The RMS Titanic was once said to be the "unsinkable ship" - so what went wrong? Was the sinking of the ship a tragic coincidence or was it inevitable? Could the sinking of the ship have been prevented? Did criminal negligence and fatal arrogance cause the sinking of the unsinkable? Let's take a look at what contributed to the sinking of the Titanic other than the notorious collision with the iceberg.
1. The 'State-of-the-Art' Design
The Titanic was labelled "practically unsinkable" due to the watertight bulkhead compartments with electric watertight doors. It was believed that the Titanic would still be capable of sailing even if four out of sixteen of these compartments were flooded. Yet, it was these compartments that contributed significantly to the iconic sinking of the ship. Although the bulkheads were understood to be watertight, this was not the case. An inaccurate design allowed water to pour from one compartment to the next.
2. Limited Lifeboats
60 lifeboats would have been necessary to accommodate for all passengers on the Titanic. However, Alexander Carlisle, the Chief Designer, only planned to incorporate 48 boats. This figure was further reduced upon the ship's completion to just 20 lifeboats which could only hold 1718 passengers. This was done simply for aesthetics as it was thought that 48 lifeboats made the deck look too cluttered. As a result, this could only account for one third of all passengers on board.
The negligence worsened as there were no lifeboat drills to help the crew and passengers prepare adequately for emergencies despite this being standard practice for ocean liners at the time. Consequently, it took the crew 30 minutes to launch each lifeboat instead of the average time of 10 minutes that it should have taken. In fact, the drill that was scheduled on the morning of the Titanic's demise had been cancelled by Captain Edward John Smith. This was mysterious as other ships had warned the Titanic's senior radio operator, Jack Phillips, of the amount of colossal icebergs in the waters surrounding them (although it is assumed that Phillips may have never passed this message onto the Captain deeming it non-urgent). Furthermore, the Captain made a series of fatal decisions as he allowed the first batch of lifeboats to dispatch half empty; a lifeboat with a seating capacity of 65 was allowed to sail with just 27 passengers.
3. A Raging Fire
It has been claimed that a fire had been raging on the side of the Titanic for 3 weeks in the ships coal bunker boiler room. It was discovered that this fire was 1,000 degrees and withstood the attempts of 12 crew members to extinguish it, as a result, it reduced the steel's strength by 75% making it brittle. This weakened the metal and made it easier for the iceberg to make a hole in the ship, thus having a more devastating effect than the collision should have. The managers knew about this safety hazard but still demanded the Titanic set sail in order for them to avoid bankruptcy as the coal had been purchased from other ships after miners went on strike. Therefore, instead of refunding tickets, the managers decided to go ahead with the journey and rotate the ship so that the burn mark was facing towards the sea and not the dock.
4. Missing Binoculars
The binoculars on the Titanic that were used to keep watch of threats at sea had been locked in a compartment and the only person with the key to the locker wasn't on board the Titanic! Second Officer David Blair had the key but was replaced last minute and subsequently forgot to hand the keys to his replacement who remained unaware of this for three days after the Titanic set sail. This contributed dangerously to the sinking of the Titanic. Without the binoculars, the crew failed to notice the iceberg on time, thus had no time to react and avoid the collision.
5. Speeding
The Titanic's journey was falling behind schedule. To maintain its powerful reputation, the crew resorted to breaking the speed limits despite the fact that the Titanic was not designed to withstand moving at those speeds. Captain Smith had allowed the cruise liner to travel at 22 knots through dangerous iceberg filled surroundings.
Additional Reasons
Numerous additional allegations for the cause of the sinking have been suggested such as:
The low quality iron rivets used for the stern of the ship and the steel plates toward the bow would have made it easier for the Titanic to break and fall apart upon collision.
A rare lunar event whereby the sun and moon were unusually close resulted in tides that may have re-positioned icebergs to move from their fixed positions on the coasts of Labrador and Newfoundland (where the Titanic would pass through).
The warmer weather conditions meant that icebergs were concentrated in the area the collision occurred.
British Historian Tim Maltin has claimed that atmospheric conditions created a phenomenon known as 'super refraction'. This refers to the bending of light which in turn created mirages and illusions that Maltin claimed had prevented the crew from clearly seeing the icebergs. It would also make the nearby ship, the Californian, think the Titanic was a different ship that looked like it was sailing away rather than sinking.
Claims of a crew member turning the ship in the wrong direction after First Officer William Murdoch had ordered a 'hard-a-starboard' (meaning for the wheel to turn right under one system and left under another) once he had spotted the iceberg. Yet, the two communication systems the ship used were in direct conflict and the manoeuvre was corrected too late.
Final Fate
Ultimately, a combination of the numerous factors mentioned above contributed to the fatal death of 1503 people out of approximately 2208 passengers at 2:20 AM April 15th, 1912.
References:
Waxman, O. (2017). Did a Fire Sink the Titanic? These 7 Other Factors Could Have Also Played a Role, Time
Ewers, J. The Secret of How the Titanic Sank, US News
Is this the real reason the Titanic sank? (2017). New York Post
Pells, R. (2017). Titanic sank due to enormous uncontrollable fire, not iceberg, claim experts, Independent
Boness, L. (2012). Why did the Titanic sink?, Science Illustrated