Was a FIRE the real reason the 'unsinkable' Titanic went down? Documentary claims a boiler room blaze had been raging since the liner set sail from Southampton

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The tragic sinking of RMS Titanic was caused by a fire in the liner’s boiler room not simply a collision with a giant iceberg, a new documentary will claim.

Since the Titanic went down in the North Atlantic Ocean on April 15, 1912, during her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York, historians have long pinned the blame solely on her striking an iceberg.

But journalist Senan Molony, who has been researching the disaster for 30 years, believes that a fire in a coalbunker caused serious damage to the Titanic’s hull – in the same area where the iceberg later hit - and is the real reason for the disaster.

Mr Molony suggests, in the documentary Titanic: The New Evidence, that the fire had been raging since she left the shipyard in Belfast, meaning those in charge could be criminally negligent.

The Titanic departs Southampton, England on its maiden Atlantic voyage

He says the 1,000C temperatures weakened the hull so much that when the Titanic collided with an iceberg what could have been a minor knock became an unimaginable disaster.

More than 1,500 people died when the ship, which was carrying 2,224 passengers and crew, sank under the command of Captain Edward Smith.

Mr Molony told The Times: ‘The official Titanic inquiry branded it [the sinking] as an act of God. This isn’t a simple story of colliding with an iceberg and sinking. It’s a perfect storm of extraordinary factors coming together: fire, ice and criminal negligence.‘

The documentary, which will air on Channel 4 on New Year’s Day, will present pictures showing dark marks on the starboard side of the ship which Mr Molony believes proves there was a fire inside.

The fire was also mentioned at the inquiry but Mr Molony believes not enough attention was given to it.

The largest piece of the hull of the legendary ship Titanic ever to reach the surface, is seen following its arrival in Boston in 1998, aboard the French recovery ship Abeille Supporter. The 20 ton, 26-foot by 20-foot section was recovered in the North Atlantic

The bow of the Titanic at rest on the bottom of the North Atlantic, about 400 miles southeast of Newfoundland

The RMS Titanic is pictured here at sea before it struck an iceberg and sank on April 15, 1912

At the British Wreck Commissioner's inquiry in London, which began on the 2 May 1912, led by Wreck Commissioner Lord Mersey, firemen onboard the ship confirmed there was still a fire in the boiler room when it set sail at Southampton.

And on 20 April, 1912, one fireman who survived the sinking, J. Dilley from London, said a fire had raged in the bunkers of the liner Titanic from the day she left Southampton until she went to the bottom of the ocean off Newfoundland, The Syracuse Herald reported.

‘He declared that Captain Smith and his officers knew of this fire, but kept it secret.

‘He further declared that seamen had fought the fire during the five days that the ship was racing westward on her maiden voyage and that the highest speed was maintained on this account,’ the paper said.

His account supports Mr Molony’s theory that instead of suffering a PR disaster by delaying the Titanic’s departure for a third time, those in charge were committed to Titanic setting off on her maiden voyage on April 10th despite the fire.

Some of the wealthiest people in the world were on board, including property tycoon John Jacob Astor IV, great grandson of John Jacob Astor, founder of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel.

Millionaire Benjamin Guggenheim, heir to his family's mining business, also perished, along with Isidor Straus, the German-born co-owner of Macy's department store.

This photo from James Cameron's 1997 film Titanic shows how a scramble for life boats played out as the ship went down 

The Titanic is seen sinking a scene from Broadway musical Titanic, at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre

The ship was the largest afloat at the time and was designed in such a way that it was meant to be 'unsinkable'.

It had an on-board gym, libraries, swimming pool and several restaurants and luxury first class cabins.

There were not enough lifeboats on board for all the passengers due to out-of-date maritime safety regulations.

After leaving Southampton on April 10, 1912, Titanic called at Cherbourg in France and Queenstown in Ireland before heading to New York.

On April 14, 1912, four days into the crossing, she hit an iceberg at 11:40pm ship's time.

James Moody was on night watch when the collision happened and took the call from the watchman, asking him 'What do you see?' The man responded: 'Iceberg, dead ahead.'

By 2.20am, with hundreds of people still on board, the ship plunged beneath the waves, taking many, including Moody, with it.

Despite repeated distress calls being sent out and flares launched from the decks, the first rescue ship, the RMS Carpathia, arrived nearly two hours later, pulling more than 700 people from the water.

It was not until 1985 that the wreck of the ship was discovered in two pieces on the ocean floor.