Titanic: The Tragedy that Inspired a Turning Point in Maritime Safety
Titanic: The Tragedy That Inspired a Turning Point in Maritime Safety
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  • Titanic
  • Ship's Layout
  • The Sinking
    • Inquiries
  • Safety Precautions: Then and Now
    • Radio Transmissions
    • Lifeboats and Lifevests
    • Flares and Ice Patrol
  • Design Flaws and Improvements
  • SOLAS
  • Process Paper and Bibliography

Flares and Ice Patrol:

Flares: Before and After

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Before the Titanic, rockets and flares were not always interpreted as distress signals. Sometimes vessels would fire rockets (or flares) to signal their position to ships in the area.  Titanic was firing white flares, which were meant to signal distress which was misinterpreted by the officers of the Californian.  This was because distress rockets were to be fired at one minute intervals, but the rockets that Titanic fired were at random intervals.
After the sinking, the firing of rockets or flares was to be interpreted as a distress signal to nearby ships, as established by the British Board of Trade rules.
Had the Californian recognized Titanic's distress rockets, countless lives would have been saved.

Ice Patrol: Preventing Another Titanic

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The International Ice Patrol is an organization of vessels that patrol waters for ice and icebergs. After the Titanic disaster, the Revenue Cutter Service (US Coast Guard) was assigned to patrol the waters. It wasn't until the first International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea that the U.S. officially undertook this obligation. It has been under the US Coast Guard ever since.
    The International Ice Patrol is funded in part by the thirteen countries which voted for the organization to begin.  This has helped safe lives by protecting oceangoing vessels from dangerous ice and icebergs.

Other Pages: Safety Precautions: Then and Now
                     Radio Transmissions
                     Lifeboats and Lifevests
                     Design Flaws and Improvements
Made By: Rachel Ward, Senior Individual Website