I'm a sucker for stories about the Titanic, but this story lead me to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fata_Morgana_(mirage)" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fata_Morgana_(mirage)</a> which I found way more interesting.
for me, the coolest fact was that the Titanic's spotter saw the iceberg when it was still a mile away. For some reason, I thought the spotter only saw it with hundreds or tens of yards to spare.
You know, this is a perfect metaphor for what often happens in organizations in critical projects/operations when people misunderstand each other, leading to disastrous mistakes and situations. The arrogant, sadistic captain of the Californian that made people too afraid to act, the multiple missed distress calls, the incorrect perception of what they saw of each other, it's got everything.
One thing that might have saved the Titanic would have been to steer directly into the iceberg, bow-on. That way, only one compartment (the front one) would have been damaged), allowing it to stay afloat.
A theory exists that the owner of the Titanic - JP Morgan - was the force behind it's sinking and that all the wealthy and powerful men that his group wanted to get rid of were invited to be on that ship. You can read about it here - <a href="http://www.titanicuniverse.com/the-titanic-conspiracy" rel="nofollow">http://www.titanicuniverse.com/the-titanic-conspiracy</a>