The
sinking of the Titanic from Southampton to New York in April 1912, was
not because it was going too fast and the crew only saw the iceberg when
it was near, but a mistake of the helmsman. According to a new version,
the crew saw the iceberg in time, despite which the ship crashed into
the ice mass because of that error, the second officer of the liner kept
the secret, Charles Lightoller, who survived the collapse. The error
occurred because the ship had two systems of government subjected to two
different controls and one was located over the other. It was the era
of transition from sailing to steam navigation, and many of the
navigators of the time, including many officers of the Titanic, had
previously been in charge of sailing ships. Hence they were used to
giving orders as the old system, which means that if you wanted the ship
to go in one direction, you had to turn the rudder in the opposite
direction. The new system was, however, such as driving a car; you move
the steering wheel in the same direction you want to go. The order to
turn to port it meant he had to turn the wheel to the right under the
old system and the left, under the new system. When the First Officer
William Murdoch spotted the iceberg two miles away, gave the order "hard
a starboard" was misunderstood by his subordinate Robert Hitchins, who
turned the ship to the right instead of left. Although almost
immediately warned him of the mistake and told him to correct, it was
too late. Compounding this fundamental error, Bruce Ismay, president of
the company that owns the ship, the White Star Line, was the command
post and persuaded the captain of the Titanic to continue sailing rather
than stop it in the false belief that the vessel was unsinkable. That
led to improvements in water pressure coming through the damaged hull,
so the less time it took Titanic to sink in what had been normal in
other circumstances. Lightoller died in 1952-at the time was considered a
hero for his role in the evacuation of Dunkirk in World War II and his
family declined to reveal the truth until now for fear of ruining his
reputation.
http://www.cosasinteresantes.org/ultimas/titanic-hundido-por-error-de-mando
http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/notas/710624.html
