Popular Myths About the Titanic.

[F-14 Ace]

I've been thinking about doing a write-up about myths and misconceptions about the Titanic.  The Olympic-class ocean liners in general have always fascinated me and it's been a subject I've been interested in for a while.  Anyway, I'd like to explain why a bunch of the myths concerning the Titanic are completely full of crap.  Below are some of the myths I'll be addressing and I will go into much greater detail about them once I type the essay later.

1. Hitting the iceberg head-on would have saved the ship. -Bullcrap

2. The Titanic was poorly designed (specifically, the watertight compartment design was flawed and the rudder was too small). - Bullcrap

3. The Titanic was built using poor quality materials. -Bullcrap

4. First Officer William Murdoch was a murderer and a coward- Pure, 100% A-grade male bovine excrement!
(This one is a direct byproduct of the James Cameron film and a stupid, pointless demonization of a man who died a hero in real life)

5. The Titanic was traveling at full speed because Bruce Ismay wanted to arrive early in New York. -Bullcrap

6. The HMHS Britannic was torpedoed and sunk by a German u-boat. -Most likely bullcrap
(Not exactly about the Titanic, but it's another popular myth about the Titanic's sister ship that I feel needs to be put to rest.)

EDIT: Let me add to the list...

7. Crew members were trapped in flooding compartments by closing water-tightdoors- Bullcrap

8. 3rd Class passengers were deliberately locked below to prevent them from reaching the lifeboats. -Bullcrap

9. A crewmen named Frank Towers also survived the sinkings of the Empress of Ireland and the Lusitania. -Mostly bullcrap, though the myth actually does have some truth to it, which I'll explain in the essay.

10. The Titanic was advertised as being "unsinkable": -Bullcrap.  And this is a big one too.

11. Ismay was a dirty coward for saving himself. -Mostly a matter of opinion.  I'm not trying to debunk anything with this point, but I will share some things that many people tend to overlook about the situation.

If anybody knows of any other myths they'd like me to address, please share them.  Again, I will be addressing these in detail when I write the essay.

[Pterano]

How about the Californian being out of sight more than 20 miles away? That's always been the biggest pile of crap that's fascinated me regarding the sinking (even though it's not directly Titanic-related).

However, this fellow here has done an absolutely fantastic job of debunking the lies and misinformation the Lordites have spread over the years.

http://home.earthlink.net/~dnitzer/Titanic.html

[Malte279]

I'm looking very much forward to your write-up F-14 since I am quite fascinated with the Olympic class ships too
With the HMHS Britannic it is kind of a yesno. She ran on a mine (rather than being torpedoed), the mine however had been set by the German submarine U-73.
It may be important to specify exactly which part of a claim is bullcrap for some other  of them are also along the "yes but..." or "not if..." line of discussion.
I don't wan't to spoil anything writing essays before reading yours, but I am looking forward to it.
One thing that I heard different stories about (and therefore I would be very interested in what you read about this) concerns the flares fired by the Titanic. They were all white and according to some people only red ones were recognized as a distress signal while other people say that the code red=distress signal was introduced only at a later time and that in april 1912 different colors would have only been used for the purpose of identification rather than to confer different messages. Did you read anything about this?
One thing that is not so much a myth as it is part of the history of this ship class is how many other ships were damaged or sunk by the one ship of the class that never sank herself. Among other the RMS Olympic sank the German submarine U-103 in 1918 (the one ship sinking "conducted" with the Olympic that was deliberate, unlike the other cases). I think it was the only case of a civilian ship sinking a submarine during WW1.

[F-14 Ace]

I'm looking very much forward to your write-up F-14 since I am quite fascinated with the Olympic class ships too
With the HMHS Britannic it is kind of a yesno. She ran on a mine (rather than being torpedoed), the mine however had been set by the German submarine U-73.
I don't wan't to spoil anything writing essays before reading yours, but I am looking forward to it.
One thing that is not so much a myth as it is part of the history of this ship class is how many other ships were damaged or sunk by the one ship of the class that never sank herself. Among other the HMS Olympic sank the German submarine U-103 in 1918 (the one ship sinking "conducted" with the Olympic that was deliberate, unlike the other cases). I think it was the only case of a civilian ship sinking a submarine during WW1.

The Olympic also sunk the Nantucket lightship in 1934.

[Pterano]

Malte, the "confusion" over the rockets is all answered here: http://home.earthlink.net/~dnitzer/Frameset.html

There's no confusion whatsoever, as the regulations and rules of the road at the time clearly stated under Night:

1. A gun or other explosive signal fired at intervals of about a minute;
2. Flames on the vessel (as from a burning tar barrel, oil barrel, etc.);
3. Rockets or shells, throwing stars of any colour or description, used one at a time at short intervals;
4. A continuous sounding with any fog-signal apparatus.

As you can see, number three clearly states ANY color. This is directly from Article 31 of the International Rules of the Road from 1912, which was recognized in both Britain and the US at the time.

[Malte279]

The Olympic also sunk the Nantucket lightship in 1934.

...and damaged the cruiser HMS Hawke in 1911 and the liner Fort St. George in 1924. There have been naval ships with a lesser record of damage caused.

[Pterano]

Click on the left hand side "Rockets and the Law" and you'll see what I'm talking about.

[F-14 Ace]

I decided to add a couple more to the list.

One being that that the Titanic was claimed to be unsinkable.  The other is regarding Ismay saving himself.

I don't think I'm going to mess with the one about the California. I think the majority of people already know the captain tried to cover things up.

Regarding Ismay, I can't help but wonder how many of the people who label him a coward would have done the same thing were they in his shoes.

[F-14 Ace]

Here is something interesting I found, if you've got an hour and a half to sit and watch it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9fL7XiFeAA