Rms Titanic Research Paper

RMS Titanic holds the dubious honor of being the most famous shipwreck of all time. Enhanced by the fact that “TITANIC was the largest ship ever built at the time, 46,328 tons, 883 by 93 by 104 feet,9 decks…” (Rasor 48) the ship's sinking has lived on in the imaginations of people for generations after the disaster. On Sunday, April 14th, 1912 at 11:40 pm (Lord 3) RMS Titanic struck an iceberg off the coast of Newfoundland carrying “a crew of about 892 hands all told, and about 1,316 passengers” according to the British Wreck Commissioner. Of those approximately 2,208 men, women, and children 1,517 perished in the Atlantic based on the United States Senate’s report. The predominant question in both the aforementioned British and American inquiries into the incident was to determine the guilt for the loss of RMS Titanic. At the time of the incident, First Officer William Murdoch was Officer of the Watch which placed him in charge of the bridge and gave him authority to pursue evasive action in case of emergency (Seabee 3-4). Although blame can be cast upon many individuals of varying capacities aboard the vessel, this essay aims to answer the …show more content…
From his arrival on his first White Star Line vessel Medic in 1899 to his death on Titanic in 1912 (William McMaster Murdoch) Murdoch rose the ranks of White Star Line at an extraordinary rate. Especially considering that in just 12 short years he had risen from 4th Officer of a minor White Star ship to 1st Officer of her flagship. Clearly Murdoch was a very talented sailor who had become trusted by the officials of the line and had a bright career in front of him. In fact, this brings up the questions that will be addressed in this paper in order to assess his guilt. How qualified was Murdoch to be in command of Titanic?, What was Murdoch’s role as 1st Officer?, and Did Murdoch’s actions lead to the incident and/or loss of life