Stephanie Barczewski

Ireland is kind of on the brink of civil war. Very, very few Catholics, if any, worked at Harland and Wolfe. It's a heavily Protestant workforce. Everybody knew that. And so when the Titanic sinks, all these stories arise. And probably the most famous one is that there's a rumor that the whole number of Titanic, if you held it up to a mirror, and looked at it backwards, it spelled no Pope, right?

Ireland is kind of on the brink of civil war. Very, very few Catholics, if any, worked at Harland and Wolfe. It's a heavily Protestant workforce. Everybody knew that. And so when the Titanic sinks, all these stories arise. And probably the most famous one is that there's a rumor that the whole number of Titanic, if you held it up to a mirror, and looked at it backwards, it spelled no Pope, right?

And that this is a story that Catholics invent to say that basically it's Protestant arrogance that caused the sinking. It's a vengeful Catholic God who sinks the ship for this sort of Protestant effrontery. It's a slight complication with that theory, right? Is that there were a significant number of Irish Catholic immigrants on that ship, right, in the steerage class.

And that this is a story that Catholics invent to say that basically it's Protestant arrogance that caused the sinking. It's a vengeful Catholic God who sinks the ship for this sort of Protestant effrontery. It's a slight complication with that theory, right? Is that there were a significant number of Irish Catholic immigrants on that ship, right, in the steerage class.

This race to build bigger, better, different ships that are competing for sort of different markets and in different ways, it's causing them to kind of push up against the limits of what they can do in terms of maritime technology. It's not actually so much the Titanic that comes to mind here. I think if we think about the Lusitania.

This race to build bigger, better, different ships that are competing for sort of different markets and in different ways, it's causing them to kind of push up against the limits of what they can do in terms of maritime technology. It's not actually so much the Titanic that comes to mind here. I think if we think about the Lusitania.

So when the Lusitania gets hit by a German torpedo in 1915, the problem is that V-shaped hull of the Lusitania that has been designed to make the ship very fast, it becomes a major liability because what happens is that the torpedo hits the ship on one side, right? So it's tilting.

So when the Lusitania gets hit by a German torpedo in 1915, the problem is that V-shaped hull of the Lusitania that has been designed to make the ship very fast, it becomes a major liability because what happens is that the torpedo hits the ship on one side, right? So it's tilting.

And a huge problem why people can't get off the Lusitania is because when it starts to tilt, what happens with the lifeboats... The lifeboats on one side are swinging out so far away from the side of the ship that you can't get from the ship to the lifeboat, right? Because the lifeboat's too far away.

And a huge problem why people can't get off the Lusitania is because when it starts to tilt, what happens with the lifeboats... The lifeboats on one side are swinging out so far away from the side of the ship that you can't get from the ship to the lifeboat, right? Because the lifeboat's too far away.

And so, you know, I'm not going to say that it's because of the shape of the Lusitania's hull that all these people die on the Lusitania, but it's a contributing factor. You can't design for sort of every eventuality, but I think we can certainly see in these stories the kind of limits of shipbuilding technology. And I think that, you know, the Titanic was a good example of that.

And so, you know, I'm not going to say that it's because of the shape of the Lusitania's hull that all these people die on the Lusitania, but it's a contributing factor. You can't design for sort of every eventuality, but I think we can certainly see in these stories the kind of limits of shipbuilding technology. And I think that, you know, the Titanic was a good example of that.

Again, I don't want to overstate this. I don't want to make it sound like this is why it crashed, but they were pushing a little bit against the limits of like what maritime technology could do.

Again, I don't want to overstate this. I don't want to make it sound like this is why it crashed, but they were pushing a little bit against the limits of like what maritime technology could do.

It was built basically to withstand a head-on collision. It was built to withstand if another ship hit it and hit precisely at the juncture of two compartments. It was built to withstand that.

It was built basically to withstand a head-on collision. It was built to withstand if another ship hit it and hit precisely at the juncture of two compartments. It was built to withstand that.

And to be very fair to them, it is a very fluky, precise set of circumstances that causes it.

And to be very fair to them, it is a very fluky, precise set of circumstances that causes it.

They weren't thinking the ship could smash into something or something could smash into it. They weren't thinking it was going to scrape along the side of something.

They weren't thinking the ship could smash into something or something could smash into it. They weren't thinking it was going to scrape along the side of something.