Titanic: A Stunning Secret Is Now Revealed

[KeithnRita]

The Titanic didn't have to sink. It was confusion about steering orders that caused the massive ship to sink on its maiden voyage in April 1912 after hitting an iceberg in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.

London's Daily Telegraph reports that novelist Louise Patten, granddaughter of Titanic's second officer Charles Lightoller, has revealed a two-fold longstanding family secret:
1. An officer aboard the Titanic steered into the iceberg instead of away from it.
2. An official from the White Star Line then persuaded the captain to continue sailing. Had Titanic stopped, the ship would have stayed afloat long enough for help to arrive and 1,500 people who perished would probably have all lived.

Why are we just finding out about this now? Patten says her family kept the secret because they didn't want to tarnish the reputation of her grandfather, who was the most senior officer to survive the famous sinking. Lightoller later became a war hero. In addition, Lightoller never revealed what really happened because he was worried it would bankrupt the ill-fated liner's owners and put his colleagues out of a job.

"They could easily have avoided the iceberg if it wasn't for the blunder," Patten told the Daily Telegraph. "Instead of steering Titanic safely round to the left of the iceberg, once it had been spotted dead ahead, the steersman, Robert Hitchins, had panicked and turned it the wrong way."

Patten has come public with the long-kept secret to coincide with the publication of her new novel, "Good as Gold," in which she weaves her account of events.

How could such a massive steering error be made by an experienced seaman? Patten blames it on the conversion from sailing ships to ships powered by steam. Both have very different steering mechanisms. To turn away from an iceberg in a sailing ship, the wheel would be turned one way; to turn away from it in a steam ship, the wheel would be turned the opposite way.

Once the steering error was made, it was too late to rectify it. She said her grandfather was not on watch when the ship collided with the iceberg, but he was part of the final meeting of the ship's officers before the Titanic sunk. It was at this meeting he heard about the fatal mistake, as well as the fact that J. Bruce Ismay, chairman of Titanic's owner the White Star Line, persuaded the captain to continue sailing. That error caused the ship to sink far faster than otherwise would have happened. "If Titanic had stood still, she would have survived at least until the rescue ship came and no one need have died," Patten said.

[DebbieandJerry]

Amazing tale

[jacketwatch]

Hmmmm.  Actually I've  read and watched quite a bit about the Titanic and what the so called "expert" opinions are that if she had done just that, went right into the berg insted of around it it would have stayed afloat as the glancing blow on the starboard caused leaks in 5 compartments as opposed to 1 or 2 if she had hit head on.  

[jacketwatch]

One more exception to this too is that I've seen tons of pics of the wreck which includes the bow and no where do you see any evidence of any sort of impact. Its completely intact. 

[hazelson]

WOW!!!