It has been more than 100 years since the sinking of the Titanic, however the story of the one of the biggest water tragedies still remains fresh in the memory of the people.
Though several strategies were formulated after the tragedy to prevent any such incident in future, Petra Urhofer in an article in achieveforum.com suggests that a fundamental cause was not addressed - failure in leadership.
Around 1 am in the Titanic there was utter confusion. Not only there was insufficient lifeboats, even the crew had no clue as to the procedures of evacuating 2,000 people.
In spite of the people getting the news about Titanic hitting the iceberg, people went back to their cabin and lounges.
'In fact, by the time Steward John Hart got around to escorting some small groups up to the lifeboats, he didn’t have much luck. As soon as he got some of those passengers into the lifeboats, they would get out and go back inside where it was warm,' the author says.
The author then says about the incidents that took place in the nearby Californian ship in the meantime.
When the second officer Herbert Stone saw the rockets he reported to his captain, but since it was a white smoke the crew took it lightly.
Even the first officer Frederick Stewart had informed about the same to the captain but then it was thought as some sort of celebration.
Only at 5.4 am when wireless operator Evans woke up Stewar and asked him to find out what was wrong, the news of the sinking of the Titanic was broke with a huge scream. But by the time California reached the spot, Carpathia was already there for two hours.
The scenes were different in the Carpathia. As soon as the distress call of the Titanic was received the captain of the ship ordered the team to change course to reach Titanic and did not wait for confirmation of the news or the exact location of the Titanic. He did it on the way.
He even ordered all the crew members to steam up the ship and utilised every ounce of energy to power the engine.
'In other words, Rostron didn’t wait at a standstill until all facts could be known and all positions pinpointed, nor did he charge blindly forward without making course corrections. He moved, then evaluated, then adjusted course—and kept on moving. Rostron’s ship arrived on the scene at daybreak, picking up the first lifeboat at 4:10 a.m. From that point on, the rescue operation was fast and flawless,' the author points out.
With the example of these three ships the author says that in two liners the complete lack of clarity, unity, and agility led to slow and chaotic execution that resulted in disaster.
However in Carpathia, a ship one-eighth in size compared to that of the Titanic, achieved rapid, fluid, and effective execution that ended up saving 700 lives.
