Given White Star's safety record (E.g. the Naric disappeared in 1863 (no radio to send distress calls), Republic (detailed in previous posting), Atlantic (wrecked in a storm when the captain made a detour, because he thought his coal stock was too low. In fact he COULD have made it to his destination. This revelation was so embarrassing that White Star erased the ship from it's list of ships it owned!), the Baltic, the Olympic collision with H.M.S. Hawke and the Titanic disaster, among many others!), why did the public still want to travel onboard their ships?

My theory is that the passengers simply believed the (then) modern technology and new ship designs were safer than we now know they were. Another possibility is that White Star were very good at promotion of their services. Even the Titanic's menus were designed to be used as postcards to advetise their business! The launch of the Titanic was deliberately made into a grand occasion. No mention was made of the shipyard worker who was trapped by a rope and pulled to his death while the ship slid down the slipway into the water. Or perhaps the public simply did not realise the dangers they were facing while sailing ever faster through freezing cold water over vast distances. Do YOU know the answer to this?

Due to the complicated route for the Steerage passengers to get to to the boat deck, why were there no signs to show them the way? I believe that such a simple method like this could have significantly speeded up the evacuation.

I think White Star simply did not consider the possibility of the Titanic sinking, so evacuating the ship was assumed to be just ferrying the passengers and crew to rescue ships. Maybe they also thought there would be enough time for everybody to get to the boat deck. However, we do know that there were not enough lifeboats to save everyone, so perhaps the missing signs just allowed First and Second Class passengers to get to the boats first. That means that only the number of passengers saved in each Class was affected, not necessarily the actual number of survivors. What do you think about this lack of signs?

There were a number of people on board Titanic who were using a fake name. Maybe they were trying to escape something like debt, police or many other reasons. The Titanic was an emigrants ship, so many were known to be emigrating to make a new life in America. Millvina Dean's family were emigrating to set up a business, but sadly, her father did not survive the disaster and the family lost everything, except the clothes they were wearing. They later returned to Britain with only possessions donated to them by Americans.

I know one of my books says a man was offered a job as a fireman (stoker), but he took his celebrations too far and got drunk the night before he was due to join the ship. He knew he would not be allowed to go on board with a hangover, so his brother went in his place. Sadly, although his brother used his drunk relative's name, he was not among the survivors.

To this day, the official list of the dead includes the name of the brother who got drunk and, therefore, did not even sail on that fateful maiden voyage! There is no mention of the actual brother's name who really did perish!

Then there was the crew member who gave his address as Queenstown. He was never seen again after Titanic left Ireland. It was widely assumed that he simply signed on as crew to get a free trip home (luckily saving his life!). The name he gave may not have been his real name. It has never, to my knowledge, been confirmed.

It is known that other people, not just crew, were travelling under false names. The official list of the survivors and (separately) of the dead included many names which are unknown or in doubt.

This lack of clarity about who was onboard, who died and who survived only served to cause the families of those potentially involved unimaginable distress and worry. 3 babies went down with the ship and, to date, only one has been identified. Many other adults and children remain missing. Do YOU know of anyone on board that doomed ship who was using a false identity?

I just found a copy of the original death certificate for each of the 1532 victims of the disaster. It gives the cause of death for each person as, "Drowning". Whilst I DO accept that a small number of those who died probably DID drown when the water first entered the starboard side of the bow where many Steerage passengers were accommodated, in the light of modern improvements in the understanding of the survivability of the human body in water temperatures of around -1.5 degrees C (the last water temperature recorded in the Captain's Log, taken just before the iceberg was sighted by the lookout Frederick Fleet), I believe that the rest of those who did not survive simply froze to death from frostbite and/or hypothermia without having the chance to drown. That leads to the obvious question - why was the cause of death given as drowning when, for most of the dead, it was clearly not correct? Did they know, in 1912, that people would not generally have the chance to drown before they froze to death in the sea conditions that existed on that fateful night? Surely there IS a test to prove the difference between death by drowning and death by extreme cold, so why didn't the authorities discover the true cause of death? Was such a test available to them at that time? Or did they simply not use it? Can anyone shed any light on this unexplained mystery?

I know that First Officer Murdoch was assumed to have committed suicide before the Titanic sank, but did he?

The facts in favour of this cause of death are:-
(1) A shot was heard by many survivors.
(2) He was shot once in the head from point blank range.
(3) Nobody else was seen anywhere near him.
(4) His gun was found on the deck nearby.
(5) He may have been one of the heroes of the night by deliberately killing himself to give up his place in a lifeboat.

However,the above evidence is far from conclusive. Consider the following suggestions against the suicide theory:-
(1) Could the gun have gone off accidentally? I think that's unlikely due to the location of the head wound. Those intent on suicide may well aim at that part of the head.
(2) Was there an argument with a passenger or a member of the crew about allocation of places in the lifeboats? I am not aware of any signs of a struggle discovered by the witnesses who found his lifeless body.
(3) He was not the nervous person portrayed in the movie.
(4) He did not appear depressed or suicidal.
(5) He did not say to anyone that he was going to commit suicide.
(6) Were there any other possible causes that I haven't mentioned or do YOU know of anything that proves what really happened to the officer who was in command of the Titanic when the iceberg was sighted?