Engineering Arrogance

Today I would like to consider a cold night on a Sunday in April of 1912 and the events that late up to that night to remember.

Entering the Nineteenth Century a new wave of thought swept over much of Europe. Partly inspired by events in the newly united colonies, now States, in America, partly as a result of the break down in the old order, France was torn apart by revolution and the idea of democratic reform took to one of Western Europe's oldest nations with the abandon of an alcoholic in a brewery. After the chaos and confusion that was The Terror a man of short stature but great military stratagem took to leading the Estates of France and spread the notions in La Déclaration des droits de l'Homme et du citoyen (Literal: The Declaration of Man and of the Citizen) to the farthest reaches of Europe.

At the end of the Napoleonic Wars a congress was convened of the European powers to establish a new order that would ensure the peace throughout the continent. The English as the great victors had one chance to gain nearly total dominance of Europe and in so doing inflict what would surely be centuries of resentment. Instead at the Congress of Vienna in 1815 the English displayed true foresight and established an order that would hold a virtually uninterrupted peace for nearly one hundred years. (Some historian's take a slightly different opinion of the Congress, but I feel that given that the only break in the peace in Europe was a number of separate domestic uprisings in 1848 I would be inclined to call the Congress a smashing success.)

By the turn of the century Europeans had much to be proud of. Among them, the English, had the finest Navy and most expansive Empire in the history of the World. The new chemical sciences from Germany were creating fertilizers that might one day feed the entire planets starving masses. Whereas in 1577 Sir Francis Drake needed nearly three years to circumnavigate the globe, new steam ships and steam engines permitted Jules Verne to envision a journey around the world in 80 days. The telegraph, an American invention, allowed near instantaneous communication across land and Marconi's invention of the wireless transmitter would permit communication across the sea and through the air.

The Harland and Wolff ship building company proposed building three ships to be sailed by the White Star Line, these ships would be the last word in luxury allowing for reliable timely return service between Great Britain and the United States. These ships would allow the White Star Line to better compete with Cunard Line. The first ship to sale The Royal Mail Steamer Olympic first sailed on 14 June, 1911. The Olympic weighed over 45 thousand tons when she first sailed and measured nearly 883 feet long and 92 and one half feet wide.

The maiden voyage of the second of these Olympic class ships to sale was hailed as a great achievement of man's dominance over nature. Labeled unsinkable, this second ship of the line was about one thousand tons heavier than the Olympic and promised to be even more lavish in its luxury. On her maiden voyage some of the finest of European society boarded for what promised to be floating opulence. Equipped with a swimming pool, squash court, gymnasium, libraries, Turkish baths, an elevator, Marconi radio sets, electric lighting, this was truly an achievement for the ages.

The great ship first sailed from Southampton England on Wednesday, April 10, 1912, she stopped briefly in Cherbourg France on Thursday the 11'th where many of the first-class passengers boarded, her final stop before making the crossing was in Queenstown Ireland on Friday the 12'th where most of the third-class passengers boarded. It was expected that the great ship would arrive in New York no later than Wednesday April 17, one week to the day after her initial departure from Southampton.

Sunday April 14, 1912 Commodore Edward John Smith lead morning mass for the first class passengers while the ship steamed West at something very close to her top rated speed, around 21 or 22 knots. The Managing Director of the White Star Line, J. Bruce Ismay urged Commodore Smith ever faster, he wanted the second ship to out perform the Olympic's speedy journey to New York, he wanted people to believe each new ship would be better and faster than its older sister ships.

Over the course of the day passengers no doubt enjoyed the many luxuries dreamed up for this fabulous ship including the novel ability to send messages to loved ones back in Europe or America with the new wireless telegraph. Sending all these wireless messages were two young men, Jack Phillips and Harold Bride. As the two men frantically tried to keep up with the tide of telegraph messages periodic warnings of Arctic ice in the sea lanes would arrive. Phillips and Bride would dutifully repeat the message to ships further away and sometimes took the trouble to deliver them to the bridge, but this ship was unsinkable and was under the command of the great Captain Smith, due to retire at the end of this voyage, a fitting cap-stone to an outstanding career.

Late in the evening as Phillips worked frantically to catch up on the huge pile of telegraph messages one ice warning came in from the California, a ship at such proximity that the wireless signal had barely weakened. Frazzled, Phillips replied, shut up, shut up, I'm busy, the seventh ice warning that day never made it to the bridge.

It was a cold clear night, without the moon the stars must have been a specular sight, one first class passenger described it as a night that made one glad to be alive. On the forward lookout deck the ship's forward speed of 22 knots and the lack of moon light made spotting a berg particularly difficult.

On the bridge at 11:40 the evening of Sunday April 12, 1912, the bell rang signaling a message from the forward lookout. Iceberg right ahead. Orders were given, left full rudder, full reverse. From the lookout it appeared this second Olympic class ship would just miss the berg, but The Titanic was too big, too heavy, she scraped by the berg and struck. Rivets snapped and water rushed into the forward boiler rooms. For the stokers the blast of icy Atlantic water must have shocked them. For the passengers the sudden stopping of the engine was, for the initial period, the only point of concern. On the forward deck third class passengers played football with bits of ice that broke off the berg when the Titanic struck.

The ship's builder Tomas Andrews and Captain Smith made a rapid tour of the ship to inspect the damage. Andrews already knew, flood any five of the 16 water tight compartments and the ship sinks, simple as that. Five compartments were flooded and the sixth was starting to take on water. Captain Smith ordered the lowering of the lifeboats as the band struck tune to raise the moral on the promenade deck. There were lifeboats for considerably less than half the passengers and crew and even so most passengers were so convinced of the invincibility of the great ship that they were unwilling to board the first life boats, besides, the party was on the deck, the band was playing music! Who would want to board a small lifeboat. The first lifeboats had less than a quarter of their rated capacity.

The situation started to deteriorate, the Titanic started listing to the bow, the lights started to dim as the boilers submerged and stopped generating electricity. Emergency flares and transmission of the new maritime distress call, SOS, failed to get a response from any ship closer than the Carpathia, 58 miles away. By the time the last lifeboat was lowered away crowds had to be kept away at gun point. The band played on, there was nothing else they could do. Phillips and Bride continued desperately to transmit distress calls for five minutes after the captain had told them, it is every man for himself, they finally stopped when they could hear the water gurgling in the hallway.

The Titanic went under around twenty minutes after two on Monday April 15 1912, she was about 400 miles East of Newfoundland, just beyond The Grand banks.

European society was aghast, this was not supposed to happen. The greatness of European culture in the post 1815 World was called into question for the first time. Just two years later the assassination of the Arch Duke of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Franz Ferdinand, would cause a breakdown of all civility as Europe plunged headlong into the most horrendous war in the history of the World, the great European Civil war of 1914-1945. (Often called World War I and II.) But it was the sinking of the Titanic that was the event that started the demise of the old order and brought about our new chaotic age.

It was the sinking of the Titanic that first brought into question the notion that technology is not the solution to all of man's problems.