Thread on an unusual area of law. #TitanicLaw.
What were the legal issues in the RMS Titanic disaster?
Here’s a thread.
Keep in mind that the #Titanic disaster was a shock not because she was said to be unsinkable (she never was),but multiple issues led to massive loss of life/

We owe a lot to Senator Smith (R-MI). Over the derision of the British and American press, he carried out a thorough investigation.
His report concluded with legislation(!) which was enacted (!).
In many ways, the Smith inquiry showed the Constitution working as designed/

Let’s go to the widely reviled villain of the piece. j Bruce Ismay.
2 independent inquiries noted he was the last man to leave on the last boat and had done no wrong. He had helped load women and children.
It did not matter. Within moments of leaving the Titanic, he regretted it/

Ismay was
-the son of a self made man
-feuding with the press
-there when a villain was needed.
researchers for Cameron’s 1997 Titanic pointed out the depiction was wrong. it didn’t matter
Cut from society and suffering from PTSD, he died a recluse/

A few mistaken beliefs about Ismay.
-He was not commanding the vessel. Captain Smith had complete control. This is in line with long maritime tradition that continues to this day on ships and airliners.
-He did not control the number of lifeboats.The Board of Trade did. The ship/

actually had MORE boats than required by law.
Nor was the Titanic trying to set a new record at Ismay’s behest. It was on the wrong route to do that.
Indeed, Ismay and the designer Thomas Andrews had built a ship that stayed afloat much longer than Andrews thought possible. /

Next, the famous locked gates. They are in movies. Were hundreds left to die?
The locked gates were required by US #immigration laws.
The surviving crew testified they unlocked as the ship foundered. The wreck has yielded no locked doors.
The locked gates were a legal mandate/

And US #immigration rules were, as they still are, strict.
So much so that when the survivors docked, their absence of documents hampered their processing.
It took Sen. Smith’s intervention to get the flow going.
The Senate asked, and was told no one had been locked in /

the lifeboats.
It is true that the Titanic famously carried only enough lifeboats for half her passengers. But:
-it had more boats than British LSE required.
-the great enemy was time. Without drills and organization, the Titanic did not even properly lower her existing boats/

The ones that were lowered sometimes only had a handful of people
Including the one with Lucy Lady Duff Gordon
They then disgraced themselves by failing to return to aid fellow passengers screaming in the frigid water.
Conduct that both the US and hearings found reprehensible/

Radio operators.
Another famous vignette involves Titanic operator Phillips telling the Carpathia operator to “shut up” when told of ice.
In fact, Phillips was behind his transmissions, having spent the day repairing the set.
The Carpathia’s operator /

told the US Senate that he had not taken the rebuff personally.
He understood that Phillips and His deputy, Bride (below) we’re dealing with a backlog.
Moreover, multiple messages involving icebergs had been passed on to Captain Smith.
The Titanic’s officers knew of the danger/

Given the circumstances, Captain Smith’s decision to maintain high speed was inexplicable.
He was certainly aware of the danger-Ismay handed him one message.
Sen. Smith and Lord Mersey, the British head, found that while the Captain had acted like others on the route, his /

actions were reckless.
Incidentally, the transcripts contain no evidence to support the popular belief that the doomed voyage was to be Capt Smith’s last.
The Captain had spoken of retirement, but there was no indication that he intended to return to Southampton as a passenger /

One issue that is often ignored is how the order “women and children first” was handled.
Lightholler, the highest ranking survivor (below) took it to mean women and children ONLY. Often consigning young boys to a watery death even as empty boats were lowered./

Murdoch, whose death remains controversial, took the much more sensible approach.
For him women and children first meant exactly that-first. (A textualist).
If there was room in the boat for men, they were to be allowed on. And were. /

The most controversial part of the story is the so called California incident.
There is evidence that the SS California was within sight of the sinking Titanic.
The California’s officers saw the Titanic’s distress flares.
But tepidly reported them to their Captain, Stanley Lord/

Lord instructed the officers of the watch to signal the vessel with their Morse Lamp.
He did not, however, instruct Cyril Evans (the man earlier snubbed by Phillips-not the Carpathia’s operator-my bad) to be woken abd check for messages. /

Lord’s role is the most difficult to understand that night.
Under heavy cross examination, he conceded that:
-his officers reported white rockets;
-white rockets were distress signals not company signals
But he would not concede that what his men saw were distress signals/

Or that the British Admiralty Rules-the “Rules Of the Road” mandated that he investigate the signals.

