TITANIC WAS DOOMED

As the Titanic pulled away from Queenstown, Ireland, April 11, 1912, and sailed into history, its doom was almost certain.  Everything that could possibly go wrong did.  First of all, according to the New York Times, "Science Times" section, April 10, 2012, there may have been a once in one thousand years natural phenomenon which led to many of the problems.  Earth was closer to both the moon and the sun than it had been in more than one thousand years.  This resulted in record high tides which floated more ice out into the shipping lanes than would usually be there.   Secondly, the icy waters created ideal conditions for an unusual type of mirage, hiding icebergs from lookouts and confusing the ship Californian as to the identity of the Titanic.  The crew of the Californian saw the ship, but did not think it looked large or at all like the Titanic.  And when the Titanic fired rockets they did not appear to go high in the sky to the crew of the Californian.  The two ships may have been as much as ten miles apart, but crews on both ships thought they were very close.  Someone on the Titanic said they could see the portholes of the other ship. Later when they lowered the lifeboats they directed the crew to row to the ship "nearby."  As the Captain of the Californian said later, "It was a very deceiving night."

This was Captain Edward J. Smith's final voyage before retirement.  He was known as the millionaires' captain because he was very personable and was a favorite among them.  Because of his popularity he earned a  much larger salary than other captains and was given the maiden voyage of the Titanic.  He worked for the White Star Line.  This line was directed by Bruce Ismay who had inherited it from his father.  J. Pierpont Morgan started investing in shipping and eventually bought the White Star Line.  He kept Ismay as director and bankrolled him in his plan to build three ships larger and more luxurious than any other ship in the world.  Ismay was on board for the maiden voyage, and his main concern was to break the world speed record for the trip to New York. 

On Sunday morning, April 14, 1912, two Marconi employees Jack Phillips and his assistant Harold Bride were hard at work relaying passenger messages to shore.  The wireless had broken down the night before and Jack Phillips had worked until five in the morning to repair it.  At 1:30 that afternoon, Phillips received a message that the German oil tanker, Deutschland, was out of coal and out of control.  It needed to be towed to Philadelphia. The message also said that there was a large quantity of field ice in latitude 41.51 north and longitude 49.52 west.  Phillips gave the message to Captain Smith and he gave it to Bruce Ismay.  Ismay told a passenger Emily Ryerson that they were among icebergs and showed her the message. She asked about the ship out of control and wondered what he was going to do about it.  "Nothing," he said. He wanted to get to New York early and surprise everyone. 

Maybe that would have been Titanic's best chance for survival.  If they had slowed down, found the other ship and towed it to shore, would they have survived?  Maybe one option for survival was open to them, but Ismay turned it down.

That evening the Marconi assistant Harold Bride was on duty.  He turned the wireless off for an hour to let it cool.  He missed a message about ice, but when he turned it back on he heard the message being transmitted to another ship and delivered it to the Captain.  It reported three large icebergs five miles to the south.  Meanwhile the temperature dropped to freezing.  Captain Smith remarked to Second Officer Herbert Lightoller on the cold.  Lightoller responded that it was flat calm.  In twenty four years as a mariner Lightoller had never seen so calm a sea.  Captain Smith indicated that if it became the slightest bit hazy they would have to slow down.  Then he vacated the bridge knowing this was the most crucial part of the voyage.  Messages about ice had been received from the Caronia, Baltic, Amerika, and the Californian.  However, only one of the messages was posted in the chart room. 

Later, Phillips was back on duty on the wireless and the ship had come within range of Cape Race, Newfoundland.  Jack Phillips was very busy transmitting passenger messages.  He was interrupted by a message from the Mesaba reporting much heavy pack ice and giving the latitude and longitude.  The Titanic was steaming directly into this field.  Phillips was busy delivering passenger messages and did not think it necessary to deliver another message about ice.  Then he received a message from the Californian that they were stopped and surrounded by ice.  "Shut up.  I am busy," he replied.  The ship was travelling at 22 and 1/2  knots at this time.

Lightoller went off duty and went to bed.  First Officer Murdoch was on watch. 
At this point, the men in the crow's nest saw a slight haze but felt that it was hardly worth mentioning.  Then they saw a black object ahead of them.  They called the bridge and reported it.  Robert Hichens was at the wheel and Murdoch gave the orders to turn.  At this point they encountered another problem:  the older ships had a different steering system.  One had to turn left in order to go right and vice versa.  Titanic had the newer version.  It is reported by the granddaughter of Lightoller that the officers had a meeting after the crash and stated that Hichens had turned the wheel the wrong direction.  He then tried to turn the other direction, but it was too late.  It was also said that Murdoch had ordered the power stopped and reversed.  That had actually slowed the ship and made the turn more difficult.  If the wheel had been turned in the right direction and the ship had not stopped and reversed, it might have been saved.  It is believed that if Bruce Ismay had not insisted that the ship resume sailing it might not have sunk so quickly and more lives might have been saved.

Within half an hour the Captain and the officers knew the ship was sinking.  No information was quickly given to the crew or the passengers however.  Unfortunately, there were only half the necessary number of life boats, and no life boat drills had been done.  Many people could not even find their life jackets.  Communication and evacuation were chaotic. When it finally dawned on people that the unsinkable ship might actually sink, they went to the purser's office to request their money and jewelry.  They had to be persuaded that there was no time for that. By design or accident, the first class people had the best chance of survival; people in third class had the worst chance of survival.

The two Marconi men, Jack Phillips and Harold Bride stayed on duty sending SOS messages and Phillips went down with the ship, along with the Captain; and the musicians on board who played until the Titanic sank beneath the waves, taking 1500 people to their death.