RMS Titanic
A brief overview of the tragedy
On Sunday, April 14, 1912, just four days after setting out on its first voyage with passengers aboard, the R.M.S. Titanic passenger ship struck an iceberg off the coast of Newfoundland at 11:40 p.m., and subsequently sank at 2:20 a.m. Of the 2,227 people aboard when the ship started its trans-Atlantic voyage, a total of 1,522 died in the disaster. The 705 surviving passengers were rescued by the Carpathia liner several hours later.
Main causes for the collision with the iceberg
Main causes for the sinking
Titanic would have stayed afloat after hitting the iceberg under the following conditions:
Main causes for the great loss of life
Conclusion
R.M.S. Titanic sank, and so many died, because of complacency, carelessness and bureaucratic interests. No one person or party could be blamed, and it could only be classified for the record as “an act of God.” Experts and company representatives believed and stated that she was practically unsinkable, when in reality many safety measures that even a few older ships had used were eschewed for commercial pressures that required more spacious and accessible areas for passengers and crew.
The great tragedy of Titanic is that the whole disaster was completely avoidable. That is why it is still so compelling today, and why it had such a great impact on the overconfident and “enlightened” era in which it occurred. That era had become so dependent on science and technology as to see itself as invincible, and was swiftly humbled by the Titanic disaster.
Essential Titanic materials:
A Night to Remember by Walter Lord
Titanic: An Illustrated History by Don Lynch (book)
The Titanic Disaster Hearings by Tom Kuntz, ed. (book)
Titanic: The Complete Story by A&E (DVD/VHS)
Secrets of the Titanic by National Geographic (DVD/VHS)
On Sunday, April 14, 1912, just four days after setting out on its first voyage with passengers aboard, the R.M.S. Titanic passenger ship struck an iceberg off the coast of Newfoundland at 11:40 p.m., and subsequently sank at 2:20 a.m. Of the 2,227 people aboard when the ship started its trans-Atlantic voyage, a total of 1,522 died in the disaster. The 705 surviving passengers were rescued by the Carpathia liner several hours later.
Main causes for the collision with the iceberg
- The binoculars for the lookout got lost at the beginning of the voyage, but they were not replaced at one of the ports.
- The six or seven telegram warnings received from other ships in the area about heavy ice were each put in different places on Titanic, and all were virtually ignored, so the actual extent of the ice area was unknown. There were no regulations at this time for the posting of wireless messages.
- Captain Smith went ten miles south of the original course to try to avoid ice. But he did not slow the ship down. The ship was going at almost its top speed; the cause for this is still unknown.
- While going through the heavy ice areas, Captain Smith did not post extra lookouts, and only appeared on the bridge once.
Main causes for the sinking
Titanic would have stayed afloat after hitting the iceberg under the following conditions:
- If the bulkheads had been one deck higher
- If the ship had been built with a double hull as well as a double bottom
- If the ship had hit the iceberg head on instead of along the side
Main causes for the great loss of life
- Outdated Board of Trade regulations did not require enough lifeboats for all passengers. One of the engineers recommended putting in additional lifeboats during the design stage, but his recommendation was rejected because of the extra expense as well as not wanting to obstruct passengers' view.
- Titanic's crew were poorly trained on lifeboat launching, so it was slow, improperly executed, and poorly supervised. The crew was not told that the lifeboats could be safely filled to capacity, that Titanic would sink in two hours, or that there were only enough lifeboats for half the passengers. So they only filled many of the boats half full. Captain Smith, who was in shock and so did not strongly lead the crew, never came to the boat deck where he could have corrected this.
- Captain Smith did not issue a general "abandon ship" order - which meant many passengers would not have realised the Titanic was in imminent danger. There was no plan for an orderly evacuation, no public address system, and no lifeboat drill.
- As the half-filled boats rowed away from the ship, they were too far for other passengers to reach, and most lifeboats did not return to the wreck, due to fear of being swamped by drowning victims. Only two lifeboats returned to retrieve survivors from the water, some of whom later died.
- Original investigations concluded that if the nearby ship Californian had come to Titanic’s aid when Titanic's distress signal rockets were fired, most if not all of Titanic’s passengers could have been saved. At that time there were no laws requiring 24-hour wireless operations; if there had been, they would have heard Titanic’s distress calls over the wireless and been obliged to come to her aid. However, the most recent inquiry, made since Titanic was found, concluded that Californian would not have been able to arrive in time to make any difference.
Conclusion
R.M.S. Titanic sank, and so many died, because of complacency, carelessness and bureaucratic interests. No one person or party could be blamed, and it could only be classified for the record as “an act of God.” Experts and company representatives believed and stated that she was practically unsinkable, when in reality many safety measures that even a few older ships had used were eschewed for commercial pressures that required more spacious and accessible areas for passengers and crew.
The great tragedy of Titanic is that the whole disaster was completely avoidable. That is why it is still so compelling today, and why it had such a great impact on the overconfident and “enlightened” era in which it occurred. That era had become so dependent on science and technology as to see itself as invincible, and was swiftly humbled by the Titanic disaster.
Essential Titanic materials:
A Night to Remember by Walter Lord
Titanic: An Illustrated History by Don Lynch (book)
The Titanic Disaster Hearings by Tom Kuntz, ed. (book)
Titanic: The Complete Story by A&E (DVD/VHS)
Secrets of the Titanic by National Geographic (DVD/VHS)
