Captain Edward J. Smith (right) and another of the ship’s officers, purser Hugh Walter McElroy, stand on the deck of the Titanic near the beginning of its voyage. Captain Smith was an experienced and well-respected sea commander who had presided over many successful Atlantic crossings. Eyewitnesses and historians have debated his level of responsibility for the collision, his effectiveness in supervising the sinking ship’s evacuation, and his last words. He died when the ship went down, and his body was never found. He had been in charge of a giant ship weighing more than 46,000 tons that had taken 10,000 men almost four years to build, at nearly immeasurable cost. To its wealthy investors and owners, the Titanic had been a proud symbol of the future and of the new 20th century’s confidence — in the power of developing technology, the might of industry, and human ingenuity. In the end, it became something else. And the tragedy led directly to the passing of strict new safety measures and regulations governing lifeboats, evacuation drills, searchlights, lookout schedules, routes, and radio contact.
© Ralph White/CORBIS