Here's what another site ("Titanic and other White Star Line ships") says about Naronic:
" . . . Naronic's 7th voyage (Feb. 11, 1893) inbound to New York with 74 passengers would be her last. After departing Liverpool, she was never heard from or seen again. Almost a month later, the steamer Coventry enroute to England from Newport News, Va., spotted one of Naronic's lifeboats floating upside down in the water, 500 hundred miles off the coast of Halifax. The next day another boat was spotted. Later in the month, a total of 4 bottles with messages in them stating that they were written by Naronic passengers, began to wash up on the shores of New York and Virginia. Two of the messages stated that the Naronic had struck an iceberg . . . the location of the Naronic lifeboats was only 90 miles from where Titanic struck an iceberg; also an area thought to be a very unlikely location for icebergs to be."
So a White Star Line ship, Naronic, was struck by an iceberg near where Titanic hit an iceberg. Everyone was lost. Before that, another White Star Line ship, Atlantic, was lost where the captain was proceding at an excessive speed.
How could Captain Smith, with something like 45 years of experience (25 years as a captain) that spanned both of these disasters, and having been employed by the same line that owned Naronic and Atlantic - - not have been acutely aware of the extreme risk of sailing Titanic at full steam into an ice field?
Let's posthumously cross-examine him . . .
-"Captain Smith, where did Titanic go down?"
Smith: "I would say some 425 miles from Halifax."
-"Captain, you've been sailing the seas for 45 years, and been a captain for 25 years, right?
Smith: "Yes . . ."
-"In those years your practice, you say, has been to travel at full speed and keep a lookout for ice, correct?
Smith: "Yes, I put the sharpest men I have in the crows nest. The speed is not problematic. And they can spot the bergs with plenty of time."
-"How comes it then, they did not spot the berg which struck Titanic in sufficient time?"
Smith: "It was the unusual conditions, never before have I seen such conditions at sea."
-"Am I correct, again, that you assert 'never before have you seen such conditions at sea?'"
Smith: "Never before . . . everything was against us. It was fate."
-"Captain, has you ever heard of the a ship, the S.S. Atlantic?"
Smith: "Er, yes . . . ah, I'm not exactly sure."
-"Let me jog your memory, the year is 1873, the ship is owned by your employer, the White Star Line, correct?"
Smith: "Yes, I think so."
-"Are you sure?"
Smith: "I said I think that's true."
-"I am entering into evidence Plaintiff's Exhibit No. 159, a copy of the official transcript of the Board of Inquiry for the S.S. Atlantic disaster. Captain, have you seen this before?"
Smith: (perusing the document, ears and neck getting redder) "I'm not sure whether I have, I don't recall."
-"Captain, look at page 43, at the bottom, do you see that? Can you read it . . ."
Smith: " . . . the S.S. Atlantic was traveling at an excessive speed such that Captain William negligently placed passengers' lives at risk, resulting in the death of 572 persons."
-"Does this jog your memory at all?"
Smith: "No, I don't see the point."
-"In your magnificent 45 year career you never heard of the Atlantic . . . you never heard of a ship's excessive speed in dangerous waters placing passengers lives at risk?"
Smith: "No . . ."
-"Captain Smith, have you heard of the White Star Line?"
Smith: "Silly, of course."
-"But in your 45 years of sea travel, you never heard of the fate of your own employer's steamship, Atlantic, some 39 years ago?"
Smith: "Well, maybe something, it's a little foggy now."
-"Captain Smith, have you ever heard of the Naronic?"
Smith: "Er . . eh . . ."
-"Captain Smith, need I rephrase the question, have you heard of Naronic?"
Smith: "Well, it was a ship that disappeared years ago?"
-"It disappeared near where your ship disappeared, did it not?"
Smith: "Well, there was an overturned life boat found. . ."
-"Like the overturned boat that McKay-Bennett found, right . . . Captain, I would like to introduce Plaintiff's exhibit 160 now, can you tell me what this is?"
Smith: "Well, I don't know, it's a bottle, a note, something like that."
-"What does the note say, Captain."
Smith: "It says: 'S.S. Naronic, struck iceberg some 500 miles off Halifax."
-"For the record, this is a note from a bottle washed ashore in New York. Captain, when did Naronic disappear?"
Smith: "I think in 1892 or 93 . . ."
-"That's certainly went you were sailing the North Atlantic, wasn't it. Didn't you ever discuss this disaster with your mates?"
Smith: "Yeah, sometimes we talked about it . . ."
-"So before Titanic sank, Captain, White Star Line's Atlantic had been lost to excessive speed, and White Star Line's Naronic had struck an iceberg near where Titanic was lost, correct?"
Smith: (very red by now) "Yes."
-"Captain, these ships were lost in 1873 and 1893, and they were lost during your tenure on the seas, isn't that correct?"
Smith: "Yes, for god's sake."
-"Captain, when you sailed Titanic at its top speed into that icefield on April 14, 1912, you knew that these ships had been lost, one for excessive speed, the other to an iceberg, right?"
Smith: "Yes . . ."
-"You clearly knew of the dangers, the potential risk of extreme loss of life, and you proceeded anyway, right?"
Smith: "Yes . . ."
-"And given the incidents in the record, it was not the unusual conditions, then, was it captain?"
Lord Mersey: "Well, I think he understands that it's a matter of . . ."
-"Your lordship, please! It is for him to answer. It's error for anyone else to interject now, and I respectfully represent that I will immediately file a writ of mandamus with the appellate court if need be . . ."
Smith: (tears, rubbing eyes) "Well . . . No, it wasn't. I'm sorry, I'm very sorry to everyone, I did it because the President of the White Star Line was on board, he wanted to get into New York as soon as possible, it was for the newspapers, he told me to . . ."