The blame lies squarely with Ist Officer William Murdoch. As depicted in James Cameron's "Titanic", he ordered the engines full astern which makes turning the ship to port take longer because with no forward power (except the ships momentum) it makes her hard to turn and a main cause for this was the tripple screw configuration. If Murdoch had of done anything else the ship would have been saved. Although the ships design did have several flaws, if you want to put the blame on a single person then it would have to be him.

Actually all of you mention valid points as to whom could be possibly blamed for sinking the Titanic.

As Darren mentions, it's hard to place the blame on one person since it's a series of events that actually dooms the ship and its 1500 souls.

The Captain is an obvious one. He didn't slow down the vessel since he had to much confidence in his ship and two much pressure from Bruse Ismay to arrive in NY with good speed. Kinda of a moot point since the speed records were to be left to the Cunard Line's, Mauretania and Lusitania. Not to mention there were a series of wireless messages that never made it to the bridge, which might not have mattered anywhere, but still something to consider.

White Star's mention of the ships headway is a very good point and one that I keep mentioning to folks and friends. If 1st Officer William Murdoch had only ordered Full ahead would the ship veared faster to the port (hard- a-starboard) so as to miss the collision. Some also say if the vessel hit the iceberg head-on, she would have survived since the forward peak would have been pushed in and she could have stayed afloat. Pefect example of this was seen when the Stockholm collided with the Andrea Doria off the coast of NY in 1952.

Let's not also forget those binoculars that were misplaced. Without a pair for the lookout crew in the crows nest, it's a lot harder to see in the total darkness with no moon, or waves bouncing off the base, to catch an image of an iceberg. I can tell you this from personal experience from saling on the Atlantic, binoculars are a must. So a pair would have allowed lookouts Fleet and Lee a much earlier view of a dark berg, and therfore, more time for the ship to react to stay clear of it's destiny, despite improper and poor ship handling from the first officer.

I'm not saying that the first class and crew are not responsible for the death of all the people, however, no matter what they did, there still was a shortage of life boats. there were not enough boats by half... this is simply one of many problems that went along with her maiden voyage. Another is that the crew members in the crows nest did not infact have binoculars. they realized that they had a shortage of them before they set sail for New York, however they decided they would make due. the Bridge got the set the crows nest would have recived. No one person or event or situation is to blame for the accident that left fifteen hundred souls in perel, and to think otherwize is a sad mistake on all parties. there is a reason it is called an "unforseen accident." (no matter what some may say they thought before she set sail. Human nature tends to yern for attention.... if you know what I mean...there's a shocker...)

You people are dull!!! lets talk about boats.

the people who made it :!:

so

The people who designed the ship.

1.The water tight buck heads were not high enough.

2.They want to make to upper decks more open, instead of worring about the passangers they were more worried about deck space for the first class passangers.

Plus if Ismay wouldn't have pushed Capt Smith the ship may have made it to New York.

[quote:eb4f7bff1f="conkright"]Also when the Titanic shot off all of its flares in white there was a boat that could see the flares. This boat was watching with binoculars and ignored that these were distress signals being shot in the air. this other boat could have raced over to the Titanic and rescued all of the people that were swimming for their life.[/quote:eb4f7bff1f]

I say it was captain Lord of the Californian who willfully ignored the distress flares of the Titanic - what a bum! He is blame for most of the loss of life because he could have raced there and picked up passengers in time.

as a captain of a small passenger vessel. I like many people have an intrest in the events of this famous night, yes there are many errors made that contibute to this fatel event. Many thing we know now about handling large powered vessels were not know then . But i feel as captian mrs smiths obviously has to shoulder the blame but the real crime was ordering full astern on all engines by the first officer was the fatel mistake up to that point all previous mistakes would not have mattered. but taking this action he deprived himself and the ship from all control Rudders on ships of this size arnt big enough to steer a vessel purley on their forward motion through the water they need consitrated water flow generated from the propellors to become effective.
Captain Pearce

[quote="PMS7"]Who do you think should be held most accountable for the wreck of the Titanic? I have mixed feelings about it. I'd love to hear from you.