Titanic Persuasive Essay

Words: 435
Pages: 2

The possibility that RMS Titanic was brought down by an ice berg is very slim. Frederick Fleet spotted the iceberg in time to attempt avoiding collision. However, History staff say “A dead-on collision was avoided, but the Titanic’s starboard side violently scraped the iceberg, ripping open six compartments. The ship’s design could withstand only four compartments flooding.” (History Staff 2009) It was possible for the enormous ship to be brought down by an iceberg. Unfortunately, the Titanic was no ordinary ship. In the Sinking of the Titanic is states, “The Titanic’s hull had been designed with a series of sixteen watertight compartments, separated by massive iron bulkheads.” (Streissguth, p.12). This design enabled the Titanic to seal the …show more content…
Smith. EJ Smith was a great captain and courageous, sadly he was faced with difficult challenges and handled them dangerously. Streissguth states in his book “Captain Edward J. Smith, the most experienced officer in the White Star fleet, and the best-paid sailor in the world, had his ship proceeding at full steam despite the numerous ice warnings he had perceived.” (Streissguth p.13) Not only did he sail Titanic to her deadly fate he was also responsible to the damage of RMS Olympic, Titanic’s sister ship. “Six months earlier, when he was taking the Olympic out of Southampton on her sixth Atlantic crossing, she had collided with a cruiser, HMS Hawke, whose bow had torn a jagged and ugly gash ten feet deep in the Olympics’ starboard quarter.” (Fisanick, 2001, p. 80) Fisanick said about Titanic’s captain who ironically captained the RMS Olympic during the time when it crashed with the British cruiser. The collision only happened a few months prior to the Titanic incident. It was out of character for Smith to make that mistake and it’s unbelievable to make another deadly one in a short time duration. It must have been carelessness that wrecked the RMS Olympic and it might have been recklessness that destroyed the RMS Titanic. But what killed E.J.