[norwaypinesavage]

"He believes there was a crack in the hull that was welded quickly after his last trip that may have caused it to break up."

Interesting theory. The Liberty ships of WWII experienced hull cracks such as this, and helped expand the science of Fracture Mechanics. Such fractures are helped along by cold temperatures and weld flaws. Some think it is why the Titanic sunk, rather than just flooding a few compartments.

[Redleg Duke]

I have read that the rivets brought up from the wreck of the Titanic appear to have too much slag in their composition and as such, in the arctic cold waters, became brittle and sheared on impact with the ice berg.

[Dem Guard]

The sailor was a young man at the time. As I recall he decided to go to college or made a job change and avoided that final trip.