Was The Titanic Racing To Get To New York To Set A Speed Record?
Casual histories of the Titanic disaster often allege that Titanic was being pushed speedwise in an effort to achieve a record trans-Atlantic crossing. This is absolutely untrue, since Titanic was never designed to match the high speed of the Cunard liners Mauretania and Lusitania. However, there is strong evidence that Titanic *was* being pushed in an effort to beat the maiden voyage crossing time of her older sister, the Olympic; survivor Elizabeth Lines overheard Bruce Ismay telling Captain Smith that Titanic would beat the Olympic’s crossing time and arrive in New York ahead of schedule. Indeed, it is now known that Titanic’s last three main boilers were connected up to her engines at 7:30 pm on April 14th, increasing the ship’s speed to 22 1/2 knots just four hours before the collision took place.
