ANALYTICAL WRITING – 3 RESEARCH DATA

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SOLUTIONS
Exercise 2
CONTENT FOR RESEARCH DATA
 Why did other ships in the area not hit the iceberg?
General maritime custom at that time was to steam full speed until ice was actually sighted. There is always
ice in the North Atlantic during April, so the condition was not unusual. At that time, ships communicated
informally about ice and danger via telegraph, so all ships, including Titanic, knew there was ice. Some ships
(the Californian) actually stopped dead in the water for the night because the captain thought it was too
dangerous to continue. Other slowed down. And some ships, including the Titanic, did nothing.
 Why did the Titanic get so close that it hit the iceberg?
No one saw it in time. It was a very clear, calm night with no moon, which actually makes it harder to see
icebergs (no chop at the base). Once seen, the officer at the wheel did try to turn the ship, but the ship was so
big and moved so slowly that it didn’t clear the iceberg in time.
 What was the exact sequence of events?
The ship sank in 2 hours and 23 minutes. Immediately after hitting the iceberg, most crew and passengers
thought that there was minimal damage. About 20 minutes later, Captain Smith, the ship’s designer (Thomas
Andrews), and ship’s owner (J. Bruce Ismay) knew the ship would sink with an hour-an hour-and-a-half. They
knew there were not enough lifeboats, so to avoid a panic they never actually told the passengers what was
occurring.
 Is 2.5 hours a long or short time for such a large ship to sink?
It is extremely fast. No one thought the entire ship could sink so quickly. Prior to the Titanic sinking, most
large ships that foundered had stayed afloat for a day or two before sinking, allowing passengers to be
rescued. Most people thought that large ships effectively acted as their own life-boats until help could arrive.
 Could the iceberg have been avoided?
In hindsight, yes. The binoculars used by the lookouts had been left behind in Southampton, so only human
observation was possible. Also, since Captain Smith knew there was ice, he could have reduced speed, which
would have given the ship more time to turn once the iceberg was sighted.
 Did Captain Smith take any precautions?
Yes, Captain Smith adjusted the Titanic’s course ten miles to the south to avoid the ice he knew about. He
ordered the lookouts to watch closely for ice and he closed the forward engine room windows to prevent the
glare from interfering with the lookouts’ line of sight. The entire crew was alerted to the possibility of ice. But
the order to reduce the ship’s speed was never given.
 Is there any evidence from the bottom of the sea to help explain what happened?
Since the wreck of the Titanic was located in 1985, there has been a great deal of on-going research. The most
interesting piece of new data has been the idea that the expansion joints on the Titanic (two flexible joints
that allow the huge steel ship to “flex” in high seas) were a point of weakness and contributed to the breakup
of the ship. Since the Titanic was the largest ship ever built, even the engineers were not entirely certain their
strength calculations were correct. In addition, virtually the entire bottom of the ship was found in August
2005 quite a distance from the main wreck, indicating that it had peeled off on the surface and caused the
Titanic to quickly sink.
 Could the loss of life have been avoided?
Once it hit the iceberg. Titanic was doomed. If another ship had been close enough to come to its rescue, then
maybe the passengers and crew could have been saved. But this was not to be. When the Titanic struck the
iceberg and no external rescue was forthcoming, it was inevitable that at least 1,000 people would die,
because there were not enough lifeboats. As it turned out 1,500 people perished because what lifeboats there
were did not leave the ship completely full. Had the Californian been able to get there in time, some of those

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1,500 might have been saved, but the sinking happened so fast, many still would have died. The water was
below freezing (salt water has a lower freezing point than regular water). Even with life jackets, no one could
survive more than 15 minutes in water that frigid.
 Was the sinking just bad luck?
Partly, many, many things had to go wrong for such a large ship to sink so quickly. The lookouts had no
binoculars; the angle of impact was the worst possible; the telegraph operator on the closest ship, the
Californian went to bed a few minutes before the Titanic’s distress call; the Captain of the Californian saw the
flares from the Titanic but thought they were signal flares because they were white, not red.
 Why did it take so long to rescue the survivors?
The telegraph operators on many of the ships in the area had gone to bed. At that time there was no
requirement that a telegraph operator be on duty around the clock. However, even had operators been on
duty, few ships were close enough to reach the survivors in time (although there is still disagreement as to the
proximity of the Californian). The Carpathia took about 4.5 hours to arrive on the scene.
 Could any ship in the area have reached them sooner?
There is some controversy as to whether the Californian was close enough to have rescued all aboard the
Titanic. The evidence is contradictory. Other than the possibility that the Californian might have helped, no
other ship was close enough.
 Why were not enough lifeboats for everyone on board?
The British Board of Trade established the rules for the number of lifeboats required based on the gross
tonnage of the ship, not the number of people the ship carried. The Titanic actually had more lifeboats than
required, but only enough for 52% of the people aboard.
 Based on how it sank, did ship builders and engineers learn anything new?
Not until the wreck was located was there any definitive information. Even then it was hard to determine
what damage was the result of the iceberg (that part of the ship is resting in about 20 feet of sludge at the
bottom of the ocean) and what was a result of the breakup. However, comparisons with Titanic’s sister ship.
Britannic (sunk by torpedo off the coast of a Greek island during WWI), have definitely provided information
about the expansion joint. Interestingly, it appears that the shipbuilder, Harlan & Wolff, realized this
possibility within a month of the sinking but kept it a secret so it would not be held liable.
 Was the Titanic really as strong as the owner said it was?
Not really. The builder simply scaled up a smaller ship and was not certain how the bigger, heavier ship would
stress the materials. Some of the design elements of the ship like its expansion joints, seemed to work on
smaller, less heavy ships but were already cracking on the Olympic (the first sister ship of the Titanic) even
before the Titanic set sail.
 Were any changes made in maritime law and procedure after the accident?
Yes, in 1914 Britain hosted the first SOLAS (Safety of Life at Sea) Conference to craft new safety rules and
regulations. The treaty that resulted from this conference has seen updated in the years since and is still in
force.
 New lifeboat regulations and drills required
 24-hour radio watch and uniform distress rockets instituted
 International Ice Patrol created
 Ship design changes
 New speed regulations

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