Hi,

Indeed, you seemed to be talking in more general terms. That's why I wrote that I really did interpret it as refering to the Titanic.

Regarding those precautions - let's see:
* If Captain Smith had changed speed: customary for the big ships at the time was to go full speed through ice fields, and leave them behind as soon as possible. Staying in the field longer meant more ice bergs could float your way.
* If they had heeded the ice notices: They had taken a more southernly route and were behaving as one normally would upon encountering an ice field - full speed and look-outs.
* If they had bothered to take enough lifeboats: Lifeboats, unfortunately, are not like ropes stacked in the harbourside warehouse. The lifeboats were those the company had provided the ship with; In all, its safety equipment was above the norm of the regulations.
* He switched off in disgust: Rather, the operator on the Californian went to bed. If the message had been passed correctly, you would have expected him to do the exact same thing. His ship was stationary, after all; no harm could come to it.
* If, if, if: If the captain of the Californian had shown good seamanship and had reacted on seeing rockets fired from the other ship. Even if he really did believe them to be party rockets, he still ought to have wired the Titanic to make sure ...

Ultimately: If the bolts on the Titanic had been of better quality.


If the Titanic would not have sunk then, it would probably have been lost in the war, as would the Gigantic which, without the lessons learned from the previous disaster, would not have had sufficient life boats, and would have sunk even faster than the Brittanic did in real life.

And the Olympic? The Olympic wasn't sunk in the war because the submarine intending to do so had a mechanical failure. Where's man indestructable design in that?

Yes, it's a tale of man's folly to believe the ship was unsinkable.
I wonder whether there are songs about the other two, or about the other largest ships afloat.

Bye,
                                                                                                                                                       Mysha