The winter of 1911-1912 had been a mild one. higher-than-usual temperatures in the North Atlantic had caused more icebergs to drift off the west coast of Greenland than at any point in the previous decade years.
Crowds wait outside the White Star Line office in order to hear the latest news on the disaster. New York. Circa April 15-18, 1912.
And if not for that one anomalously warm winter, perhaps the Titanic might never have had any iceberg to hit.
In fact, there may be no tragedy in history more suited to the "what if?" parlor game than the sinking of the Titanic.
What if one nearby ship's radio warning of icebergs in the area had actually reached the Titanic instead of failing to transmit for reasons that still remain unclear?
What if the radio aboard the Titanic hadn't temporarily broken down the day before the disaster, causing radio operators to work through such a backlog of outgoing messages that they had no time to listen to yet another nearby ship's warning of ice in the area on the night of the wreck?
What if there'd been no mix-up back at the port in England and the ship's lookouts had actually been given the binoculars that they should have received?
What if First Officer William Murdoch had tried simply turning away from the iceberg instead of attempting the more complex port around maneuver in which he tried to turn sharply to one side to clear the bow from danger and then immediately turn back the other way to clear the stern?
A crowd awaits Titanic survivors in New York. Circa April 18, 1912
What if the radio aboard the Titanic hadn't temporarily broken down the day before the disaster, causing radio operators to work through such a backlog of outgoing messages that they had no time to listen to yet another nearby ship's warning of ice in the area on the night of the wreck?
What if there'd been no mix-up back at the port in England and the ship's lookouts had actually been given the binoculars that they should have received?
What if First Officer William Murdoch had tried simply turning away from the iceberg instead of attempting the more complex port around maneuver in which he tried to turn sharply to one side to clear the bow from danger and then immediately turn back the other way to clear the stern?
The lifeboats of the Titanic that had carried survivors from the sinking ship hang from the side of the Carpathia, the ship that made the rescue, as it reaches the pier in New York. April 18, 1912.
What if the Titanic had carried its full capacity of 64 lifeboats instead of the mere 20 that it was carrying?
Just days before the ship hit the iceberg and all of these "what if? scenarios became the stuff of tragedy, passengers were photographed on deck strolling by these very lifeboats, completely unaware that they'd soon have to be put to use.
And beyond this one haunting photo, there exist dozens of poignant Titanic sinking photos that capture the tragic ignorance of the crew and passengers who had no idea that the "unsinkable" ship was about to go down.