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CHAPTER XIX
HOW THE WORLD RECEIVED THE NEWS
NATIONS PROSTRATE WITH GRIEF—MESSAGES FROM KINGS
AND CARDINALS—DISASTER STIRS WORLD TO NECESSITY
OF STRICTER REGULATIONS
Sinking of the Titanic and Great Sea Disasters |  |
HOUSE OF COMMONS INVESTIGATION
Immediate and searching inquiry into the Titanic disaster was promised on the floor of the House of Commons April 18th, by President Sidney Buxton, of the Board of Trade, which controls all sea-going vessels.
Buxton, in discussing the utterly inadequate life-saving equipment of the big liner, declared that the committee of the board in charge of life-saving precautions had recently recommended increased life-boats, rafts and life-preservers on all big ships, but that the requirements had been found unsatisfactory and had not been put in force. He frankly admitted the necessity for increased equipment without delay.
The board, he said, was utterly unable to compel the transatlantic vessels to reduce their speed in the contest for "express train" ships. He also said the board could not force ships to take the southerly passage in the spring to avoid ice.
The regulations under which the Titanic carried life-boat accommodations for only about one-third of her passengers and crew had not been revised by the committee since 1894. At that time the regulations were made for ships of "10,000 tons or more." The Titanic's tonnage was 45,000, for which the present requirements are altogether insufficient.
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CHAPTER XIX
HOW THE WORLD RECEIVED THE NEWS
NATIONS PROSTRATE WITH GRIEF—MESSAGES FROM KINGS
AND CARDINALS—DISASTER STIRS WORLD TO NECESSITY
OF STRICTER REGULATIONS
Sinking of the Titanic and Great Sea Disasters | |