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Message: [QUOTE="Yuri Singleton, post: 87580, member: 146581"] I second Michael's post above. Icebergs are not stable objects. They roll and flip often and with little to no warning. Also its worth saying again that captains and officers usually follow their training when dealing with an emergency at sea. And they are not trained to do radical maneuvers such as beaching the bow on a berg. Instead they are trained to try to save the ship with the time tested practices of patching holes, pumping water out, sealing compartments, shifting ballast, etc. to try to maintain control and stability of the vessel. In the meantime they are also going to try to evacuate the passengers and crew to safety using the evacuation systems and procedures they have been trained to use, ie, lifeboats, lifevests, and keeping people calm and orderly. So while its easy, and very tempting sometimes, to come up with multiple 'what ifs' ideas regarding things the captain or crew could have done to save more lives, or keep the ship from sinking, those radical ideas are usually far easier to imagine than they are to implement and the results are rarely a big improvement over the tried and true methods. Besides, even if Captain Smith had decided to try to make for a berg to beach her, during the inquiries and law suits after the sinking, lawyers for the plaintiffs would be able to eat White Star alive for negligence on the part of the crew. Because then every life that was lost could have been arguably saved if only the crew had used the lifeboats. I'm serious, in an emergency you follow the written procedures and rules to the letter even if you know they are flawed because if you go out on a limb trying to do something heroic and out of the norm and the company gets sued, guess who just took full responsibility for any liability during that emergency. And your friendly neighborhood corporate attorney will be more than happy to see his client well paid at the expense of the transport company all because one maverick decided to ignore stated guidelines and act alone. Even if those actions did result in the eventual rescue of the plaintiff. Same for then as for now. [/QUOTE]

Verification: In which year did the Titanic sail?