One of the ghastliest myths about Titanic purports that a worker was trapped inside the ship’s hull during construction, and with nowhere to escape, he died, his body sealed in the hull of the ship. (This rumor has a long shelf-life. The same was said about the Hoover Dam — that a worker was trapped inside the dam and left to die.)
Only two construction-related deaths occurred during the building of Titanic, a remarkable safety record. The two deaths were recorded, and all workers were accounted for when the ship set sail. No workers were trapped inside Titanic’s hull. How did this myth start? One explanation says that older workers started it to put a scare into younger workers. At the end of the workday, riveters had to walk around the hull and tap the newly-installed rivets to make sure they were installed correctly. Old-timers would tell stories of hearing the tapping of trapped workers inside the hull and leaving them to die. Must have been a real laughfest at the Titanic work site, eh?
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