PowerSwitch

Did anyone catch the Channel 4 documentary on the infamous maritime disaster last night?

Available for the next 29 days: http://www.channel4.com/programmes/tita ... /64665-001

In short, it convincingly argues that the real reason why Captain Smith ordered RMS Titanic to steam through the ice field at full pelt was that it did not have enough fuel - coal - to do any detour or she would have run out of on board coal to make it to New York. Apt metaphor for today's economic system, perhaps?

If short on coal, surely going a little slower would have increased the range?

clv101 wrote:If short on coal, surely going a little slower would have increased the range?

No - which sounds counterintuitive but this was explained in the documentary. The ship's supply of coal was on fire - originally in Boiler Room 6 but had spread to Boiler Rooms 9 & 10. The firemen and stokers on board were dealing with the fire by feeding the boilers at maximum rate - get the blazing coals inside the boilers as soon as possible. By slowing down the engines would result in the fire consuming far more of the coal before being fed into the furnaces which would have resulted in the Titnic having insufficient fuel to reach New York

That's a good point, raspberry-blower. I haven't thought of it that way before.