Why couldn't the Titanic passengers have been put on the iceberg?

Question

Why couldn't the captain of the Titanic have done this instead? Once he realized the seriousness of the damage, along with the fact that they didn't have enough lifeboats, couldn't he have immediately put the Titanic in reverse (with what remaining time and power they had left), and maneuvered up along side the iceberg? Once there, he could have filled up the lifeboats to full capacity, and then offloaded the remaining passengers directly onto the iceberg itself. They would only have had to survive on the iceberg for a few hours, before the Carpathia arrived, and picked everyone up. Wouldn't this have worked?

Answer 1

By this point they had steamed past the Ice cub and were sinking.... they would have had to some how turn the engines back on which at this point had be evacuated and sealed off and then find the berg in the dark and some how got the people on to this slippery little blighter???

Answer 2

Icebergs are not ships. They are not regular in shape and 9/10ths of them are underwater, and a section of it had already carved gouges into the hull of the Titanic. If the Titanic had gone back to the iceberg, what was under water would have caused even more damage. On top of that, they had already lost sight of the iceberg as the Titanic continued on it's forward momentum. One reason that it was not seen in time was that it had recently rolled over in the water. Because of this, what was visible still contained sea-water and made it dark and difficult to spot. Iceberg means "ice mountain", so even in daylight and fully dressed, there was no chance that anybody could have reached the iceberg and climbed onto it. Finally, the Titanic WAS put into reverse to try and slow the impact, after which the engines were stopped.

Answer 3

You obviously do not have ANY idea of what an "iceberg" is like ! "berg" = "hill", and it is just that, a "floating mountain", by far the greatest part of it below water (hence the metaphor "tip of the iceberg"). It is NOT an "ice-FLOE", which is a flat sheet of floating ice, and "landing on it" would have been quite impossible. If it HAD been possible, don't you think that would have been done ?

But even with a "floe" it would have been extremely difficult to get people out of the lifeboats onto it - it wouldn't have been like a landing-stage in a park lake ! THINK about it ! Getting women,children and old people, eithter in nightclothes or the dresses of the time, out of high-sided boats - NOT securely moored alongside - onto ICE - and in the dark !!

And even if it had been possible, and had been done, most of them wold have died of hypothermia anyway - that sets in within a few MINUTES, and a "few hours" would have seen most of them dead.

Answer 4

maybe but with all the people the ice burg would have sunk, and it is in like a triangle formation so people would have fell off or had trouble staying on, and most of the people wouldnt have been able to fit and its ICE, its freezing. So it wouldnt have mattered if they did or not. Also that wasnt the captains focus at the time he wanted the people able to get to land and Ice burg would move to slowly.

Answer 5

I don't know whether it would have been possible. there may not have been any flat surfaces on the iceberg suitable for landing people on. An iceberg is like a montain, with a peak sticking ou tof the water. Also it would have been freezing cold, though I suppose not as cold as being in the water. But it just may not have been possible to land people on it. also, the Titanic did not stop when it hit the iceberg, it kept going, so it was probably quite a long way from the iceberg by the time it sank.



On the lifeboat question, it was assumed in those days that another ship would come along and pick up the passengers, so the lifeboats would merely be used to ferry passengers across from one ship to another. that is why there weren't enough boats for everyone. Shipping lanes were busy in those days, there was usually another ship not far away. I don't think it is entirely certain why this did not happen in the case of the Titanic, though various theories have been suggested as to why no other ship came until it was too late for most of the passengers. It was an odd business altogether.

Answer 6

No, they still would've died from the cold, hypothermia would've got them in an hour or less. Also, how would they get to the ice berg, they couldn't jump and they couldn't get that close? They had to cut the engine when they hit the ice berg or they would've sank quicker.

Answer 7

Clinging on to a cone of ice, would be either very difficult or too easy if they stuck to it.

Answer 8

Yeah it might be correct

Answer 9

LOL!!