May 1910

The Man on the Bridge

Two years before the sinking of the Titanic, a steamship officer warned of the dangers of overworked, overwhelmed, and sometimes irresponsible crew. "A narrow escape happened to me about six years ago when in charge of a ship carrying a full passenger-list... Almost alongside the ship was an iceberg towering up about three hundred feet. The ship passed within twenty feet of it, going at the rate of twenty-one knots; had there been a submerged trailer attached to the berg the ship's bottom would have been ripped open. Cold as I was at the time, I went colder still and vowed that I would never again take such risks... But sailors are forgetful creatures..."

Magazine Charles Terry Delaney