Does anyone think it possible that the loss of life could have been less had Captain Smith ordered the Titanic to steam toward the lights in the distance (possibly the Californian). It might have been able to reach the lights within an hour or so?

The only reason I ask this is because Britannic's captain tried to beach on a nearby island when she struck a mine and (even though he couldn't beach the ship) it sank in just under an hour.

By steaming the Titanic forward she too would probably have sunk faster but all she needed was an hour or so to reach the Californian. What do you think?

Like the Britannic. If Titanic did that then maybe the calafornian would of seen the sinking, perhaps save those ppl.

I agree. I suppose the captain didn't think of that option. I wonder if he encountered a stage of shock and disbelief which might have caused some influence over his judgement?

mmm he was in shock , he probably wasn't thinking at the time that that was a possibility

The order of all stop was given after the collision. After that the lifeboats were being lowered and the boilers were shut off.

It would have been unrealistic to relight the boilers and then start moving the ship after the Californian was spotted--and they didn't know what it was since the wireless operator was asleep and no one was there to monitor the transmissions from the Titanic.

Then what do you do with the lifeboats you've left behind in the water. If you don't make it the ten miles to the next ship, and you sink--you now have two groups of lifeboats that have no idea where the other one is.

Also, at this point, the ship was sitting so far down at the bow, the same thing would happen to the Titanic as happend to the Brittanic--it never reached the shoreline because its downward angle made it dig into the water.

True, but if the oder for 'all stop was not given, and instead the ship ran on the steam it had, maybe only for another 1000ft, perhaps that may have been enough for the californian to recognise the danger. But then again she was more than 10 miles away

I remember seeing a Discovery (or some educational channel) channel show a few years ago that explored several of the 'what if' scenarios. The built a special model that simulated the flooding rate and water tight compartments of the Titanic and did a series of tests involving counter flooding, different pumping plans, etc. I believe the didn't find any scenario that improved the situation significantly including the manuevering scenario. The result was exactly what was predicted, it increased the rate of flooding causing the ship to sink faster.

The investigation states it took the Californian 2 hours to reach the Carpathia at the wreck site the next morning. Even in the most impossiably optomistic scenario, that the Titanic remained underway and sailed straight for the Californian and didn't hit anymore ice she would have foundered before reaching her with no lifeboats launched. The Californian might have become aware of the situation but would have to steam up and maneuver to reach the spot. The result would be a ship arriving probably while people were still alive in the water but no one would have a boat to keep them from the freezing cold water while the rescue was initiated. It is really a toss up if more or less lives would be saved.

Very well explained. I believe that it was an innevitable disaster.
Many thanks

>The investigation states it took the Californian 2 hours to reach the >Carpathia at the wreck site the next morning.

However, the reason it took 2 hours is that the Californian made two unnecessary traverses of the icefield (from east to west and then from west to east) before she reached the disaster site. Without those two slow traverses, the steaming time between Californian and Titanic would have been much less than two hours.

Interesting. It leaves the question open for debate. Could Titanic have made it to the Californian in time?