Sailing Mistake on the Titanic Revealed by Officer’s Kin
September 27th, 2010 - 10:40 pm ICT by Angela Kaye MasonSep 27 (THAINDIAN NEWS) The grand-daughter of one of the Ship’s Officers on board the ill fated ‘Titanic’ has revealed a fatal mistake which was made, which caused the ship to crash into an iceberg, killing around 1500 people.
Louise Patten, a novelist, and the grand-daughter of the Titanic’s Second Officer, Charles Lightoller , stated that the helmsman of the vessel turned the ship towards the iceberg instead of away from it, because the steering orders were confusing, since the orders for steamships and sailing ships were different.
Since the helmsman who was on the Titanic on the maiden voyage in 1912 was used to the Tillers Orders system, he turned the opposite way. She explained that for example, “orders to turn “hard a-starboard,” for example, meant to turn the wheel right under one system and left under the other,” according to the Chicago Sun Times.
“It was made clear to him by those at the top that, if the company were found to be negligent, it would be bankrupted and every job would be lost,” Patten stated.
Her grandfather took part in a final meeting of the four senior officers, as they agreed to keep the mistake to themselves. Only one person, Patten’s grandmother, was ever told by her grandfather. Her grandmother shared the secret with Patten.
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Tags: chicago sun times, fatal mistake, grand daughter, grandmother, helmsman, job, maiden voyage, novelist, sailing ships, steamships, titanic, wheel