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TallestSkil on scored.co
1 year ago3 points(+0/-0/+3Score on mirror)
There have been plenty of seafaring accidents caused by criminal negligence before and since. The Andrea Dorea comes to mind right away. Costa Concordia… the Suez Canal fiasco…
The Gilded Age was an era of hubris. The Titanic is notable because it was the maiden voyage, due to the press surrounding it, and due to the prevailing wisdom having finally failed. The lifeboat situation had been around for decades prior, and the “you don’t need lifeboats for everyone all at once because you can just ferry people to another ship in stages” theory had been [tried and tested.](https://www.rmsrepublic.news/)
Ships were getting larger and faster, and the liner companies were competing on size, tonnage, and speed. Bruce Ismay urged the crew to continue full speed through the night, despite standard practice being too slow when visibility was low (it was a moonless night). The men felt they couldn’t go against the owner of the company, despite [the obvious danger](https://www.historyhit.com/titanic-disaster-thermal-inversion/). But hey, “watertight bulkheads.” The idea was that the ship would merely be disabled in a collision, preventing further motion but not sinking and therefore giving time to ferry passengers off.
It was a series of “invincible beliefs” colliding all at once, and, like a white woman hitchhiking across the Muslim world, it all came crashing down on the first try.
The Gilded Age was an era of hubris. The Titanic is notable because it was the maiden voyage, due to the press surrounding it, and due to the prevailing wisdom having finally failed. The lifeboat situation had been around for decades prior, and the “you don’t need lifeboats for everyone all at once because you can just ferry people to another ship in stages” theory had been [tried and tested.](https://www.rmsrepublic.news/)
Ships were getting larger and faster, and the liner companies were competing on size, tonnage, and speed. Bruce Ismay urged the crew to continue full speed through the night, despite standard practice being too slow when visibility was low (it was a moonless night). The men felt they couldn’t go against the owner of the company, despite [the obvious danger](https://www.historyhit.com/titanic-disaster-thermal-inversion/). But hey, “watertight bulkheads.” The idea was that the ship would merely be disabled in a collision, preventing further motion but not sinking and therefore giving time to ferry passengers off.
It was a series of “invincible beliefs” colliding all at once, and, like a white woman hitchhiking across the Muslim world, it all came crashing down on the first try.