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GoGaslightYerself t1_j5jlvej wrote

Reply to comment by Jrubas in TIL that Titanic crewman Herbert Pitman made an attempt to row his lifeboat over to rescue people in the water, but was overruled by the other occupants of the boat, who were worried about people swarming them and duly complied. Pitman said that this haunted him throughout his life. by ChadExtra

There is also the issue in ethics/maritime law where you are obligated to render aid unless/until doing so endangers the safety of your vessel and the lives of those on board. If Pitman had rendered aid, and his decision to do so ended up with the lifeboat sinking or additional people dying as a result, he would have been culpable for that, too.

Basically, it's "damned if you do, damned if you don't."

No matter what happens, if anything goes wrong, it is generally always the master's fault, since he/she is "the boss."

At least that's what they taught us when I got my captain's license.

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RamboSixVegas t1_j5jqhqu wrote

There's even some debate over whether Captain Ronstron of Carpathia put his own ship at undue risk when he pushed it to its limits through the same waters that sank a much larger ship. He's lauded because he was successful, where I think he'd be condemned if he wasn't the one to save the passengers in the lifeboats or even damaged his own ship in the process.

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Jrubas t1_j5jy5cx wrote

Then you have Captain Lord of the Californian who to this day is treated like a villain for his inaction that night. His ship was surrounded by ice and had stopped for the night. Even if he conclusively knew of the Titanic's predicament, he wouldn't have been entirely in the wrong to stay put. Like the other guy said, he was responsible for the ship and he was damned if he did, damned if he didn't. He was dragged for his inaction, but if he tried to get to Titanic, hit an iceberg, and sank, suddenly the question would be "Why did you try to get to Titanic when you knew you were surrounded by icebergs?"

Sometimes, you just can't win.

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Jrubas t1_j5jw8xc wrote

Right. Plus this happened in 1912. People tend to forget how different things were back then. The captain going down with his ship wasn't a quaint, old-timey tradition, it's something that was pretty much expected. If your ship went down and took a thousand people with it, you'd better just go with them and not show your face back on land, even if it wasn't your fault. J. Bruce Ismay was dragged in the press for surviving. There was a Japanese guy who survived (I forget his name). When he got back to Japan, he was treated as a national disgrace for living while so many others died.

All that to say: If you made even the slightest mistake, you'd be villainized to the point that a hundred years later people would still see you as a mustache twirling asshole who threw a baby out of a lifeboat to steal its spot. It was the early 20th Century version of being canceled, only much, much, much worse.

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