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ut some were made of wrought iron; according to some,
the rivets were poor-quality and contained large amounts
of slag. The actual holing of the ship was caused when
she dragged over the surface of the iceberg, with the berg
snapping or popping the rivets along the hull, allowing
water to enter in between the hull plates. The hull plates
themselves are alleged to have not been strong enough,
with signs of stress fracturing; but this is disputed.
3. The ship's watertight bulkheads could have been extended
and fully sealed to reduce the risk of flooding. Titanic was
constructed with transverse bulkheads (i.e. walls) to divide
the ship into sixteen watertight compartments, which
could be sealed off with doors operated either manually or
remotely from the bridge. So far, so good. However, the
bulkheads didn't extend up the height of all decks, and
weren't sealed at the top. So while flooding could be safely
be contained if only a small number of compartments
were flooded, if too many flooded, water would reach over
the top of the bulkheads and flood the rest of the compartments
until the ship sank. The designer of the ship,
Thomas Andrews, was on board and consulted by Captain
Smith immediately after the iceberg was hit. He quickly
realised that with five compartments flooded thanks to the
iceberg dragging along the ship, the flooding could not be
contained and the ship would eventually sink. His calculations
convinced Smith to begin evacuations and therefore
probably saved lives. Bulkhead design on subsequent ships
would be improved as a result of the disaster.
4. Captain Smith could have responded to the numerous ice
warnings the ship received by slowing down or stopping
completely and waiting for daylight. Titanic was radioed
several times by several different ships to warn of large
amounts of ice in the area. Titanic acknowledged these
warnings, but continued to cruise ahead at full speed.
Captain Smith did respond to the warnings; he changed
the ship's course to be more southerly, and he posted
lookouts to watch specifically for icebergs. one of those
lookouts did in fact spot the iceberg, but not with enough
time to avoid a collision, since it was a moonless night
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