Sinking of the RMS Titanic the hull plates. This suggests that the iron rivets along the plate seams snapped off or popped open to create narrow gaps through which water flooded. An engineer from "Titanic"s builders, Harland and Wolff, suggested this scenario at the British Wreck Commissioner's inquiry following the disaster but his view was discounted. "Titanic"s discoverer Robert Ballard has commented that the assumption that the ship had suffered a major breach was "a by-product of the mystique of the "Titanic". No one could believe that the great ship was sunk by a little sliver." Faults in the ship's hull may have been a
Sinking of the RMS Titanic to respond was SS "Mount Temple", which set a course and headed for "Titanic"'s position but was stopped en-route by pack ice. Much nearer was , which had warned "Titanic" of ice a few hours earlier. Apprehensive at his ship being caught in a large field of drift ice, "Californian"s captain, Stanley Lord, had decided at about 22:00 to halt for the night and wait for daylight to find a way through the ice field. At 23:30, 10 minutes before "Titanic" hit the iceberg, "Californian"s sole radio operator, Cyril Evans, shut his set down for the night and went to