100 years after, Hopkins talks Titanic

The Krieger School of Arts and Sciences hosted “The Sinking of the Titanic – 100 Years Later” in Gilman Hall on April 14. The event strove to share information about the Titanic and the world in 1912 with the Hopkins community.

Dean Katherine Newman opened the event and Dr. Ron Walters, the chair of the Department of History at Hopkins, spoke about the historical context of the sinking and Titanic expert. Hopkins alumnus Chris Lee explored the Titanic itself.

Following the presentations was a reception with light refreshments in the Gilman atrium and a screening of the 1958 film, A Night to Remember, based on Walter Lord’s novel of the same name. Approximately 20 people attended.

Walters expanded the audience’s knowledge of the Titanic by describing the the rapidly changing world of the early twentieth century and the tremendous amount of development and movement. He discussed how the railroad revolutionized cross-continental travel in an age when the nation started to expand westward and how many European superpowers crafted steamers to travel long distances and carried many people.

“[The Titanic marked the beginning of] two century-long revolutions in transportation and communication,” Walters said. “[It was the epitome of] luxury and [symbolized the] defeat of marvels of technology by the simplicity of an iceberg.”

The Titanic’s complex, wireless telegraph system was used to relay emergency messages to other ships at sea. This system was refined in the following decades and laid the foundation for modern communication.

“We can recognize the modernity in Titanic. . . of how the world transformed,” Walters said. “After such an explosion in communication, it’s now shrinking and compressing.”

Lee presented a more focused exploration of the Titanic itself, which was designed by Mr. Thomas Anderson and was one of three cruise ships that comprised the White Star Line. He said that the Titanic was slightly heavier than most ships at the time, traveled at a maximum of twenty-four knots, and featured top-of-the-line accommodations, especially for first-class passengers. As state-of-the-art as this vessel was, he said that it was doomed from the start due to a volatile mixture of arrogance, ignorance and miscommunication.

The Titanic was led by Captain Edward J. Smith, who thought that his twenty-six years as a sea captain made him immune to shipwrecks. He also irresponsibly ordered the Titanic to travel at dangerously high speeds in a sea filled with icebergs so that the ship could reach New York City in record time.

“Time was money in 1912, just like it is now,” Lee said. “[Smith] was a reckless and overly-confident captain.”

The ship’s crew was also ineffective. The man who was in charge of monitoring the radio line to the crow’s nest retired early. He missed the iceberg alert from the crow’s nest by five minutes, never relaying the information to Captain Smith on time.

“Eliminate potential ‘what if’s’ by being well-trained and acting quickly in emergencies,” Lee said.

The film supplemented both presentations by telling the story of the Titanic’s voyage through the perspectives of the passengers and crew members. Although the stories in the movie were fictitious, they were based on real events.