Checked wording
Myths and wording
“Unsinkable”
Royal Museums Greenwich is plain that Titanic “was never actually described as ‘unsinkable’.” The claim made by the builders, it says, was that she was “practically unsinkable.”1 The builders claimed that four of the compartments could be flooded without endangering the liner’s buoyancy. “The system led many to claim that the Titanic was unsinkable.”2
Royal Museums Greenwich says the builders’ wording was “practically unsinkable,” and that she was never actually described as simply unsinkable. Britannica records that the system led many to claim she was unsinkable. We keep both.
Did she break in two?
The inquiry, following Second Officer Lightoller’s account, recorded that “the ship did not break in two” and that she did eventually attain the perpendicular before going slowly down.3 Britannica, writing after the wreck was examined, says the ship broke in two between the third and fourth funnels as the stern rose and the midsection came under great strain.2
The wreck page keeps both of those sentences in view, with the 1985 discovery.
CQD and SOS
At 12.15 a.m., the inquiry says, the distress signal CQD was sent, and was heard by several steamships and by Cape Race.3 Greenwich also notes that the transmission was altered to the new code SOS, “first use of this code by a passenger liner.”1 Greenwich times the first wireless call for assistance, using the code CQD, at 00.45 on 15 April, and the last transmission at 02.10. The British inquiry instead times the first CQD at 12.15 a.m. and the last message at 2.17. Both wordings stay in view.1
We do not try to settle the clocks. We put the inquiry’s 12.15 a.m. CQD, and Greenwich’s 00.45 first transmission, on the same table, and we note Greenwich’s wording that the call was altered to SOS, “first use of this code by a passenger liner.”