Worst Team in History - the Titanic Team

Worst Team in History- The Titanic Team

June 23, 2012

Introduction

On the night of Sunday, April 14, 1912, approximately 1,500 lives were claimed in the freezing waters of the North Atlantic. The sinking of the HMS Titanic continues to reign in the hearts of society today, inspiring blockbuster movies, documentaries, exhibits, novels, and Broadway shows. When delving into the details of the horrific night, the disaster was not just unfortunate luck of nature, but a culmination of poor decisions, leadership and teamwork. This paper will analyze the events leading up to the incident, and the poor teamwork that contributed to the tragedy.

The Tragedy – What Happened?

To fully understand the disaster, it is important to first understand the competition and industry of the Titanic. Until the mid-19th century, a crossing of the Atlantic was a rare and audacious attempt. However, the evolution of steam power to oceangoing vessels significantly decreased the time and risk of an Atlantic crossing (Guelzo, 2012, p. 40). In 1840, Samuel Cunard organized the British & North American Royal Mail Steam-Packet Company. Cunard’s ship, the Britannia, achieved the trip from Liverpool to Boston in 14 days, eight hours. The Britannia was small – 1,150 gross tons, 207 feet long and carrying 115 passengers (Guelzo, 2012, p. 40). After this initial achievement, Cunard’s company continued to succeed. Cunard launched the Campania in 1891, spanning 600 feet and weighing 18,000 tons, with the ability to cross the Atlantic in five days, nine hours and carry 2,000 passengers (Guelzo, 2012, p. 40). Cunard faced competition from 13 other steamship lines, one of which was Titanic’s company, the White Star Line. White Star entered the North Atlantic market with the Oceanic in 1871, weighing 3,700 tons, 420 feet long, and room for 1,000 immigrant passengers (Guelzo, 2012, p. 40). White Star followed up with a string of other vessels, and launched a second Oceanic in 1899. Its 700-feet span and 17,000 ton weight made it the largest liner in the world (Guelzo, 2012, p. 40). Despite this achievement, White Star, however, still faced fierce competition from Cunard.

The Cunard line had a partnership with the British government, supplying the struggling company with funds. In return, Cunard allowed the Admiralty to test new naval technology in Cunard’s next generation of liners (Guelzo, 2012, p. 40). This funding allowed Cunard to build two of the largest liners on the Atlantic – the Mauretania and Lusitania. J. Bruce Ismay, White Star’s managing director, proposed the construction of three enormous liners in order to outdo Cunard’s in size and luxury – 882.5 feet long, 46,000 tons, and space for over 3,000 passengers and crew (Guelzo, 2012, p. 40). One of these ships was the Titanic.

The ship was built by the Harland and Wolff shipyards. Luxury and comfort was a priority in the design of the ship. Titanic was no longer the no-frills immigrant transports of earlier times (Guelzo, 2012, p. 40). The vessel contained an indoor tennis court, swimming pool, a Parisian café, a barbershop, infirmary, gymnasium, a Turkish bath, an eight-piece orchestra, and suites with their own private 48-foot promenades (Guelzo, 2012, p. 40). The ship would still carry a thousand steerage immigrant passengers, but also provided for 700 passengers in first class and another 700 in second class (Guelzo, 2012, p. 40). The Titanic would stream 70-percent of its revenue from these first-class ticketholders.

Motivated by Cunard’s Admiralty-funded competition, aesthetics were prioritized over safety on the Titanic (Arino & Maella, 2012, p. 76). The ship’s hull was divided into 16 compartments, intended to control any potential leaks. However, some of the compartments were reduced in height as not to hinder space for first class rooms. Following the collision with the iceberg, this shortened height ended up facilitating the flow of incoming water from one compartment to the other (Arino & Maella, 2012, p. 76). Furthermore, the originally agreed upon number of lifeboats was decreased so as not to clutter the ship. Even though the legal requirements for safety boats at the time were met, there was not a sufficient number to evacuate all passengers and crew (Arino & Maella, 2012, p. 76). More specifically, there were enough lifeboats for about one-third of the passengers (Knapp & VandeCreek, 2003, p. 9). Ismay was so confident of the invincibility of the ship, that he believed lifeboats were unnecessary. In addition, the crew was never trained in the use of the lifeboats (Knapp & VandeCreek, 2003, p. 9). In fact, Smith canceled a lifeboat drill scheduled for Sunday, April 14th (Landesberg, 2001).

During its voyage, the Titanic crew continuously disregarded warnings. The Titanic crew received a foreshadowing sign during the initial offset of its voyage. After onboarding passengers at Southampton, the ship sucked another liner (the New York) into its path in the Southampton estuary. Quick work by Titanic tugboats prevented the collision. Instead of taking this incident as a warning sign of the maneuvering difficulties of the large ship, people instead viewed the event as evidence of the superior ship handling of the Titanic’s Captain (Guelzo, 2012, p. 41).

The Captain also ignored many incoming warning messages concerning icebergs in the area (Arino &Maella, 2012, p. 76). Ismay had persuaded Titanic’s Captain Edward J. Smith that it would be a fine triumph to arrive in New York a day early. This accomplishment would be positive for both Smith’s career and the voyage’s reputation in history. Captain Smith gave the order to light the last two boilers of the ship. However, despite the increased speed (the ship was racing at close to 22 knots through known ice fields), Smith failed to add to the lookouts watching for icebergs (David, 2012, para. 5). The goal to arrive ahead of time caused vital information to be disregarded. According to Landesberg (2001), even though the calm seas and

a moonless sky made iceberg sightings difficult, Smith chose to leave the bridge and attend a dinner in his honor. Smith left the ship in the hands of a less experienced lieutenant (Waymack, 2006, p. 38). In addition, the lookouts did not have binoculars. The officer who had them was not on board and failed to inform others of their location (Arino & Maella, 2012). It also should be noted, that the telecommunications technology failed to be used properly. The Titanic’s wireless operators were instructed to give priority to social messages of the wealthy passengers (Knapp & VandeCreek,