Essay Sample on Protocols on Titanic

Introduction

Sometimes it is better to follow our common sense than considering the set protocols. The case of the "unsinkable" Titanic proves this point. On the most unfortunate time of the accident, there were many problems that hit the ship that would have been avoided if the protocols were avoided and the best possible choices made by the ship captain Edward Smith. This paper presents an argument of the various actions of the famous "unsinkable" Titanic ship's captain Edward Smith at the time of that remarkable accident alongside the various possible measures that would have been put in place to prevent the peril from occurring. The paper then wraps up with a concise summary of the points discussed herein followed with a list of works cited.

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The famous "unsinkable" Titanic ship was sunk in the early morning of 15 April 1912 in the north Atlantic ocean, only four days into her maiden voyage from Southampton, the UK to New York City (Robertson 23). The ship sank after colliding with the massive icebergs in the ocean. Onboard, the ship during the time of the collision were 2,200 persons and the crew. Out of the total persons on board, 1,514 persons died while others survived. Despite the massive storm of circumstances that surrounded the ill-fated ship, such as the massive icebergs caused by adverse climate and furious tides of the time, significant blame has been focused onto the ship's boss, captain Edward Smith. Based on perspectives of various scientists and maritime scholars, human error was to blame for the better part of the accident alongside other factors such as bad climate, structural design of the ship, and lack of sufficient lifeboats for an emergency. The following are some of the actions of the Titanic captain leading to the blame.

According to the study, the Titanic ship was sailing at the maximum speed of 22.5 knots at the time of the accident (Barczewski 51). The speed was very dangerous, especially while sailing through a region with massive icebergs as it was. However, the captain was not wrong since the maritime customs of that time did not forbid the speed - it was considered manageable even while sailing through the iceberg strew seas. On the other hand, the "unsinkable" Titanic was also considered too tough to be threatened by the icebergs. What the captain did not put into consideration was the fact that the Titanic was designed for much more comfort than the speed. Even if the act of sailing at such a breakneck speed was not bad, it contributed significantly to the sinking of the ship since the ship found no ample time to reduce its speed fast and get enough time to reverse its direction. If the ship were sailing at a reduced speed, it would have managed to stop shortly after the critical signs of emergency was spotted and notices within the ship (Korman 37).

According to various reports, captain Edward Smith reportedly ignored various iceberg alerts shortly before the accident happened (Barczewski 94). Reports show that the Titanic received multiple warnings over the wireless about the ice zones in the north Atlantic. However, the last and most specific alert about the iceberg seemed not to be serious since the alert was not passed through Jack Philips, the senior radio operator since it did not carry the prefix 'MSG', in full, Master's Service Gram ; a special message that would have required a personal acknowledgement from captain Smith himself. Perhaps, that would have made some difference in the way the alerts were treated, and the consequent outcome of the ships ordeal (Korman 12). Based on the analysis of the timeline of the events on the 14 April 1912, the Titanic captain Edward Smith was fully aware that the ship was heading straight for a very strewn iceberg zone, 78 miles away. However, even as the ship advanced and came nearer to the zone, the captain remained negligent. Reports indicate that by that time, captain Edward continued feasting and drinking together with the rich merchants aboard the Titanic (Korman 30). Even after having his fullest drink, the captain still did not bother about the progress of the ship. Instead, he headed for his bed for a rest leaving his first officer William Murdoch with the full responsibility of hovering and dodging around the thick iceberg zone on his own. The officer, William Murdoch would have most probably panicked at the terrible sight of the massive iceberg along the way of the ship thereby reducing his controllability of the ship when it finally collided head-on with the massive iceberg, causing massive wreckage of most hull of the ship. Things went haywire during that time; the officer is most likely confused on what to do to help save the situation. This, coupled with the shortage in the official lines of communication, resulted in the untold confusion and memory that was too tough to bring under perfect control (Robertson 65).

Perhaps, the most astonishing part of the captain's negligence was that he continued waiting for more than 20 minutes after the ship collided with the iceberg before issuing an order to the ship's wireless operators to send emergency alerts to the nearby ships for rescue steps. Here, we see the real disadvantages of relying solely on the set protocols. Maybe, the captain was maimed with the confusion that was encountered at that time. However, the wireless operators had to wait for the captain himself to issue orders before sending out emergency alerts to nearby ships. The captain seemed too late in his actions to call nearby ships for rescue. However, it can be understood that the type of ship in which they were onboard, the "unsinkable" Titanic, also gave some level of confidence of safety to her occupants making them more reluctant than they ought not to (Barczewski 44).

