CH 35History & technology
The ship that heeled too far
Vasa (ship)
Vasa, 1628: a warship that capsized in Stockholm harbour on her maiden voyage
Dossier · 9 case files · 1628–2023
Shipwrecks and disasters at sea, investigated.
Titanic, Vasa, cracking Liberty ships, a harbour explosion, a lost Arctic expedition and the Titan submersible: what the evidence shows.
Backdrop: The Vasa seen from the side in the Vasa Museum, Stockholm. Jules Verne Times Two · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons. Figure: Gustav II Adolf (Gustavus Adolphus). King of Sweden who was at war with Poland-Lithuania and pressed for the Vasa to be sent to sea (17th century). Paulus Pontius · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons.
The sea is unforgiving of small errors. A warship is built a little too tall for its beam, a liner keeps its speed through reported ice, welded steel meets winter water, a ship full of explosives meets another in a narrow channel, a hull is taken deep without independent certification.
These cases draw on inquiries, salvage, scientific analysis of remains and modern marine boards. They show how design margins, warnings and operating pressure combined, and how investigators reconstruct events from wrecks that cannot be fully recovered.
In date order of the event. Each file is a full investigation: briefing, source-linked evidence, reasoning steps and findings.
CH 37History & exploration
Lead, scurvy and a long winter
Franklin expedition
Franklin expedition, 1845–48: what the evidence says about why it failed
CH 40History & technology
Ice ahead, speed unchanged
RMS Titanic
RMS Titanic, 1912: did the ice warnings, speed and lifeboat provision shape the outcome?
CH 22History & exploration
When the destination stops mattering
Endurance expedition
Endurance, 1915–1916: revise the mission as the evidence changes
CH 41History & technology
Wrong side of the Narrows
Halifax Explosion
Halifax Harbour, 1917: a munitions ship, a collision and the question of blame
CH 26Engineering & technology
Hulls that broke in still water
Liberty ships and T2 tanker fractures
Schenectady and the Liberty fleet, 1943: why welded hulls split
CH 13Science & Discovery
The Ocean-Floor Tape
Seafloor spreading
Symmetric magnetic stripes test an idea about moving continents.
CH 62Engineering & technology
The pressure test read as a seal
Deepwater Horizon blowout (2010)
Gulf of Mexico, 20 April 2010: why did the crew believe the well was sealed?
CH 66Engineering & technology
Readings from a hull under strain
Titan submersible implosion (2023)
Titan submersible, 2023: what did the hull’s own monitoring data show before the final dive?
From the journal
The ideas behind these cases.
Competing hypotheses in practice: list the rivals, then test themA favored explanation can make every observation look like support. Learn how listing rivals and seeking evidence against them worked in four cases.- Fatigue and fracture: how structures fail without warningMetal can crack under repeated loads, break when cold or fail where stress concentrates. Learn the main patterns and the questions that expose them early.
Hindsight bias: judging decisions with the ending in viewKnowing how an event ended makes earlier choices look obvious. Learn how hindsight bias distorts investigations and how to rebuild what was known.
Other topicsSoftware failures 15Aviation and spaceflight 16Bridges, buildings and structures 12Energy and power grids 7Medicine and public health 11Mysteries and open questions 7Extraordinary claims and replication 9Markets, money and fraud 6Weather, climate and the Earth 11Investigations from the 2020s 12Astronomy and physics 13