There were two official inquiries into the Titanic’s sinking. There was the British inquiry into the Titanic’s sinking. The British inquiry into the Titanic’s sinking was undertaken by the ‘British Wreck Commissioner.’ The British Wreck Commissioner began their inquiry into the Titanic’s sinking on the 2nd of May 1912, and it lasted up to the 3rd of July 1912. Meanwhile, the American inquiry into the Titanic’s sinking began several weeks before the British inquiry began - the American inquiry into the Titanic’s sinking began on the 19th of April 1912.
The American inquiry into the Titanic disaster began in New York with its initial hearing. The hearings into the Titanic disaster began in Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, on the 19th of April 1912. The Hearings and Inquiry The American inquiry into the Titanic disaster was part of the United States senate - it was part of the subcommittee of the Senate Commerce Committee. Heading the inquiry was United States senator William Alden Smith. There was a total of seven senators who were part of the United States senate inquiry - including Alden Smith himself. The other senators were: Francis G. Newlands, George Clement Perkins, Theodore E. Burton, Furnifold McLendel Simmons, Jonathan Bourne, and Duncan U. Fletcher. Throughout the inquiry, the senators carried out the questioning of eye witnesses who were present during the Titanic disaster. While eye witnesses were given their statements to the inquiry - all of the senators were present for the duration of the statement, and the duration of the inquiry. The inquiry was carefully chosen and representative; to include America’s two leading political parties (the Democrats and Republicans), in order to avoid bias.
Over the course of two weeks between the 19th of April and the 25th of May 1912, there was a total of 80 eye witnesses questioned throughout the United States senate inquiry. The 80 eye witnesses included crew members of the Titanic who survived, and passengers of the Titanic who survived. Through eye witness testimonies at this inquiry, the senate (and later the world), learned about a few things about what happened before the Titanic hit the iceberg, and what happened after the Titanic hit the iceberg.
The inquiry was found to be damaging for both Captain Smith and Bruce Ismay. Eye witnesses spoke of how the Titanic had received several iceberg warnings before she hit the iceberg. They concluded that Captain Smith had an ‘’indifference’’ to the danger that the Titanic faced from the icy conditions that it was going through; and the iceberg warnings which he received. They also concluded that it was Captain Smith’s indifference to these iceberg warnings that was a leading contributor in the Titanic hitting an iceberg on the night of the 14th of April 1912. The findings of the United States senate inquiry was also daming for Bruce Ismay. Although they found that Ismay did not order that Captain Smith speed up the Titanic; they did find that Captain’s Smith decision to put the Titanic on full speed may have been a result of Bruce Ismay being on board the Titanic during her maiden voyage. It was pretty damning for Ismay. But the inquiry concluded that it was as a result of Captain’s Smith own actions, that the ship was sped up through icy waters and even to the point of the Captain being negligent by ignoring iceberg warnings that he had received from other ships in the area just before the Titanic tragedy happened.
The senate also concluded that Captain Smith had contributed to the tragedy in other ways: such as the Titanic not being prepared for the disaster and the ship's safety equipment not being tested by the Captain (or crew). On the morning of the 14th of April 1912, there was supposed to be a safety test on the Titanic to test its lifeboats. However, Captain Smith cancelled this safety test that morning - it’s not exactly clear why he had cancelled that safety test.
What is clear, is that the crew were not prepared for the Titanic disaster when it happened. When Titanic’s lifeboats were being filled up in the early morning hours of the 15th of April 1912 - just after the Titanic hit the iceberg - lifeboats were not filled up to their maximum capacity by the Titanic’s crew. In many of the lifeboats, they were not even filled up with half of the capacity that they could hold. Ultimately, if the crew had been properly trained, and filled up the lifeboats with passengers to the lifeboats full capacity, then hundreds of more people could have been saved as a result. Therefore, an ill-prepared crew, as a result of Captain Smith’s actions, cost hundreds of people their lives that could have been saved if safety procedures were followed and correctly in place. The lack of preparedness for such an event - through Captain Smith’s negligence - was another contributing factor in the Titanic tragedy. There was one last damning conclusion for Titanic’s crew and Captain: their lack of informing third class passengers that the Titanic had struck an iceberg, and that the ship was going to sink as a result in this. Unlike the film in 1997, most third class passengers were not even aware that the Titanic had hit an iceberg, or that it was going to sink - rather than knowing, and being prevented from saving themselves (as the film showed). Instead, most third class passengers weren’t even aware of the incident, due to the crew, nor Captain informing third class; the United States senate committee found. Therefore, it was a lack of knowledge about the event, caused by a lack of care and duty from the crew and captain, that resulted in most third class passengers losing their life. The SS Californian Outside the Titanic itself, there was one more contributing factor in the mass loss of life that Titanic suffered that ill-fated night: the inaction of the SS Californian. Or, as some have called the SS Californian ‘the ship that watched the Titanic sink.’ The United States inquiry found that the SS Californian wasn’t entirely honest in stating its location during the time that Titanic sank. The inquiry found that the SS Californian was closer to the Titanic than the captain of the SS Californian claimed. The SS Californian was the last ship to contact the Titanic - and they had contacted the Titanic just minutes before the Titanic struck the iceberg. Ever since that ill-fated night, there has been speculation about the SS Californian’s role that night - did the ship knowingly watch the Titanic sink, while providing no assistance to the Titanic’s crew and passengers? The United States senate stated that the SS Californian captain must be held to account for his inaction that night. And, that the British government had to hold the SS Californian’s captain accountable for his inaction that night. We will look into how the British dealt with the situation, and their findings in a future blog post: the British inquiry began several weeks after the American inquiry.
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