The Titanic – Who is to Blame?

The Titanic sinking is a topic that has been met with a lot of controversy over the years. There are many theories about what cause the sinking and how it could have been avoided. One factor though, that should be focused on more than any other is: Who is to blame for the sinking of The Titanic? The answer is a simple one. White Star Line is to blame for this legendary sinking.

White Star Line built what they called a “nearly unsinkable ship”. The Titanic was made primarily out of sub-par steel. The steel was not strong enough and on impact, it would damage easily. It was also very heavy so, if the ship started to take in water, it would sink quickly, weighed down by both the water and its own weight. The designers of The Titanic probably hadn’t expected anything to graze alongside the ship like the iceberg did so the water retaining compartments couldn’t actually retain enough water to keep it afloat as five of them were damaged when in reality; the ship could withstand only four being filled.

The propellers on the boat were way too small compared to the boat’s size. While they kept the boat moving forward, they made it virtually impossible for the boat to make a quick turn. Because of this, by the time the lookout saw the iceberg, it was too late to turn away and completely avoid collision. This again was a mistake made by the designing team at White Star Line; it was a careless oversight of the size of the boat compared to the size and power of the propellers.

The captain sailing the Titanic had already been charged with the sinking of another ship. So why, would White Star Line put him in charge of the biggest ship of its time? Clearly that was a mistake; clearly he wasn’t qualified to be in charge of a ship of its size. How White Star Line thought that was a good idea may never be known but it was definitely a stupid choice, there’s no other way to look at it.

After switching over the crew, one of the crew members left the boat with a key in his pocket. This key was the only key which could access the closet containing binoculars. The crew members should have been checked to make
sure they weren’t leaving the ship with anything important and once it was realized that the closet couldn’t be accessed, someone should have either picked the lock or broken the door down to get the binoculars. With these, the iceberg should have been spotted and the ship could have been saved!

White Star Line made a lot of very poor management choices. They disregarded basic issues that should have been figured out in construction and staff planning. It can be agreed that the company is mostly, if not completely to blame for the sinking of The Titanic.