WEEK ONE PART ONE

WEEK ONE 

Why did the Titanic hit the iceberg?

One of the titanic's sponsors wanted the ship to reach New York, which was the charted destination at a record time. Having complete confidence in the ship's massive frame and monstrous engines, he persuaded the captain to push the ship to its absolute limit. Reluctantly, the captain obliged. On the fated night of the Titanic's demise, the waters were calm but the sky thick with fog, obscuring vision. The lookout mate did not spot a massive iceberg until it was within his visual range, which by then its too late. Due to the ship's massive momentum and inertia due to the high speed, the ship's crew were unable to steer the ship away from the iceberg in time, ultimately colliding with it, causing a breach in the hull of gigantic proportions. The ship went down and thousands died, including the captain who opted to sink with the ship. Many died during the terrible incident and many of them aboard the ship wishing they can build a better life at New York. 

However, I did some research on the titanic. How the Titanic hit the iceberg and one website caught my attention which is 

"The truth about the sinking Titanic by Louise Patten, whose grandfather was the only surviving officer on the Titanic, reveals the truth about how it sank".

Louise Patten stated that:

'Titanic was launched at a time when the world was moving from sailing ships to steam ships. My grandfather, like the other senior officers on Titanic, had started out on sailing ships. And on sailing ships, they steered by what is known as “Tiller Orders” which means that if you want to go one way, you push the tiller the other way. [So if you want to go left, you push right.] It sounds counter-intuitive now, but that is what Tiller Orders were. Whereas with “Rudder Orders’ which is what steam ships used, it is like driving a car. You steer the way you want to go. It gets more confusing because, even though Titanic was a steam ship, at that time on the North Atlantic they were still using Tiller Orders. Therefore Murdoch gave the command in Tiller Orders but Hitchins, in a panic, reverted to the Rudder Orders he had been trained in. They only had four minutes to change course and by the time Murdoch spotted Hitchins’ mistake and then tried to rectify it, it was too late.’

Louise Patten might spoke the truth, but there is no proof and if it is the truth will the Titanic passenger would be alive back then? Hundreds died because one mistake done by Hitchins and he's panic during the time. Since Louise Patten is known as a book author. Is she telling the truth just to publish a new book to gain popularity? 

The article was from: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/booknews/8016751/The-truth-about-the-sinking-of-the-Titanic.html