User:WhaleyTim/Sandbox : Factors In Titanic Disaster

Factors Contributing to the disaster

Conditions

The weather conditions for the Atlantic at the time of the collision were unusual because there was a flat calm sea, no wind and no swell. In addition, it was a moonless night. Under normal sea conditions in the area of the collision, there is a swell, with waves breaking over the base of an iceberg, which assists in locating one even on a moonless night, however, this night there was none, and the lookouts would be unable to see the tell-tale white foam from the breaking wave.

Ice

On the horizon, ahead of the Titanic, on the horizon, were many miles of a floating ice field. This has a unique property in that it absorbs daylight and releases it slowly at night as a low intensity light, which can give the impression of a haze and is known as Ice Blink.

The iceberg with which the Titanic collided, was glacial ice, from Newfoundland. Glacial icebergs contain soil and rocks scrapped from the land surface as the glacier travels towards the sea. This form of iceberg is particularly unstable and as the sea melts the ice, it enters the crevices caused by the impurities. As sufficient ice under the sea melts, the weight of the upper portion causes the iceberg to capsize. The water filled surface now presented above the water can appear dark grey or dark blue, even in daylight, and is known as a 'Black Berg'. As the water drains from the crevices, it again returns to the familiar white colour.

There is evidence that the iceberg in the collision was a Black Berg, and therefore had recently capsised prior to the collision, as passengers reported seeing a black iceberg passing the ship, with just a white fringe on top. This would have made it very difficult, for the lookouts to see until the last moment, made worse by the haze caused by the pack ice.

Consider what the lookouts had to contend with, a bitterly cold night, no shelter meant that an icy wind caused by the forward movement of the ship would strike their eyes at around 23mph. Their eyes watering with the cold blast, in front they would see the black sea (no moonlight), on the horizon a light haze, they would not see the black iceberg until they were so close that the tip broke the outline of the haze. At that point they would be less than a mile away, with insufficient room to avoid it.

Speed

The conclusion of the British Inquiry into the sinking was “that the loss of the said ship was due to collision with an iceberg, brought about by the excessive speed at which the ship was being navigated”.[20]

At the time of the collision it is thought that the Titanic was at her normal cruising speed of about 22 knots [21], which was less than her top speed of around 24 knots. At the time it was common (but not universal) practice to maintain normal speed in areas where icebergs were expected [22]. It was thought that any iceberg large enough to damage the ship would be seen in sufficient time to be avoided.

After the sinking the British Board of Trade introduced regulations instructing vessels to moderate their speed if they were expecting to encounter icebergs.

It is often alleged that J. Bruce Ismay instructed or encouraged Captain Smith to increase speed in order to make an early landfall, and it is a common feature in popular representations of the disaster. There is little evidence for this having happened, and it is disputed by many [23]

Construction

'Watertight' compartments

The Titanic had 16 watertight compartments, 4 of which could be flooded before the ship sank. By the original plans, the ship would have burst 4 compartments when it hit the iceberg, but they were built smaller to accommodate more 1st class passengers, so 5 flooded and the ship sank.

Rudder & Propellers

Although the Titanic's rudder was not legally too small for a ship its size, the rudder's design was hardly state-of-the-art. According to researchers with the Titanic Historical Society: [The] "Titanic's long, thin rudder was a copy of a 19th-century steel sailing ship. Compared with the rudder design of the Cunard's Mauretania or Lusitania, the Titanic's was a fraction of the size. Apparently no account was made for advances in scale, and little thought given to how a ship 882½ feet (269 m) in length might turn in an emergency, or avoid a collision with an iceberg. This was the Titanic's Achilles' heel.

Perhaps more fatal to the Titanic was her triple-screw engine configuration, which had reciprocating steam engines driving its wing propellers, and a steam turbine driving its center propeller. The reciprocating engines were reversible, while the turbine was not. When First Officer Murdoch gave the order to reverse engines to avoid the iceberg, he inadvertently handicapped the turning ability of the ship. Since the centre turbine could not reverse during the "full speed astern" maneuver, it simply stopped turning. Furthermore, the centre propeller was positioned forward of the ship's rudder, diminishing the turning effectiveness of the rudder.

Had Murdoch reversed the port engine, and reduced speed while maintaining the forward motion of the other two propellers (as recommended in the training procedures for this type of ship), experts theorize that the Titanic might have been able to navigate around the berg without a collision. However, given the closing distance between the ship and the berg at the time the bridge was notified, this might not have been possible.

Additionally, Titanic experts have hypothesized that if the Titanic had not altered its course at all and had run head-on into the iceberg, the damage would only have affected the first or, at most, the first two compartments. The Guion liner Arizona had such a head-on collision with an iceberg in 1879, and although badly damaged had managed to make St Johns, Newfoundland, for repairs. Some dispute that the Titanic would have survived such a collision, however, since the Titanic's speed was higher than the Arizona's and her hull much larger, and the violence of the collision could have compromised her structural integrity.

Lifeboats

No single aspect regarding the huge loss of life from the Titanic disaster has provoked more outrage than the fact that the ship did not carry enough lifeboats for all her passengers and crew. This is partially due to the fact that the law, dating from 1894, required a minimum of 16 lifeboats for ships of over 10,000 tons. Since then the size of ships had increased rapidly, meaning that Titanic was legally required to carry only enough lifeboats for less than half of its capacity. Actually, the White Star Line exceeded the regulations by including four more collapsible lifeboats—making room for slightly more than half the capacity.

In the busy North Atlantic sea lanes it was expected that in the event of a serious accident to a ship, help from other vessels would be quickly obtained, and that the lifeboats would be used to ferry passengers and crew from the stricken vessel to its rescuers. Full provision of lifeboats was not considered necessary for this.

It was anticipated during the design of the ship that the British Board of Trade might require an increase in the number of lifeboats at some future date. Therefore lifeboat davits capable of handling up to four boats per pair of davits were designed and installed, to give a total potential capacity of 64 boats. The additional boats were never fitted. It is often alleged that J. Bruce Ismay, the President of White Star, vetoed the installation of these additional boats to maximise the passenger promenade area on the boat deck. Harold Sanderson, Vice President of International Merchantile Marine refuted this allegation during the British Inquiry.

The lack of lifeboats was not the only cause of the tragic loss of lives. After the collision with the iceberg, one hour was taken to evaluate the damage, recognize what was going to happen, inform first class passengers, and lower the first lifeboat. Afterward, the crew worked quite efficiently, taking a total of 80 minutes to lower all 16 lifeboats. Since the crew was divided into two teams, one on each side of the ship, an average of 10 minutes of work was necessary for a team to fill a lifeboat with passengers and lower it.

Yet another factor in the high death toll that related to the lifeboats was the reluctance of the passengers to board them. They were, after all, on a ship deemed to be "unsinkable". Because of this, some lifeboats were launched with far less than capacity, the most notable being Lifeboat #1, with a capacity of 65, launched with only 12 people aboard.

Prevention

Speed

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