Researchers: Titantic built on the cheap

NEW YORK, April 14 (UPI) -- The Titanic, the British ocean liner that sank after ramming an iceberg 96 years ago, was built with at least some substandard rivets, researchers say.

The researchers' work backs up a theory that has been bandied about for years that the Titanic went down because of faulty rivets, The New York Times reported Monday.

The scientists determined the ship's builder, Harland & Wolff of Belfast, Northern Ireland, used No. 3 iron bar, rather than the preferred No. 4, for the millions of rivets needed to build the Titanic, the Olympic and Britannic.

One researcher, Jennifer Hooper McCarty, said the shipbuilder "was in crisis mode." Another, Timothy Foecke of the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Gaithersburg, Md., said "some material the company bought was not rivet quality."

Researchers said the Titanic was built with stronger steel rivets in its central hull but with iron rivets in the bow, which took the brunt of the impact in the April 14, 1912, collision. More than 1,500 were killed when the ship sank more than two hours later, on April 15.

Harland & Wolff rejected the researchers' findings.

"There was nothing wrong with the materials," company spokesman Joris Minne said.