s problems with the rivets and we need to hire more people."'' Sorry, Jack and Rose (and, of course, the 1517 real casualties): It seems the Titanic may well have foundered due to corporate cut-corners, namely substandard riveting. "Adding to the problem, in buying iron for the Titanic’s rivets, the company ordered No. 3 bar, known as 'best' -- not No. 4, known as 'best-best,' the scientists found. Shipbuilders of the day typically used No. 4 iron for anchors, chains and rivets...The scientists argue that better rivets would have probably kept the Titanic afloat long enough for rescuers to arrive before the icy plunge, saving hundreds of lives."