I clearly touched a nerve yesterday by bringing up the Titanic hearings of 1912. Several readers have responded in order to defend the good name of Sen. William “Watertight” Smith (D-Mich.). I must admit that I missed the hearings on C-Span, so it’s only fair to present the other side of the story:
In defense of Senator Smith, he asked the question about the watertight compartments at the hearing because he had been frequently asked the same thing and wanted to officially put the idea to rest. As for the iceberg question (which is legitimate – icebergs aren’t all ice), I believe it was answered by Second Officer Charles Lightoller, who spent most of the hearings trying to make the committee look foolish and to cover his and the White Star Line’s collective hindquarters. To anyone interested in the story of the American hearings I highly recommend The Titanic: End of a Dream by Wyn Craig Wade.