by KLA2 » Thu Sep 23, 2010 10:33 pm
Heard that one. Actually, there was more to it.
The theory is that they knew about the smouldering coal fire before leaving Southhampton, but for the sake of prestige, leaving on time AND setting a speed record crossing the Atlantic was paramount.
They gambled that the fire could be extinquished once at sea. They were wrong.
The smouldering coal produced fumes and deadly carbon monoxide which would spread around the ship. Ventilation on board the Titanic was not mechanically fan forced, but rather by giant air scoops on deck. The faster the forward motion, the greater the forced ventilation.
"Knowing" the ship was unsinkable, the captain reasoned that it was safer to risk a head on collision with an iceberg than have the passengers and crew asphyxiate.
I think this theory (not fact) has been discredited, but not disproved. Part of the long list ...
"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you."
-Friedrich Nietzsche