@article{ref1,
title="The Titanic disaster [editorial]",
journal="Buffalo medical journal",
year="1912",
author="",
volume="67",
number="10",
pages="575-577",
abstract="So much has been said of the terrible disaster that we shall try,difficult as may be, to limit ourselves to a cold-blooded considera-tion of certain phases not too remote from medical science. Inthe February issue, referring to the Equitable Building fire, wesuggested that a study of caloric values, quite in analogy to thatof the dietetician, might have a practical bearing in establishingquantitative though approximate estimates of the amount of com-bustible material that might safely be allowed in the structure andcontents of buildings. In the present connection, we would sug-gest as a text to the officers of steamship companies: M=v w. Momentum equals the product of velocity and weight. It oughtto be possible to establish pretty acccurately, the resistance ofvarious parts of a ship. Knowing w, the weight or displace-ment of the ship, it should be possible to establish a maximumvalue for v, the velocity, in case of danger of collision eitherwith another ship, an iceberg or a rock. Expert sailors declare that the average well built ship of say10,000 to 20,000 tons, can outride any storm, if there is plentyof sea room: that with reasonable caution as to lights andwhistles, there is practically no danger of collision, even in afog, with another vessel, provided of course that both vesselsare carefully conducted; that, unless prevented from making ob-servations, or driven by a storm, there is no danger of strikinga rock; but that the danger of icebergs remains paramount. Four years ago, but almost a month later in the season, andin a milder season, at that, we had some opportunity to note howa careful captain would sol.ve the above equation for v. Fortwo entire days, we averaged about seven miles an hour, neverexceeding ten, and sometimes merely floating when more experteyes than ours could differentiate ice from fog. This was fora vessel of about a quarter of the tonnage of the Titanic. Themere fact that the enormous dimensions of the Titanic do notshow a tonnage displacement corresponding to the cube of simi-lar diameters, indicates that bigness and strength are not synony-mous. If the resistance of individual parts were equal on thesmall and the big ship, it is obvious that the latter should, withequal caution, have proceeded at a rate of less than two milesan hour, and that, in any event, a very slow speed was required,quite ignoring the important fact that a small ship can be handledand stopped much more quickly than a large one. In advance ofdefinite testimony, it was assumed that the Titanic was makingabout 15 miles an hour, and struck head-on with a momentumgraphically compared to that of 37 Empire State express trainsat 70 miles an hour. • It was asserted--and readily conceded bynon-expert readers,--that this momentum would shear off boltsand otherwise disrupt the water-tight compartments throughout. The fact seems to be that the speed was 20--23 knots (approxi-mately 25 land miles) an hour and that the ice was seen just intime to allow a rapid turn which caused practically the whole sideof the ship to be torn, and that this fatal traumatism caused analmost imperceptible shock. As an instance of the difficulty ofpassing judgment in technical matters, it is now stated that, whilethe officer on the bridge acted properly in making the turn, if ahead-on collision had been allowed, the ship would probablyhave floated. The discussion of physical forces may seem academic, but ithas a practical side, which should be legally established, on themathematic basis. We do not intend to throw blame on the captain of the Ti-tanic. The mere fact that this, and other ships were followingthe northern route; that the presence of icebergs was well known,that the Titanic herself had transmitted a report of their obser-vation only about one hour's average run from her position atthe time, and that she struck about two hours afterward, showsthat a tangible risk was being run, which no sane man would haveincurred without orders. We must consider something morethan the momentum of velocity and weight. It has been es-timated that a few prominent passengers on the Titanic, rep-resented nearly 200' million dollars; that five to ten million dol-lars' worth of jewelry were worn, or ready to be worn, on theship; many of the passengers were of weight aside from moneyand social standing. It was the initial trip of the greatest boatthat had ever been built. The whole civilized world was inter-ested. W hide not built to rival the recent speed records, aschedule was expected about as short as the shortest even fiveyears ago. The manager of the line was on board. This wasthe momentum. It struck a human being, a captain of longexperience, who had never had, scarcely ever seen a marinedisaster. He was careful, conscientious, in supreme authority,until he reached land. He could have taken the southerncourse, he could have kept the ship barely moving for severaldays. And then, even before his arrival, thanks to wireless, hewould have been the employee, who had disgraecd a great com-pany, who had shown the white feather, who had offendedthat part of the community which, on account of its wealth, de-mands promptness, obedience, good service. That was the ob -ject on which the momentum was expended. The result of the physical and psychic momentum was amortality, in a space of at most four hours, approximately equiva-lent to that for a whole year, of a city of 100,000 inhabitants--*Albany for example. This was a preventable mortality, pre-ventable by the simple means of working out comparatively sim-ple problems in elementary physics. By the way, will this mortality show in the vital statistics?If so, where? If not, should it? If these-- and many similar,scattered deaths remain unaccounted for in our tables, how willthey affect subsequent statistics?The necessity of an adeqate supply of life boats might seemto require no comment but one point in this connection seems notto have occurred to the multitude of writers on the subject. Upto recently there has been a growing opinion-- which as a passen-ger we confess to have shared--that a life boat was either en-tifely useless or afforded a very doubtful chance of saving lifeand was rather a means of prolonging the inevitable suffering of awreck. The prevalent ignorance of swimming by deep seasailors is another expression of the same thought. With thedevelopment of wireless telegraphy, and the increase of risk in-herent to the ship, such as dangerous speed, explosion of boilers,dropping of heavy engines through the bottom, etc., the value ofthe life boat again becomes worth the attention of business in-terests and of the law<p /><p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="1040-3817",
doi="",
url="http://dx.doi.org/"
}