LONDON (Reuters) – The Titanic hit an iceberg in 1912 because of a basic steering error, and only sank as fast as it did because an official persuaded the captain to continue sailing, an author said in an interview published on Wednesday.

Louise Patten, a writer and granddaughter of Titanic second officer Charles Lightoller, said the truth about what happened nearly 100 years ago had been hidden for fear of tarnishing the reputation of her grandfather, who later became a war hero.

Lightoller, the most senior officer to have survived the disaster, covered up the error in two inquiries on both sides of the Atlantic because he was worried it would bankrupt the ill-fated liner's owners and put his colleagues out of a job.

"They could easily have avoided the iceberg if it wasn't for the blunder," Patten told the Daily Telegraph.

contiued http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100922/lf_nm_...in_titanic_book

It was a combination of that and faulty construction in the bolts that connected the ship's plates that doomed the liner and most of her passengers. t:

I've re-typed this 5 times now.....................I guess I just don't know what to say. A 1st I know LOL.

they put a guy behind the wheel on the largest most expensive ship of the day, and he doesnt know which way to turn it? rrrrrright rofl

In times of panic, people go to "default mode". Pre-dating Titanic, ships had a wheel and pulley steering system wherein you steered right to go left and vice versa. The helmsman most likely went into default mode, having done that maneuver many times before.

In the book Titanic's Last Secrets, "Shadow Divers" John Chatterton and Richie Kohler dove on the wreck with a team and discovered new evidence that the ships underbelly and keel scraped along the iceberg that led them to surmise Titanic was basically gutted, in contrast to the myth of the gash along the side that became status quo.