And then this happens. General uproar. The
blind trust in material and appliances has received a terrible shock. I
will say nothing of the credulity which accepts any statement which
specialists, technicians and office-people are pleased to make, whether
for purposes of gain or glory. You stand there astonished and hurt in
your profoundest sensibilities. But what else under the circumstances
could you expect?
For my part I could much sooner believe in an unsinkable ship of 3,000
tons than in one of 40,000 tons. It is one of those things that stand to
reason. You can't increase the thickness of scantling and plates
indefinitely. And the mere weight of this bigness is an added
disadvantage. In reading the reports, the first reflection which occurs
to one is that, if that luckless ship had been a couple of hundred feet
shorter, she would have probably gone clear of the danger. But then,
perhaps, she could not have had a swimming bath and a French cafe. That,
of course, is a serious consideration. I am well aware that those
responsible for her short and fatal existence ask us in desolate accents
to believe that if she had hit end on she would have survived.
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