Lord wd have his officers write out sworn statements, and put them in the ship safe.

The ships “scrap log” disappeared.
The actual log appeared to show an incorrect location /

Lord continues to have strong supporters to this day. But April 15, 1912, destroyed a stellar career.
However:
-his apparent lack of remorse at the loss of life;
-the matching accounts of his officers and the Titanic’s indicates that it was his ship that famously stood still /

Lord supporters point out that he never prosecuted for his supposed inaction.
But the RN member of the British inquiry did call for such action.
The US and UK inquiries condemned him strongly (Reading between the staid legal prose).
“A very responsibility lies on the shoulder /

of this officer.”
Several of his men told the Boston press that they would never serve under him again.
He was relieved of command (he would continue to command to the end of his life but never gained the prominence he once seemed destined for) /

The opposite ship was the SS Carpathia.
The Carpathia secured its role in history by tearing through the night at speeds 3.5 knots higher than she was rated for to come to the Titanic’s assistance.
The conduct of her crew, command, and passengers got the highest praise /

Her Captain’s actions that night would pluck him from respectable obscurity.
He would receive the thanks of Congress, a medal from President Taft (who lost his beloved aide in the disaster), and countless awards from grateful survivors.
(With “the unsinkable Mollie Brown”) /

He would become Commodore of his line.
And he was knighted.
The findings of both enquiries would make him a hero: Sir Arthur Henry Rostron, KBE, RD, RNR. /

Captain Rostrom’s actions were contrasted with Captain Lord.
It was a close call.
The Carpathia’s operator, Harry Cottam only picked up the Titanic SOS because he was listening while getting ready for bed.
(24 hour wireless watch would be mandated by law after the US enquiry) /

On the Titanic, a ghoulish exchange between Captain Smith and the operators.

Captain Smith asked what call they were using.

“CQD”

He suggested using the new call SOS.

“It may be your last chance to use the call” he quipped. The three men laughed. (Only 1 would survive) /

On the Carpathia, Cottam raced with the msg to the officer of the watch.
The officer in turn, ran intoRostrom’s cabin.
This was a bit much.
Even Rostrom expected his crew to knock before barging into his cabin while he was asleep.
His rebuke died on his lips when he read the msg/

Rostrom ordered the ship turned around.
THEN he put on his shoes and asked for the confirmation of the message.
What Lord should have done, but failed to.
The Carpathia raced through the night with a double watch to avoid its own iceberg tragedy. /

Speaking of the risk he ran by speeding through a dense icefield he famously told questioners, "I can only conclude another hand than mine was on the helm that night.”

(Rostrom’s Congressional Gold medal) /

The Carpathia raced through 103 miles of ice in 3 1/2 hours, firing rockets to stiffen survivor morale.

Once at the scene, not a single survivor was injured in the transfer process (some would die in sick bay of their earlier injuries)q

(Rostrom on the morning of the rescue) /

Rostrom’s actions, and those of his crew and passengers were commended by the enquiries because he’d run massive risks to save others.

He has always had critics who grumbled he endangered his own ship in contravention of marine law.

The verdict of history has been given. /

A couple of last notes.

The band DID play on.

The popular imagination maintains they played “Nearer my God to thee”

That would be befitting with our mental images TODAY.

But at the time, seeking to reassure the passengers, it is more likely they played “Ragtime” or “Autumn”/

The grieving families of the band members were famously charged for failure to return their uniforms and/or instruments.

It rightly strikes us as ghoulish.

Since the band has found its own place in an epic tale.

Legally, it was the old employee v contractor v agent dispute /

And the purported violin of one of the orchestra members was recently auctioned.

They were many skeptics about the authenticity of the violin.

Did not matter.

Sold for 1.7 million pounds.
The difference that would have made to the grieving families at the time... /

And that’s about it for now. May resume.

Handing over to @dick_nixon.

But disagree with his point.

Multiple witnesses placed Thomas. Andrews in the smoking room after the life boats had been launched (though not the collapsibles)

There was nothing for him to do. /

Over to the President. https://twitter.com/dick_nixon/status/1311845392972156929