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Originally Posted by Sailor Steve
As to the anchors, I think all your summations are correct: they didn't have enough time, they didn't think of it and it probably wouldn't have mattered anyway.
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1. Based on eyewitness accounts of the iceberg's size: Had they maintained power through the turn, modern flow simulators have indicated they would have been able to turn in time.
2. Had they not attempted to turn at all, and instead just rammed right up into the 'berg, the boat would have likely grounded onto the ice, preventing it from sinking.
3. Had the construction company made the forward bulkheads truely airtight (that is to say, had they not left a 10' gap at the top of the buldheads to save money), the boat would have stayed afloat.
4. Had the White Star company put enough life rafts aboard, rather than making more room for the 1st class passengers to mosey about, far fewer people would have drown or otherwise succumbed to hypothermia (you
know the crew would have been launching the first dozen boats half full, because there were millionares onboard).
5. Had the skipper not increased speed during the Atlanic transit, there would have been more time to make the braking-turn, reducing the probability that the fore compartments would be successively breeched.
6. Had the ship wireless station been manned 24/7 by a revolving shift, on the
Californian, they could have been there by the time the Titanic went under and immediately began resuce operations for the people in the water.
So. In the immortal words of
Richard Marcinko, it was "a real goatf*ck."