16th April - Titanic - The Aftermath

Monday, 16th April 1912

Many of those who perished on the RMS Titanic were crew members and third-class passengers, but she was a floating palace designed for the rich and elite. For example, among those lost were multi-millionaires Benhamin Guggenheim (owner of Macy's department store), John Jacob Astor, and Isador and Ida Straus.

The ship had set sail to much fanfare and promise, and a great deal of media attention. Her sinking would be one of the most prominent stories over the following years until World War One broke out.

The Media

Even before the facts were known, the media of the day reported what they knew or suspected;

• "Two thousands lives lost"
• "Over a thousand lives lost"
• "334 Lives lost"
• "All passengers are safe"

As the truth unfolded, the search for someone to blame began. Led by the Media. Of course there are always heroes and villians in any story, and these were also much reported on. From Captain Arthur Rostron's heroic efforts to Bruce Ismays cowardice, for saving his own life by stepping into a lifeboat.

Understandably, the company which owned the Titanic, The White Star Line, was amongst those targetted for much critisim both immediately (by the media) and in the subsequent enquiries. For example it quicky emerged that the crew's pay was stopped the momment the bow of the ship disappeared beneath the ocean waves.

The surviving crew members, and the families of those that lost loved ones were sent partial payment for the incomplete voyage.

In the months that followed two official enquiries were undertaken to establish what had happened leading up to the events on the 14th April 1912. The first in the USA (19th April - 25th May) followed by a second enquiry in the UK (2nd May - 3rd July).

Invariably blame was placed on technical design, and human failures including poor decision making before and during the disaster. Some of the failings included;

• Lack of lifeboats
• Failure to launch all lifeboats fully loaded
• Lack of general warning was never sounded (many were unaware of the crisis)
• Lack of a scheduled lifeboat drill
• Radio operators worked for Marconi Radio and were not seen as crew members
• Lack of binoculars in the crows nest
• Ice warnings were not relayed to the bridge
• Lack of support from Carpathia, who ignored rockets and turned off their radio
• The Captains reluctance to reduce speed, despite ice warnings he did recieve

Finally, the US investigation laid blame primarily at the feet of the?British Board of Trade, stating "to whose laxity of regulation and hasty inspection the world is largely indebted for this awful fatality."

It would take almost 4 years (1915) for compensation to be paid to the families and survivors of the RMS Titanic disaster. The total amount was ￡509,000 ($665,000), which equates to around

White Star Line paid nothing until December 1915, when they agreed to pay compensation of $664,000 to to be be divided amongst the survivors. This equates to about ￡727 ($950) per person and if we adjust this for inflation, it's approximately ￡16,845 ($22,000) per person.

But for many, the compensation came too late after plunging many into dire poverty and hardship.

For the next 100 years more blame, heroes and villians would be apportioned and discovered. In the enquiries and in the media it was reported that Bruce Ismay had put pressure on the Captain to increase speed. Ismay denied this, but the rumours persisted for the rest of his life, and until the day he died, in 1937, he banned anyone from discussing the Titanic in his presence.

Many of those who survived spoke of their distress and guilt for surviving that night, while others simply sank into deep depression; Never wishing to speak of the event again.

The Aftermath

Following the disaster there were some considerable improvements to regulations governing the design and strewadship of passengers ships. These included

• Ensuring lifeboats for the number of passengers (no longer based on tonnage)
• Lifeboat drills became mandatory
• Radio operators primary purpose was to relay safety messages to the bridge
• All ships were mandated to have 24-hour radio operations
• Radio operators were to be employed by the shipping company
• Establishment of the International Ice Patrol, to look for and warn other ships of icebergs and ice fields.

Many more improvements were made that made shipping safer for everyone.

The Lessons

When a crisis occurs there will be an urgency to report on it, and to apportion blame - to find the villain of the story. Both of these must be considered and addressed in Incident Response plans.

Dependent upon the scale of the incident either mainstream media or social media will be quick to report on what has happened - You need a process to manage this. The process can be as simple as instructing people not to post information on social media through to establishing contact with the press and managing the message.

One news outlet has a saying "Never wrong for long", meaning they will report whatever they know - right or wrong - as quickly as possible, then correct the information as new details emerge.

Of course, you may be thinking that no one will be interested in reporting on you - but this lesson is equally important when considering the communicaiton to your suppliers, employees and customers. Who is managing the message?

Systems may be up. But your people may be down.

Following a major incident what is your response? Do you immediately look for someone to blame? Perhaps it's the head of IT! Perhaps it's that person in accounts who clicked the link and transferred the money to the criminals?!

Don't look to establish who is at fault. Establish what happened without looking to apportion blame. I'm sorry to say this, but in the majority of cases, if you follow the stream of events back to the source - it's usually a failure at the top of the organisation that caused the issue. Don't believe me? Try this out.

1. The Board reduce budget for IT
2. IT need to make system improvements to increase productivity so reduce spend on Pen Testing
3. New systems are implmeneted
4. Hackers exploit a vulnerability in the infrastucture
5. An email is sent to the CEO stating that they will email all their customers unless ￡10,000 is paid to them within 6 hours.

One systems and services have been restored lets focus on what happened and how we can prevent its reoccurence. Blaming and shaming people doesn't help anyone.

Legislation and regulations move with all the speed of a melting glacier, so we need to look beyond what the law requires and establish what is right for us. Moving beyond compliance means considering what is appropriate, and what is right for us to implement.

No one is asking you to spend all your time and money in this area. Hire someone if you must, but get someone to look at information governance and control (often referred to as Goverance Risk and Compliance (GRC). Identify the risks that are present and establish a plan to manage those risks.

Conclusion

The RMS Titanic, like so many other disasters have lessons that we can all learn. But you will have incidents and issues happening all around you (hopefully not too many!) that you can learn from.

Don't miss these opportunities to improve.

Want to know more?

Follow RMS Titanics' journey through the earlier articles.

15th April - Titanic - Her Final Destination

14th April - Titanic - Iceberg! Right ahead!!

13th April - Titanic - An 'uneventful' day?

12th April - Titanic - All Calm

11th April - Titanic - Fire onboard

10th April - Titanic sets sail