Weather conditions
Whilst the decision to continue travelling at high speed has long-since been criticised, it was the maritime custom of the day to depend on lookouts in the crow’s nest and watchmen on the bridge to warn of on-coming icebergs in time for a change of course. Unfortunately, the lookouts Frederick Fleet and Reginald Lee were hampered by their lack of binoculars (said to have been accidentally left behind in Southampton) and the unusual weather conditions.
Clement winter temperatures were responsible for the high number of icebergs in the North Atlantic that April, and as the ship entered an area of high pressure, the temperature dropped to the freezing mark and the sea was calm and still. While such a placid stretch of sea is now known to be a sign of nearby ice, the lack of crashing waves coupled with no moonlight to act as a guide meant that visibility was exceptionally poor. As a result the warning call from the crow’s nest came too late.
Watertight compartments
Considered to be at the forefront of technological advancement, the Titanic housed sixteen watertight compartments on the underside of the ship which could be closed electronically if water entered them, preventing the ship from sinking. Whilst the compartments were closed immediately after impact with the iceberg on 14 April and did slow the progress of the water that began to flood the ship, six of the sixteen compartments were completely flooded, which made the ship too heavy to remain afloat.
It had been calculated by the ship’s engineers that should four or less compartments be flooded by a head-on collision, or the two central compartments be compromised by a shunt from another boat, Titanic would remain afloat. Sadly, in trying to turn the boat away from the fast approaching berg rather than hit is head on, First Officer Murdoch’s order to turn "hard-a-starboard" (a sharp left) meant the ship suffered irreparable damage.
The iceberg tore into six of the compartments in the brief 10 seconds of impact, allowing water to pour into the ship at a much faster rate than the ship’s pumps could handle. On inspection of the damage, Titanic’s engineer Thomas Andrews confirmed to the shocked Captain Smith that the ship would definitely sink and would do so in about two hours time.
Interestingly though, ultrasound analysis of the wreck in 1996 has shown that rather than renting a large tear in the side of the boat as is often depicted in Titanic mythology, the impact of the iceberg hitting the bow of the boat caused stress to the rivets holding the hull plates together, causing the plates to separate and allowing water to flood into the ship.