But below the waterline, the damage was fatal. The iceberg had buckled the hull plates, opening a series of thin gashes across six of the sixteen watertight compartments. The ship was designed to survive flooding in four; six was a death sentence. As water poured in, the bow began to dip, forcing the stern to rise out of the water. The Titanic carried only 20 lifeboats—enough for roughly 1,178 people, or just over half of those on board. This was not an oversight; it was compliance with outdated British Board of Trade regulations. The logic of the era was that lifeboats were for ferrying passengers to a rescue vessel, not for holding everyone simultaneously. Ironically, the Titanic looked so magnificent that many passengers did not believe it was sinking. As stewards knocked on first-class cabin doors, they were often met with annoyance or indifference.
The discovery shattered myths. The Titanic had indeed broken in two. The bow lay upright, remarkably intact, the iconic prow still cutting through the abyssal mud. The stern, however, was a chaotic pile of twisted metal, crushed by the air trapped inside it as it imploded during the descent. Titanic
First Officer William Murdoch ordered the engines reversed and the helm turned hard a-starboard (which turned the ship to port). The maneuver sealed the ship's fate. The Titanic turned too slowly. Instead of a head-on collision, which might have only crumpled the bow and kept the ship afloat, the iceberg scraped along the starboard side. The impact was subtle—so subtle that many passengers in the lower decks felt only a "slight shudder." But below the waterline, the damage was fatal