The senatorial committee investigating the Titanic disaster
has served several good purposes. It has officially established
the fact that all nations are censurable for insufficient, antiquated
safety regulations on ocean vessels, and it has emphasized
the imperative necessity for united action among
all maritime countries to revise these laws and adapt them to
changed conditions.
The committee reported its findings as follows:
GENERAL CONCLUSIONS
No particular person is named as being responsible, though attention
is called to the fact that on the day of the disaster three distinct warnings
of ice were sent to Captain Smith. J. Bruce Ismay, managing director
of the White Star Line, is not held responsible for the ship's high speed.
In fact, he is barely mentioned in the report.
Ice positions, so definitely reported to the Titanic just preceding the
accident, located ice on both sides of the lane in which she was traveling.
No discussion took place among the officers, no conference was called to
consider these warnings, no heed was given to them. The speed was not
relaxed, the lookout was not increased.
The supposedly water-tight compartments of the Titanic were not water-
tight, because of the non-water-tight condition of the decks where the
transverse bulkheads ended.
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