1. False Knowledge

It was nearly midnight on April 14, 1912, when the White Star liner Titanic, racing along on its maiden voyage across the North Atlantic, struck an iceberg many times larger than the ship itself. We know now from extraordi­nary new photographs that the seam along the starboard hull was ripped open by the impact. The ocean poured in, breaching the double hull, flooding the mail room, the squash court, and the third class berths. It spilled over the “watertight” bulkheads to snuff out the giant steam boilers and pull the ship down in one of the greatest disasters of modern times. In the wake of this tragedy, the British government ordered that ice patrols commence along the major shipping lanes to guard against another disaster; they should have called for truth patrols instead.

TITANIC: UNSINKABLE

There was nothing surprising about icebergs in the North Atlantic. All day the Titanic had received detailed information about the ice ahead, delivered directly to Captain Edward Smith and to other officers on the bridge. Two hours before the incident, the Mesaba sent the Titanic a warning of icebergs at 42° 25'N 50° 14'W, almost precisely where the accident later occurred. At least one report was given to Bruce Ismay, president of the White Star Line. Eager to set a new record for transatlantic crossing, Ismay calmly stuffed the note in his pocket. In spite of frequent and specific warnings, he made the decision to let the ship race ahead at full speed.

Ismay believed three things to be true: first, he knew from his own experience with other ships that the lookout would give him actual sightings of any iceberg in time to steer around it. Second, his team of engineers assured him that even if the Titanic struck an iceberg submerged or otherwise difficult to see, the ship would not sink. And third, if there should be an accident of any kind, there was a tight and mutually supportive community of ships nearby that would come to his aid. A truth patrol would have noted that he was wrong on all counts.

The night was not dark and stormy, but clear, cloudless, and spangled with stars; conditions for timely warning seemed excellent. But the lookout actually assigned to watch for ice couldn't see that well. Frederick Fleet had not been given an eye exam in five years and, in spite of his frequent requests, had not been provided binoculars. More important, the unprecedented size and speed of the Titanic were so great that, unlike other ships in Ismay’s experience, this one could not be stopped or significantly turned in less than a mile with engines full astern. Even a lookout with excellent vision could not have spotted the iceberg at that distance.

Nor was it unsinkable. The Titanic was built to remain afloat even with its first four watertight compartments flooded, but the new design had not been tested. Ismay even overruled the worried engineers who built the ship, cutting the number of lifeboats from 32 to 16, the minimum required by the British Board of Trade. He later observed that the reason the Titanic carried any lifeboats at all was so they could rescue passengers and crew from other ships.