Nevin's Data "Points"

You may have missed it – but we just passed the anniversary of the 1912 sinking of the now iconic RMS  Titanic , at the time the world’s largest ocean liner. Its passengers included some of the wealthiest people in the world, as well as a large number of emigrants seeking a new life in North America. On the ocean liner’s maiden – and only – voyage, it carried 2,244 people, 1,514 of whom would perish in the North Atlantic. In hindsight, the  Titanic  seems a textbook example of a disaster that could have been avoided: There were plenty of warnings about sea ice (as many as six), but the ship was traveling near her maximum speed (though it’s a movie myth that they were trying to set a speed record) when lookouts sighted the iceberg that did her in with a “glancing” blow – that nonetheless opened 6 of her 16 compartments to the sea (the ship was designed to stay afloat with four of her forward compartments flooded). And let’s not forget that she went to ...

This weekend marks the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the now iconic RMS Titanic, at the time the world’s largest ocean liner. Its passengers included some of the wealthiest people in the world, as well as a large number of emigrants seeking a new life in North America. On the ocean liner’s maiden—and only—voyage, it carried 2,244 people, 1,514 of whom would perish as a result of a decision to carry only enough lifeboats to accommodate about half those on board. Despite that, the tale of Titanic’s closing hours is generally one of an orderly, “women and children first” evacuation, with the band playing on while passengers stood in line and waited their turn. In an NPR report this week titled “ Why Didn’t Passengers Panic on the Titanic? ” David Savage, an economist and Queensland University in Australia, compared the behavior of the passengers on the Titanic with those on the Lusitania, another ship that also sunk at about the same time. Both involved luxury liners, both had...