Ear: Titanic

New information about the April 15, 1912, Titanic disaster has been revealed in the private journals of the Board of Trade’s inquiry judge, John Charles Bigham, which were made public for the first time recently, IrishCentral.com reports (bit.ly/JCBigham).

The judge noted several mistakes that caused the sinking and loss of life. For one, the crew ignored warnings of “icebergs, growlers and flows” from two passing vessels. The Titanic received an ice warning the afternoon of April 14, which was given to Bruce Ismay, chairman and managing director of the White Star Line, who pocketed the warning, telling no one.

When the fatal iceberg was spotted from the crow’s nest at 11:30 p.m., the ship was moving at 26 mph, too fast to stop in time; she kept moving at half-speed for 20 miles, increasing the ship’s flooding. Worse yet, the watertight doors were left open.

Adding to the confusion, Bigham noted that there had been no lifeboat drills, and the lifeboats could only hold half of the ship’s passengers. And, even though many lifeboats weren’t full, only two turned around to help pull passengers from the water — one of whom could well have been Col. John Jacob “Jack” Astor IV, great-grandson of Astoria’s namesake.