Well, I will stop making excuses for them. I do believe that Phillips acted rude to Californian, telling him to shut up shut up, im busy. But again, the question must be asked, would Smith have slowed the ship down if he got either the Mesaba or Californian message. Lightoller said he would have, but Lightoller did his share of lying during the inquiry.

However, I think you are looking at this in the context of modern times- Would of, could of, should of,.

You say that Thomas Andrews was a hero? Why? Because he helped direct some people in the boats and went into shock in the lounge?

You could make an argument that Andrews was to blame for the loss of life, being a member of Harland and Wolff who wanted to acomodate fully with the wishes for White Star, and therfore, give lifeboat capacity for only half on board, fully knowing that the regulations of 1912 on a ships that size were out of date.

But I will not make that argument, because of the mindset back then. Titanic was "pratically unsinkable" and there was no real worries over "lifeboat capacity" or in the wireless operators case "field ice". Also, the ice conditions for 1912 were a little more extreme because the winter was aparently mild for that year.