Titanic captain wasn’t blameless

I just have to respond to Mary Keenan’s letter about the comparison of the Titanic disaster with the Costa Concordia. While Capt. Smith did act as one would expect during the sinking, one cannot forget that the reason the Titanic hit the iceberg was because the ship was traveling at a higher speed than recommended, due to pressure put upon him by the owners of the ship to arrive early in New York. The Titanic hit the iceberg because it was traveling at too high of a speed to have time to turn the vessel to avoid Hitting it.

This falls on Capt. Smith’s deadly decision to submit to the owners over his own experienced knowledge of the safe speed the ship should cruise at. Oh, lest we not forget, this was Capt. Smith’s final cruise, so perhaps a little “grandstanding” played into his decision to agree to the owner’s request?

Marge Siegal

Vernon Hills