Did the Moon Sink the Titanic?

Here is an interesting article which posits that the moon had something to do with the sinking of the Titanic on April 15, 1912. We're coming up on the one hundredth anniversary of the sinking, when over 1500 people died out of just over 2200 people on board.

Here is a taste:

Astronomers at Texas State University-San Marcos found that in January 1912, three months before the ship sank in the Atlantic and took more than 1,500 lives down with it, a perfect storm of astronomical events may have set the stage for the disaster.

The team found that on January 4, 1912, a nearly full moon was at its closest approach to Earth in 1,400 years. And the day before, the Earth was at perihelion, or its closest approach to the sun during its yearly spin around our star.

The combined effects wreaked astronomical havoc with the Atlantic Ocean, generating a powerful spring tide that was able to dislodge Greenland icebergs off Labrador and Newfoundland, bergs that would normally have required more melting before being able to float away.

Further, the powerful high tides generated by the moon put the bergs in a southbound express lane, of sorts, packing movement that would have taken years into just a few months. That contributed to the presence of an unusually large amount of icebergs in the North Atlantic shipping lanes just as the Titanic was speeding toward North America on its maiden voyage.

It is an interesting argument.

Now go and watch a great movie on the sinking of the Titanic. No, no, not the one with Leonardo di Caprio unconvincingly playing a member of early 20th century society. Check out "A Night to Remember." Classic.