The Titanic: Two Erroneous Beliefs

When the Titanic was launched in 1912, it was the biggest ship in the world. It was as long as three football fields, it was 25 stories high, and it weighed 45, 000 tons. It was also a luxurious hotel, and some of the world’s wealthiest people were on board for its maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City. Just four days into its voyage - about 11:40 on the night of April 14, 1912 – it struck ice in the North Atlantic, and sank in just two and a half hours. Tragically, out of 2,207 people on board, only 705 survived. The other 1,502 died because there were not enough lifeboats.

I have been fascinated by the Titanic ever since I saw the movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. I’ve read some books and a couple of articles. There’s a lot of disagreement among experts over what actually happened that night. I’ve decided that the most reliable experts are two sea captains who have written about the sinking. One of them is Joseph Conrad, a novelist and former sea captain who wrote an article about the Titanic a few months after it sank. The other is David G. Brown, author of a new book, The Last Log of the Titanic. Brown has served as a ship’s captain and he teaches U.S. Coast Guard safety course

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While one erroneous belief doomed the ship, another erroneous belief doomed the passengers: The builders and owners of the ship believed that in a worst-case accident, the Titanic would sink very slowly.

Based on what these sea captains say, I want to show you that the Titanic disaster happened because of two beliefs that were tragically erroneous.

Let’s look at the first of these beliefs: The captain of the Titanic - Edward John Smith – believed that ice was just a nuisance, an inconvenience – not a great danger. Because of these compartments, they believed that the ship could sustain a moderate collision and not be crippled.

Today, we can avoid making blunders like these if we remember the great lesson of the Titanic: Human beings are foolish if they have blind, unquestioning faith in technology. It would probably be able to limp into the nearest port. In the past, some ships in the North Atlantic had hit icebergs or underwater ice shelves, and a few of these encounters had caused sinking and death. On that fateful night, he ran the ship at full speed – 22. The owners – White Star Line - believed that even in a worst-case accident, a relatively small number of lifeboats would be sufficient because they would be used only to ferry passengers from the sinking ship to a rescue ship. If the Titanic encountered an iceberg, it could swerve in time. If it hit underwater ice, it would resist damage because of its strong steel plates. 5 knots, which is the same as 26 miles per hour. Fog – notice – was what mariners feared most.

The builders of the Titanic never believed that the ship was unsinkable.

Approximate Word count = 1044
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

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