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Back to index of Nerve 20 - Summer 2012
15 April was the date of the Titanic and Hillsborough disasters of 1912 and 1989. Jeremy Hawthorn argues that both were avoidable tragedies where those responsible tried to hide the truth.
Avoidable Tragedies - Titanic and Hillsborough
TITANIC
We should not be surprised by the arrogance that sank the Titanic. The inequalities and repression of 1911 (highlighted by this magazine) were equally apparent in 1912. Suffragettes were getting nowhere even with window-smashing protests. Irish nationalists found that even a mild-mannered Home Rule Bill (devolution, more like) provoked loyalist paramilitaries. The Liverpool dockers, so strong the year before, were threatened by a 'clearing-house scheme' that proposed to cut their numbers by a third.
A month-long miners strike caused the state to panic. Government hurriedly agreed a minimum wage and took action against subversives. Tom Mann and others were prosecuted for a leaflet that urged soldiers not to shoot strikers.
On the seas, ships had got bigger and faster, financed in part by emigration to North America. The Blue Riband was awarded for the quickest Atlantic crossing. The White Star line marketed the Olympic and the new Titanic as 'the largest steamers in the world' - which, for now, they were.
Did these larger ships have to carry enough lifeboats for all on board? Er, no. There was an old and complicated formula based on the ship's tonnage where the uppermost limit was still only 10,000 tons. Were changes under consideration? An Advisory Committee report was lying in the long grass at the Board of Trade. But even if it had been acted on, it would have made no difference.
Then the casual nature of seamen’s employment, where a crew signed on only a few days before sailing, meant there was no boat drill to launch such lifeboats as there were. Also most ships didn't have a full-time radio operator to send - or receive - distress signals.
The Titanic had plenty of warning that there was ice on its route. It didn't slow down. It hit the iceberg travelling at 21 or 22 knots, not far off top speed.
The White Star's first reaction was to say that the ship was all right. The Echo of 15 April carried headline news: "No loss of life feared". It was a whole day before the company admitted the Titanic had sunk. Even then the spokesman said there were enough lifeboats for everyone on board - which he knew to be untrue.
Even a Government inquiry could not miss the point: "the loss of the ship was due to collision with an iceberg, brought about by the excessive speed at which the ship was being navigated."
You might think that after such a cataclysmic disaster those responsible would show some contrition. But no. New safety rules were opposed by Leslie Scott, Tory Liverpool MP who pleaded that "free, untrammelled development, free from Government interference, is essential to real progress".
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Image by Tom Donohue
HILLSBOROUGH
It was 15 April 1989 and Liverpool were in the FA Cup semi-final. Hillsborough was a neutral ground and Liverpool had the 'away' supporters' end, known as Leppings Lane. There were large areas by each corner-flag, an upstairs tier and two 'central pens' reached by a tunnel. High fences prevented access to the pitch and any sideways movement.
Many had been delayed by motorway roadworks. Antiquated turnstiles turned slowly. Kick-off approached and large crowds were still outside. The match was live on television. No one had the courage to delay the game.
A large 'exit gate' was opened to let people in without checking tickets. This was justifiable, but no one thought through what would happen next. Fans streamed in and straight into the tunnel. A single row of stewards across that tunnel entrance would have diverted them to the left corner-flag area which was virtually empty.
Death was then inevitable. Some were lucky enough to be hoisted to the upstairs stand. But for far too long people at the front pleaded with the police to open the two (single-file) gates to the pitch. The cries for help were treated as a public order problem. The emergency services froze and ambulances were delayed.
Insult was then added to injury. The police put it out that the exit gate had been forced open. Journalists present could have walked over and seen that the gate was intact. But they didn't. Their 'news' flashed round Europe along with the death toll.
A few days later the Sun carried a front-page story that Liverpool fans had urinated upon the dead and picked their pockets. They blamed drunken fans turning up late and without tickets.
A series of legal humiliations followed. Solicitors encouraged compensation claims but the death of a young person without dependants is apparently 'worth' almost nothing. One family were offered the price of the match ticket as compensation. There was an inquest, where an autocratic coroner ruled that all the deceased had lost their lives by 3.15pm, preventing any consideration of what the emergency services did or did not do.
There was also a judicial inquiry. This was a real 'game of two halves'. Its first report, describing what happened, is the best exposition of the tragedy that anyone has produced. But then came a second report, making 'recommendations'. Did it stress the need to trust supporters? No, it called for all-seater stadia. It soon became illegal to sell spare match tickets outside the ground. These conclusions betrayed the earlier analysis of what had gone wrong. The supporters got the blame after all.
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