gCaptain - Latest Comments in Was the titanic sunk by a small key?

Re: Was the titanic sunk by a small key?

olivia — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 07:05:22 -0000

May I ask tou something?Do tou know the story of the small key

Re: Was the titanic sunk by a small key?

Mari john — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 07:02:46 -0000

If you dont want to ask me why did we need to post the picture of the old titanic I just want to say thank you

Re: Was the titanic sunk by a small key?

olivia — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 07:01:01 -0000

As what I know Titanic Is a Treasure

Re: Was the titanic sunk by a small key?

Mari John — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 06:59:54 -0000

Why do we need to post the picture of the old Titanic

Re: Was the titanic sunk by a small key?

olivia — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 18:59:17 -0000

cool thats awsome

Re: Was the titanic sunk by a small key?

Bob Couttie — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 16:45:56 -0000

The point that John makes "listen for the voice in the back of your mind" is very true. If something 'feels' wrong, it probably is.

Re: Was the titanic sunk by a small key?

Kennebec_Captain — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 02:28:09 -0000

Bob Couttie, I agree with you 100% that the error chain / domino effect are not helpful analogies for the mariner. It seems to only describe the single incident as you say. Your visual model seems more useful. I took a shot at the same subject: here

Re: Was the titanic sunk by a small key?

Bob Couttie — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 19:46:42 -0000

In the past I've used 'error chain' and 'domino effect when discussing accidents but, at the risk of getting too theoretical I think both are inadequate since they are basically descriptions of single-point failure (A chain fails when a single link fails, a domino falls over when its neighbour hits it).

The best physical description I think is the wooden tower game, "Jenga" or "Topple" in which players take turns removing blocks from a stack. The first few extractions don't do much harm but as the process continues the stack becomes more and more unstable until one reaches a point where removing any block at all will cause the stack to fall over.

If you think of the tower as 'safety' and the individual blocks as the elements, precautions, procedures that make up safety, you've got a fairly good visual model for how accidents happen.

Re: Was the titanic sunk by a small key?

addie — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 06:18:30 -0000

key? Just one more thing, thats all.
There were many things, that each individually, could have sunk this darling.

There were warning messages ignored, speed, lack of already known technology, lack of visibility that may have made the ice berg un-see-able in time at the speed the ship was soaring in anyway.

Also, as has been suggested and stated here, no spare keys, no strong sailors, no axes???

That captain whats his name must have been senile because he had been a good captain once.

But the key is another interesting fact.

Re: Was the titanic sunk by a small key?

Bill — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 00:25:55 -0000

Not to nitpick, but the officer in question was Charles Herbert Lightoller, not Lightroller.

The circumstances leading up to his position at the time of the sinking seem to be a bit different than described above:

"Lightoller boarded the Titanic just two weeks before her maiden voyage, and sailed as First Officer for the sea trials. As sailing day approached, however, Captain Smith made Henry T. Wilde, of the Olympic, his Chief Officer. This caused the original Chief Officer Murdoch to step down to First Officer, while Lightoller was dropped to Second Officer. The original Second Officer, David Blair was forced to drop out. The remaining officers retained their positions."

See: http://www.encyclopedia-tit...

Re: Was the titanic sunk by a small key?

Tim — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 03:40:55 -0000

Good story, never heard it before. Interestingly enough we have a "key routine" here onboard for handovers between myself and the other skipper, to avoid having the master key taken ashore, along with the safe key and more importantly the slop chest key.
It's not complicted just a matter of sticking to the routine, failing that are the gas axe and angle grinder approach and not to mention the zillion spare keys.......

Re: Was the titanic sunk by a small key?

Mike Maxwell — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 03:43:36 -0000

The person who bought the key at auction recently- for £78,000 no less- is Richard Shen, CEO Tesiro Jewellry Co Ltd. Richard is from Nanjing, China, and was in Belfast last night with the key in question. I had my photograph taken with it. It's possible that a Chinese Titanic Society may emerge as a result of Richard's visit.

Mike Maxwell

Re: Was the titanic sunk by a small key?

Jim — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 01:29:59 -0000

We had an AB who was great untill he was romoted to Bosun, the Capt's remark to the dayworkers was pure gold:

If you want to know what kind of person a man is give him a clipboard and a set of keys. Give them to him in the morning and you'll know by lunch.

Re: Was the titanic sunk by a small key?

Tim Flanagan — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 22:25:04 -0000

Actually, the same is true for recreational boat incidents. It's virtually never a single colossal screwup. It's almost always a small oversight here, something taken for granted there, a bit of bad luck, a bit of uncertainty about the proper response, and then...oh crap.

Re: Was the titanic sunk by a small key?

Fred Fry — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 21:21:27 -0000

Shivaranjan,

Keys are important. Keys are power!

Re: Was the titanic sunk by a small key?

Shivaranjan — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 15:04:45 -0000

That is an interesting post. Now I understand how important keys can be in ships.
Stumbled... :)

Re: Was the titanic sunk by a small key?

John — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 11:41:49 -0000

Fred, those were my exact thoughts when I read the story... but it seems that it was just the key to the locker in the crows nest, not the bridge's glasses. I would have broken the locker but from what I know about Capt. Smith it's possible the AB's didn't want to press the issue.

Re: Was the titanic sunk by a small key?

Fred Fry — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 11:29:06 -0000

Hmm, would the bridge crew have broken into the locker or would the Captain have had a spare key? I would think that they would get them somehow, especially considering there was no radar at the time. What would an offier at the time carry as person equipment?

The again, they were British and not American, so maybe they would not break into the bino cabinet as it would be in bad form....

Re: Was the titanic sunk by a small key?

OldSailor — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 11:13:18 -0000

Hi John,
Your reasoning is logical and convincing. Yes, small
errors do lead to major accidents.