Who, if anyone, is to blame for Titanic's sinking?

Question

Might it be Titanic's wireless operator Jack Phillips, White Star Line manager Bruce Ismay, Titanic's captain Edward Smith, lookouts Reginald Lee and Frederick Fleet, Titanic's carpenter Thomas Andrews, or SS Californian's wireless operator Cyril Evans?

Answer 1

Perhaps the manufactures of the ship who put too much sulfer in the metal, making it brittle in the cold waters

Answer 2

The Titanic disaster was the ultimate example of Murphy's law. If anything can possible go wrong it will. The Titanic was designed to stay afloat with four compartments flooded, the gash in the hull compromised 5. The Titanic had a double hull, the iceberg pierced the hull above the double lining and below the waterline. The captain was well aware of the ice from the time they left Queenstown and did nothing to avoid it. The North Atlantic is notorious for being stormy so the waves splashing on iceberg would have been seen from miles away except that night the water was as placid as a country pond. There was a ship stopped for the night, 17 miles away at the time of the accident but their radioman had shutdown the radio and gone to bed 20 minutes before the collision. The officer on watch thought all the flares was the Titanic having a party.

Answer 3

There are many people who are at fault but its hard to place the blame on just one person.

Bruce Ismay - wanted to get into New York at record time and "told" Captain Smith to increase speed. Did not give the captain the ice warning in his hand.

Jack Phillips - A warning came over the wireless very loudly and he rudley told them to shut up he was busy. This was the warning about the iceberg field they hit.

Lookouts - There were no binoculars in the crows nest. They were misplaced and never found. The icebergs were very hard to see that night.

Thomas Andrews - Yes the watertight compartments should of been higher so the water could not have rose above them.

In the end they thing that if titanic never turned and went head on into the iceberg it might have survived the sinking.
They should have been going much slower for the ammount of icefields in the ocean that night.
The mystery ship who people say is the Californian did see there distress rockets and should have to come to the ships aid but were doing something illegal so did not help.

The laws should have been up to date as there should of been lifeboats to accomodate all people on board. But they were in the rules as the ammount they had. It wasnt the ammount of passangers that determined the lifeboats back then it was the weight of the ship and ships had got much heavier but the rules did not change to accomidate..

So well you really have to blame everyone or no-one. Its very hard...

Answer 4

That is a loaded question! Many people blame Bruce Ismay; who by the way started to call the ship unsinkable. It is believed by many people that he pressured Capt. Smith who had never faced such a serious situation in his entire career. He was an older man who was expecting to retire after that voyage. Ismay could very easily have threatened him in some manner such as not getting his full pension. Remember that this was over 30 years before Social Security was even thought of. From everything that I have read I believe that Ismay was largely to blame.

Answer 5

Bruce Ismay is primarily at fault. While the captain, even though he has ultimate authority while the ship is at sea, was only trying to please Bruce Ismay. Ismay wanted to beat the expected arrival time in New York so he 'urged' Capt. Smith to make sure this happened. As such, Capt. Smith is secondarily at fault. He could have ignored Ismay's urgings to ensure the safe arrival of his passengers who were his main responsibility.

As an aside, the Titanic was NEVER termed 'unsinkable by its builders, Harlan & Wolff. It was the press who tabbed it with the 'unsinkable' tag. The trade publications of the day, in describng the Titanic, termed the ship 'ALMOST unsinkable.' The non-trade press of the day, conveniently left off the word 'almost' in describing the ship. It sells more papers.

Answer 6

Frederick Fleet Titanic

Answer 7

Did I see a ship-wright mentioned in your list? Or whatever the proper name is for the one who drew up the plans for the Titanic? That one.

Plus whoever decided more lifeboats were superfluous.
And the captain, they'll always claim blame.

The rest seem fairly removed from the tragedy in that they couldn't stop it happening...not even the look-outs or wireless operators.

Answer 8

We can blame the folks who designed the ship with too small a rudder, making it very difficult to turn.

We can blame the person who did not ensure there were enough lifeboats on the ship.

We can blame the captain for the speed at which the ship was traveling at impact.

Answer 9

You might find this actual front page report from the April 16, 1912 New York Times pretty interesting, as it provides the details of the sinking as they were known at the time:

http://firstmention.com/titanic.aspx

It might not be the definitive answer you were looking for, but it's still pretty fascinating, just the same.

Answer 10

Its the two lookouts fault. If they were doing their job, not watching the guy and girl makeout on the deck below them, then they would have seen it earlier, so they could have alerted the captain, and he could have steerd away from it.

Answer 11

I think it was the captains fault because he had the ship moving full speed ahead in an area known to be full of ice bergs. He should have been cautious.