The 3 Deadly Decisions that Caused the Titanic Disaster

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Written by Jimmie Burroughs Email to a friend

As I researched for another article on the Titanic disaster, I noticed the 3 Deadly Decisions that caused the Titanic disaster, and at least part of the reasons they were made. I had known about them before but had not paid particularly close attention to them. I realize that there were many decisions that played a role in the disaster, from the design of the ship to the engineering and the construction etc. But I think most would agree that the three deadly decisions that I mention below are indeed the major ones:

The first Deadly decision was that even though the Titanic had been warned of the impending danger of ice by other ships in the area, Captain Edward J. Smith made the deadly decision to ignore them, and instead he ordered the ship full speed ahead.

The second Deadly decision was that J. Bruce Ismay, the chairman of White Star Lines, made a deadly decision only to include 20 of the 30 lifeboats originally planned for Titanic because he allegedly thought they made the ship look bad and blocked the view. Another complication was that even though after striking an iceberg, and after Captain Smith ordered the evacuation of the ship, the life boats available were only partially filled. Some apparently still didn’t believe the ship was sinking and made a deadly decision to stay aboard, refusing to be saved by the available lifeboats.

The third Deadly decision was that the captain of the Californian made the deadly decision to ignore the Titanic’s distress flairs and pleas for help and did nothing. Let’s examine those 3 deadly decisions:

Warnings of danger ignored

By the time the Titanic left Southampton, many ships had reported heavy ice in the exact area that the Titanic would be sailing. On April 11, the Titanic received 6 warnings from ships that were passing through heavy ice. 5 more warnings came on the 12^th; 3 additional on the 13th and 7 more on the 14^th. All and all the Titanic was warned 21 times in 4 days of dangerous ice in the shipping lane.

Customarily when warnings are issued by professionals to professionals they are heeded. Why on April 14, 1912, did Captain Smith completely ignore the warnings of dangerous ice in the shipping lane? Was Captain Smith too stupid to recognize the danger? No! Captain Smith was highly recognized as one of the best sea captains of his time; otherwise he would not have been entrusted with the largest, most expensive and newest ship ever built as well as the safety of over 2,000 lives.

Why then would he make such an irrational and deadly decision? His decision was an apparent error in judgment. Generally the decisions we make are based on two things, knowledge and experience. That is apparently how Captain Smith made his decision on that fateful day in 1912. Captain Smith had sailed this route many times in the past and was very familiar with ocean conditions at any given time of the year. In his knowledge, he knew that the surface ice offered no threat to the Titanic. Ice forms on the surface of the ocean when water temperatures reach 28 degrees or below. On this occasion, the water temperature had reached 28 degrees and the ocean was very still, so the captain knew there was surface ice forming. He also knew, on the other hand, that the dangerous ice in the form of icebergs could do great damage to his ship, but in his experience icebergs were never seen this far south at this time of the year. Also, he could have been thinking that if there were obstructions ahead that the outlooks would spot them in time to change the ship’s course.

Whether or not the captain was aware of other contingencies that could have a bearing on sailing conditions, is not known. For example, on this very day, April 14, 1912, the moon was the nearest the earth it had been in a 1,000 years, and there was an unusually alignment of planets; all which could have had an influence on the ocean, causing an unordinary set of circumstances including icebergs in an area where they were not expected; or that higher than normal tides earlier in the year caused by the lunar phenomena could have caused the icebergs to break away from their glacier and be sent further south earlier than expected. It was not as easy to get this kind of knowledge in the early 1900s as it is today when all it takes is Google and a click of the mouse.

What about the ship’s speed? It was customary for ships to sail at full speed at night, so the Captain was not doing anything unusual when he ordered full speed ahead. However, there was an error in the captain’s judgment on this occasion. He failed to take into consideration that, under the conditions, a reduced speed might be wiser. Had the speed been reduced to half, when the lookouts spotted the iceberg, there would have been time to avert a collision. Another oversight was that the lookouts reportedly did not have binoculars; I’m sure the captain was aware that it was a moonless night and vision would be restricted, but did he even know that the lookouts had no binoculars?

It is impossible to know exactly what Captain Smith was thinking or why he decided as he did, or in fact whether we would have done differently were we in his shoes, but one thing is for certain, and that is he made some deadly decisions.

