Many AH.com members will be familiar with the ignominious maiden, and only voyage of the White Star liner the RMS Titanic, the largest ship in the World at that time. Despite numerous iceberg warnings she continued to sail at high speed through an area 370 miles south east of Newfoundland and hit an iceberg in a head on collision that killed 43 of her passengers and crew,destroyed 80 feet of her bow, knocked out an engine and caused two of her watertight compartments to flood. Thanks to heroic efforts by her crew the flooding was contained and assisted by the liner Carpathia, she was able to limp into Halifax harbour to become a byword for folly and hubris. When examined in port it was discovered that the collision had also buckled her keel to such an extent that the Titanic was judged to be beyond economic repair and was consequently broken up for scrap.
The events of that night have never been satisfactorily explained, the Titanic's master, Captain Edward Smith was a highly experienced and capable officer, he never explained why he ignored the iceberg warnings and accepted full responsibility for the accident. Smith was stripped of his command and lived quietly until he died in 1923. The Titanic's First Officer William Murdoch, who had been in command at the time of the collision, was exhonerated for his decision not to try and avoid, or "port around" the iceberg as he judged that there was not enough time to do so. Instead Murdoch ordered that the ship steer straight ahead and that the ships' whistle be sounded to give a warning to passengers that a collision was imminent. Despite this Murdoch was never promoted by White Star and he died a bitter and broken man in 1935.
The controversy has been restarted, almost 99 years later by the discovery of the personal diaries of Thomas Andrews, head of the design department at the Harland and Wolff yard who had been on board the Titanic that night. Andrews' diaries reveal that J. Bruce Ismay, the Chairman and Managing Director of White Star had been pressuring Smith to maintain speed in attempt to win the prestigious Blue Riband for the fastest Atlantic crossing. Andrews' diary lends creedence to the anecdotal evidence of other passengers who reported seeing Smith place an iceberg warning in front of Ismay at his dinner table and walk away without comment, Andrews believed that Smith shielded his employer out of a sense of duty and that Ismay was most responsible for the accident. Andrews also wrote about his relief that the impact had been head on as if Murdoch had attempted to port around the iceberg, the most likely outcome would have been a glancing blow along a significant length of the ship's hull, this would have flooded so many of the watertight compartments that the ship would have sunk in about 2 hours. The most dramatic revelation in Andrews' diary is that despite his recommendation to increase the number of lifeboats, the Titanic carried enough for barely half of the 2,543 souls on board. Had she sank that night it is likely that some 1,250 people would have been left to drown or freeze to death in the North Atlantic.
So the POD is that Murdoch panics and attempts to port around the iceberg, the Titanic is going too fast to carry this out and the resulting glancing blow results in fatal flooding of the first five watertight compartments. Titanic sinks before Carpathia can reach her and half of her passengers and crew perish in the sinking, among them some people who IOTL led highly successful and distinguished lives. What would have been the wider implications of such a tragedy on the public and on maritime safety? Are there any other consequences people can think of?
The events of that night have never been satisfactorily explained, the Titanic's master, Captain Edward Smith was a highly experienced and capable officer, he never explained why he ignored the iceberg warnings and accepted full responsibility for the accident. Smith was stripped of his command and lived quietly until he died in 1923. The Titanic's First Officer William Murdoch, who had been in command at the time of the collision, was exhonerated for his decision not to try and avoid, or "port around" the iceberg as he judged that there was not enough time to do so. Instead Murdoch ordered that the ship steer straight ahead and that the ships' whistle be sounded to give a warning to passengers that a collision was imminent. Despite this Murdoch was never promoted by White Star and he died a bitter and broken man in 1935.
The controversy has been restarted, almost 99 years later by the discovery of the personal diaries of Thomas Andrews, head of the design department at the Harland and Wolff yard who had been on board the Titanic that night. Andrews' diaries reveal that J. Bruce Ismay, the Chairman and Managing Director of White Star had been pressuring Smith to maintain speed in attempt to win the prestigious Blue Riband for the fastest Atlantic crossing. Andrews' diary lends creedence to the anecdotal evidence of other passengers who reported seeing Smith place an iceberg warning in front of Ismay at his dinner table and walk away without comment, Andrews believed that Smith shielded his employer out of a sense of duty and that Ismay was most responsible for the accident. Andrews also wrote about his relief that the impact had been head on as if Murdoch had attempted to port around the iceberg, the most likely outcome would have been a glancing blow along a significant length of the ship's hull, this would have flooded so many of the watertight compartments that the ship would have sunk in about 2 hours. The most dramatic revelation in Andrews' diary is that despite his recommendation to increase the number of lifeboats, the Titanic carried enough for barely half of the 2,543 souls on board. Had she sank that night it is likely that some 1,250 people would have been left to drown or freeze to death in the North Atlantic.
So the POD is that Murdoch panics and attempts to port around the iceberg, the Titanic is going too fast to carry this out and the resulting glancing blow results in fatal flooding of the first five watertight compartments. Titanic sinks before Carpathia can reach her and half of her passengers and crew perish in the sinking, among them some people who IOTL led highly successful and distinguished lives. What would have been the wider implications of such a tragedy on the public and on maritime safety? Are there any other consequences people can think of?
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