Titanic ~ Legacy

Eternal Father, strong to save,
Whose arm hath bound the restless wave,
Who bidd'st the mighty ocean deep
Its own appointed limits keep;
Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee,
For those in peril on the sea!

~ Eternal Father, Strong to Save


The Formal Investigation into the loss of Titanic made twenty-two recommendations surrounding changes to many areas of maritime safety.

Upon one of these recommendations the first International Conference on the Safety of Life at Sea was held in London in 1913 and 1914. Thirteen nations reached agreement on watertight and fire-resisting bulkheads, lifesaving appliances, fire prevention and fire-fighting appliances on passenger ships, and there was general acceptance of the principle of 'boats for everyone' on board ocean-going passenger ships. Further conferences were held in 1929, 1948 and 1960.

Today, there are lifeboats for everyone on board ocean-going vessels, and both passengers and crew are required to attend drill at least once per week. Boat crews are fully trained and certified; boat capacities are prominently marked.

A round-the-clock radio service is now mandatory. On ships where there are not enough operators to maintain this, automatic radio alarms are required. Radio operators are required to cease transmission and 'listen out' for three minutes each half hour, standing by for distress calls. A special frequency is set aside for distress calls which has priority over all other radio traffic.

In 1913, the International Ice Patrol was established to guard the sea lanes of the North Atlantic. Today sophisticated oceanographic buoys monitor currents and water temperatures which, along with iceberg sightings is used to predict iceberg movements. Each day, a detailed map showing ice locations is sent using radio to ships in the North Atlantic.

In this, the last of my Titanic blips I'd like to thank everyone for looking in over the last week and for commenting and contributing to each of the journals. I know this has been slightly more unusual "stuff & nonsense" and more textual than visual. Perhaps not entirely regulation blipping.

Thanks for sticking with me.

So much of the mystery of Titanic will never be resolved and there will be questions that will remain forever unanswered. At the start of this journey I said I hoped to share something with you beyond what might be known by the casual observer and from some of your comments I think I've been able to do that. It would also appear that in a small way, I've awakened an interest in some of you for more information about Titanic, which pleases me a lot. I said before that, while being an enormous tragedy this is also one of the most fascinating subjects to study. In part it is the story of mankind's glorious technological achievements, but also of its arrogance of self belief and self importance. This centenary commemoration is perhaps a timely reminder at a time in which we are constructing ever larger ships and aircraft, exploring ever deeper into our planets oceans and harnessing atomic fusion for fuel and at a time when sub orbital passenger transport is just around the evolutionary corner, that we may stretch ourselves too far once more and mother nature might bite back again.

Below is a list of some of the books I have on Titanic which I have used over the past week. I wouldn't recommend any one individual reference because to be honest each author has their own opinion. If you are interested in the subject, I would recommend reading a few titles - these or others - and forming your own judgements. I have also provided a link to Titanic Inquiry Project which contains the complete transcripts of both the American Senate Inquiry and the British Formal Investigation into the loss of Titanic, an indispensible resource in the form of eyewitness testimony.

In no particular order;

Titanic: Triumph and Tragedy John P. Eaton and Charles A. Haas
The Discovery of the Titanic Dr. Robert Ballard
"Unsinkable" The Full Story Daniel Allen Butler
Titanic in Photographs Daniel Klistorner and Steve Hall
Titanic Voices Donald Hyslop, Alistair Forsyth, Sheila Jemima
Titanic and the Californian Thomas B. Williams
A Night to Remember Walter Lord
Report on the loss of the SS Titanic Mersey, Wreck Commissioner et. al.
Uncovered Editions: The Loss of the Titanic The Stationary Office, London
The Titanic Disaster Hearings: The Official Transcripts of the 1912 Senate Investigation Tom Kuntz, word-for-word editor
RMS Titanic: Reappraisal of Evidence relating to SS Californian Marine Accident Investigation Board