Titanic

If Captain Smith had slowed when the warnings came through of an ice field ahead, perhaps the maneuver would have succeeded. Since the Titanic was a single hull ship, with a reinforced bow and double bottom, it would have been preferable to let her hit the berg head on. Prior to the time of the Titanic, ships were constructed with a double hull. However, the Great Eastern's inner hull was unbroken and the engine room remained dry. He felt that his experience would allow them to follow the original course unaltered. In Brander) The greed of the White Star Line caused them to eliminate this previously used safety feature. First, there was not enough warning of the impending collision. When the order came to reverse engines, only the outer two could be reversed, the center one could only be stopped. They wanted the grandest, most opulent, and most efficient vessel of the time at the cost of safety. A double hull ate up valuable passenger & cargo space; a double bottom would be enough. These compartments were comprised of bulkheads that ran from one side of the ship to the other. The desire of one company to save the almighty dollar in order to increase the profit margin and the desire of one man to go out on top of his profession had led to the destruction of a great ship and a massive loss of life that could have been avoided. He had captained the sister ship to the Titanic, the Olympic. On this voyage, he wanted to set a new speed record for crossing the Atlantic. It ripped a gash in her skin some 9 feet wide and 83 long, worse in some ways than the breach in the Titanic.