Another human error on this accident is that the binoculars were all locked up on the night of the fatal accident. According to some scholars, David Blair held the keys to the binoculars that were locked up aboard the ship. If such binoculars had been used on the lookout, the icebergs would have been noticed well before it could become too risky and uncontrollable for the Titanic to sail through the thick icebergs zone. For this reason, it can be seen that the error occurred in the operation of the ship. The captain for the ship, who was the boss for that voyage would have responsibly ensured the binoculars were in use and he would have also integrated the work of other officers onboard to ensure all things ran well as required. In addition to that, he would have taken up the responsibility to lead by example by picking up his responsibility and giving the ship through the stormy sea instead of delegating the whole duty to his first officer William Murdock (Robertson 73).

The steersman also took a wrong turn and bumped the ship onto the massive iceberg instead of turning away from it. This is the claim made by the study into what caused the accident of the famous Titanic ship. Based on various reports, the command was reportedly passed down the line after spotting the iceberg just closely ahead of the Titanic. The command was issued to turn "hard a-starboard." However, as this message was being passed down the line, its meaning was continually being distorted from one person to another until it reached the steersman, an already distorted message which now meant an opposite the intention. Instead of passing over the right message, "turn hard starboard," the message underwent through a series of misinterpretations, and the command changed to "make the ship turn right," instead of the intended meaning, "push the tiller right to turn the ship left." However, this error was quickly noticed, but already no more reaction could help the ship to avert the collision (Robertson 49). It was now uncontrollable, given the high speed at which the ship was moving, and the concise time the ship was required to make the necessary adjustments to avoid hitting the iceberg. Already at that point, there was nothing the ship controller could do to avert the collision. However, researchers argue that if the ship could stop at that particular time after hitting the iceberg, the seawater would not have gained the sufficient capacity to break into the watertight compartments and cause the rapid sinking of the ship. If the ship had stopped immediately, the watertight compartments would have remained intact thereby, enabling the ship to stay the sea afloat for a long time before sinking into the sea. However, this could not be possibly achieved given the breakneck speed at which the ship was sailed across the north Atlantic ocean. In addition to that, the high speed of the ship had already developed an incredible momentum for the ship that it was difficult to achieve the one-stop break in the ocean water (Korman 92).

Moreover, the captain of the ship was not also well prepared to avert such emergency since he had been reluctant in the better part of the journey when he had a better opportunity to put things right, which he did not do. In this case, the overdependence on following protocols led to the regrettable encounter that could not be easily reversed given the gravity of the subsequent occurrence. As a result, the crew had to do what they thought was best for them to do in reaction to the situation (Barczewski 56).

The reverse thrust exerted upon the engines significantly caused a decreased maneuverability of the ship making it difficult to get the ship out of the disaster. Just before the Titanic had a direct impact with the massive iceberg, William Murdoch, the first officer reportedly telegraphed the crew at the engine room to put the engines of the ship into the reverse motion. According to Murdock, by reducing the speed of the engines and reversing them, the ship was able to avoid any major damages that it would get suppose it advanced into the iceberg. For this reason, he went ahead issuing an order to the crew at the ships engine room to halt the engines and reverse them (Robertson 43). However, following the high speed of the engine at that time, this was not possible at once. If the engines had been successfully put on the reverse, both of the right and left propellers would be caused to turn backward and enabling the ship to halt and move backward away from the iceberg-strewn region. Perhaps, that would have saved the ship from terrible collision and sinking. However, given the configuration of the stern, the central propeller could only be stopped, not reversed.

Conclusion

Consequently, these actions seemed to have resulted in an even worse situation than ever before. For example, the fact that the crew at the engine room had tried to stop the steering propeller led to a reduction in the speed of the propeller. The consequence was that the ship lost its capacity to maneuver sufficiently to dodge the icebergs leading to even the worse collision that would have been lowered if the steering propeller was actively running as is was before. This, therefore, presents one of the most bitter ironies that the Titanic would have successfully dodged the icebergs if Murdoch would not have telegraphed the engine room to decrease and reverse the thrust. According to some researchers, the ship needed the thrust to help her maneuver successfully through the iceberg using the momentum developed during the speedy journey and the additional thrust by the steering propellers (Robertson 43). The engine room crew could not avoid the order given by William Murdoch despite their possible reaction of letting the ship that its way through the iceberg. They had to strictly follow the protocols while carrying out their operations in the Titanic ship. As a result, they had to share the fate of one person's mistake. Critically assessing the actions of William Murdoch at that particular time, it seems as if he was too afraid or confused that he ran out of control. In addition...