10 Ways You Think About The Titanic All Wrong

9. They Didn’t See The Iceberg Because Of A Crew Shift

The night of April 14th was an unusually calm one on the Atlantic. In theory this would mean the seas were clear and the lookouts would have been able to see any threat a long way off, but because the sea was so flat there were no waves to crest on any nearby icebergs, instead meaning they would only see them when they were much closer than normal.

Of course, even without the weather, the lookouts that evening were really up against it; they didn't have any binoculars, and hadn't for the whole of the maiden voyage thus far. Oh, White Star Line had provided some and they were actually on the ship, but they were locked in a security box that nobody on board had a key for; there'd been a change in crew at Southampton, and in the switch the key had been misplaced. This is at least somewhat well known, with some vindictive prankster leaving a pair of binoculars on Frederick Fleet's grave on the 100th anniversary of the sinking as some form of a sick joke.

However, even that key hadn't been misplaced, the issue may not have been solved. According to various sources, binoculars weren't commonly used on other White Star Line ships, an institutionalised obliviousness that may have unwittingly influenced the tragedy.