Shortage of life boats

The chairman of the White Stare line, J. Bruce Ismay, made the deadly decision to have only 20 lifeboats aboard the Titanic that was designed for 30 which would have carried 1,900 people. Allegedly in his words, “They made the ship look bad, and also obstructed the view.” 20 lifeboats could only carry about half of those on board the Titanic. In reality, it was believed, because of the ships design, that even if there was an emergency, the ship would stay afloat until help arrived.

To complicate matters further, neither the crew or the passengers were versed in what to do in case of an emergency evacuation. After the iceberg was struck, Captain Smith asked the architect of the Titanic, who was along to check how well the ship functioned, to go down into the ship and access the damage. When the architect returned and informed the captain that it was hopeless, the ship was sinking; Captain Smith then ordered the evacuation of the ship, knowing the horrible truth that hundreds of lives including his own would be cast into eternity in a very short amount of time.

You would think if anyone knew that the ship was sinking, it would be the captain, but still there were those who doubted. No doubt it was an extremely scary situation. People were standing on the deck of the 882 foot ship, and being asked to step into a tiny boat, and be lowered some 80 feet into a blackened, frigid ocean that was barely visible. Some made the deadly decision to stay with the ship, either not realizing the danger, or not believing that the ship was really going to sink. Therefore, consequently only about 700 boarded the lifeboats which were capable of carrying 1,178 people.

Titanic’s Plea for help ignored

There were several ships in the North Atlantic area on April 14, 1912. They were in radio contact (radio contact was Morris Code) with the Titanic throughout the day on April 14. The Californian, however, was the only ship near enough to offer help. They too had been in radio contact with the Titanic. The last contact by the Californian was about 8:30 PM on the evening of April 14. At this time, the dispatcher turned off the radio and went to bed. Later in the night the Titanic would frantically attempt to contact the Californian without avail.

In desperation to arouse the attention of the Californian, or anyone else, the Titanic launched 8 distress rockets in intervals. The crew of the Californian saw the distress rockets and notified Captain Stanley Lord, the captain of the Californian, on three separate occasions, but he made a deadly decision and ignored each one. The captain would spend the rest of his life explaining why. The last message delivered to the captain of the Californian on that fateful night was that the Titanic had vanished out of sight.

The next morning the news came to the Californian that the Titanic had sunk, and they immediately steamed to the location within an hour only to arrive as the RMS Carpathia, the rescue ship, was hoisting up the last of the lifeboats. Other ships did respond to the Titanic’s call for help, but they were too far away to arrive in time. The Californian was only 6 miles to the north of the Titanic, visible by eye to the passengers of the Titanic; they were their only hope of salvation, but the Californian betrayed them and left them to be swallowed up by the cold dark ocean, and 1,500 souls perished and went out into eternity.

No one knows for sure what motivated Captain Stanley Lord to decide as he did, nor do we know how we would have responded were we in his place, but once again we do know that he also made some deadly decisions.

On this 100^th anniversary of the titanic disaster, let us not focus our attention on a rusting hulk of wreckage lying at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, but instead on the 1,500 souls that lost their lives on that fateful day April, 12, 1912. Ships can be rebuilt, but human souls are gone forever. The creator of all life, God in heaven, considers one human soul more valuable than all the diamonds, all the gold and silver, all the real estate and everything else put together.  ^“For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” (Mark 8:36)

Crucial spiritual parallels

Just as the Titanic ignored all warnings, our generation also is warned over and over of the impending danger of dying unprepared to meet God. The warnings are often ignored, and, as the Titanic, many continue full speed ahead to their destruction. Today many refuse to be saved when offered God’s life boat. God’s lifeboat, his plan of salvation is available, but like some on the Titanic, it is often refused; it may be either because people don’t believe the ship is sinking, or don’t realize the danger that lies ahead. Lastly, many believers are aware of the needs of the perishing, but like the Californian, they stand by and do nothing, refusing to offer the help that could save so many. Some on the Titanic rejected their only hope; why don’t you secure yours. Accept God’s life boat.

About the author: Jimmie Burroughs is a motivational speaker and author who has been involved in teaching Christian Personal Development for more than 30 years. There are hundreds of articles to help you on this website (Website Contents) in your personal growth.