New book claims Titanic sunk by steering mistake
The granddaughter of Titanic's senior surviving officer - Second Officer Charles Lightoller - has written a new book that says Titanic hit an iceberg because of a basic steering error.
First question that a lot of folks are asking - why now? Author Louise Patten says the truth has been hidden for fear of tarnishing the reputation of her grandfather, who according to Patten's book covered up this mistake in order to protect the White Star Line.
"They could easily have avoided the iceberg if it wasn't for the blunder," Patten told the Daily Telegraph. "Instead of steering Titanic safely round to the left of the iceberg, once it had been spotted dead ahead, the steersman, Robert Hitchins, had panicked and turned it the wrong way."
Doubt bubbles immediately appear over my head as I read this. First of all, the basic facts of the disaster seem indisputable. We know that when first sighted by lookouts Frederick Fleet and Reginald Lee, Titanic was facing down the iceberg head-on. And we know the order was given to helmsman Robert Hichens (the correct spelling) to turn the wheel "Hard a'starboard," which in 1912 on Titanic meant turning the wheel so that the ship would turn to the port side.
This is exactly what happened. We know this because Titanic turned just enough to port to hit the iceberg on her starboard side. This seems indisputable and thus the whole thesis of this new book seems dubious.
But the author goes further, saying that once the steering mistake was made "they only had four minutes to change course and by the time (first officer William) Murdoch spotted Hitchins' mistake and then tried to rectify it, it was too late."
From the evidence given at both the American and British investigations into the disaster we know that Titanic had less than 1 minute to react from the moment the iceberg was sighted until the collision.
The new book also asserts that this steering mistake was made worse by the fact that White Star Line Chairman J. Bruce Ismay ordered the captain to continue sailing.
"If Titanic had stood still, she would have survived at least until the rescue ship came and no one need have died," Patten said.
There is no evidence to suggest that this is true. Titanic only momentarily kept steaming after the collision and glided to a stop as her captain began to evaluate his ship's condition.
I'll be interested to hear what other Titanic historians have to say about this new book and its theories.
First question that a lot of folks are asking - why now? Author Louise Patten says the truth has been hidden for fear of tarnishing the reputation of her grandfather, who according to Patten's book covered up this mistake in order to protect the White Star Line.
"They could easily have avoided the iceberg if it wasn't for the blunder," Patten told the Daily Telegraph. "Instead of steering Titanic safely round to the left of the iceberg, once it had been spotted dead ahead, the steersman, Robert Hitchins, had panicked and turned it the wrong way."
Doubt bubbles immediately appear over my head as I read this. First of all, the basic facts of the disaster seem indisputable. We know that when first sighted by lookouts Frederick Fleet and Reginald Lee, Titanic was facing down the iceberg head-on. And we know the order was given to helmsman Robert Hichens (the correct spelling) to turn the wheel "Hard a'starboard," which in 1912 on Titanic meant turning the wheel so that the ship would turn to the port side.
This is exactly what happened. We know this because Titanic turned just enough to port to hit the iceberg on her starboard side. This seems indisputable and thus the whole thesis of this new book seems dubious.
But the author goes further, saying that once the steering mistake was made "they only had four minutes to change course and by the time (first officer William) Murdoch spotted Hitchins' mistake and then tried to rectify it, it was too late."
From the evidence given at both the American and British investigations into the disaster we know that Titanic had less than 1 minute to react from the moment the iceberg was sighted until the collision.
The new book also asserts that this steering mistake was made worse by the fact that White Star Line Chairman J. Bruce Ismay ordered the captain to continue sailing.
"If Titanic had stood still, she would have survived at least until the rescue ship came and no one need have died," Patten said.
There is no evidence to suggest that this is true. Titanic only momentarily kept steaming after the collision and glided to a stop as her captain began to evaluate his ship's condition.
I'll be interested to hear what other Titanic historians have to say about this new book and its theories.
posted by Oscar Watcher | 1:55 PM
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