British Wreck Commissioner's Inquiry into the loss of the Titanic

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1. Story
2. Formal investigation ordered by the Board of Trade and presided over by Lord Mersey, sitting mainly at the London Scottish Drill Hall, Buckingham Gate, from 2 May 1912. Over 36 days it heard 97 witnesses and put more than 25,000 questions. Its report of 30 July 1912 found the loss due to collision with an iceberg brought about by the excessive speed at which the ship was navigated, held that Titanic's boats had exceeded Board of Trade requirements, criticised the Californian, and recommended boats for all on board. It concluded — wrongly, as 1985 showed — that the ship sank intact.
3. Knowledge
4. RMS Titanic
5. British Wreck Commissioner's Inquiry into the loss of the Titanic
6. Board of Trade Life-Saving Appliances Rules (1894)
7. Connections
8. SS Californian
9. RMS Titanic
10. Board of Trade Life-Saving Appliances Rules (1894)
11. Lights fail and the hull breaks in two
12. British Wreck Commissioner's inquiry opens in London
13. Mersey report published
14. Harland and Wolff shipyard, Queen's Island, Belfast
15. Cherbourg — transatlantic roadstead
16. Queenstown (Cobh) — Roche's Point anchorage
17. New York — Chelsea Piers (Piers 54 and 59)
18. North Atlantic — Grand Banks approaches
19. Titanic wreck site
20. Captain Edward John Smith
21. White Star Line (Oceanic Steam Navigation Company)
22. Thomas Andrews
23. Marconi wireless telegraphy at sea
24. Titanic's lifeboat complement
25. Olympic-class liner
26. Fairview Lawn Cemetery, Halifax
27. Southampton — White Star Dock (Berth 44)
28. RMS Carpathia
29. British Wreck Commissioner's Inquiry into the loss of the Titanic
30. United States Senate inquiry into the loss of the Titanic
31. Keel of yard number 401 laid at Harland and Wolff
32. Titanic launched at Belfast
33. Sea trials in Belfast Lough and delivery to White Star
34. Maiden voyage departs Southampton
35. Titanic anchors in Cherbourg roadstead
36. Titanic sails from Cherbourg for Queenstown
37. Titanic anchors off Roche's Point, Queenstown
38. Titanic sails for New York — last sight of land
39. Baltic's ice warning handed to Ismay and pocketed
40. Mesaba reports heavy pack ice and bergs directly ahead
41. Californian's ice message cut off — 'keep out, I am busy'
42. Iceberg sighted and struck
43. Andrews establishes the ship cannot float
44. First distress call transmitted — CQD, later SOS
45. First lifeboat lowered; first distress rocket fired
46. Last boat launched from the davits
47. Lights fail and the hull breaks in two
48. Titanic founders
49. Carpathia reaches the boats and begins the rescue
50. Cable ship Mackay-Bennett sails from Halifax to recover the dead
51. Wreck located by the Argo camera sled
52. British Wreck Commissioner's Inquiry into the loss of the Titanic
53. Titanic's lifeboat complement
54. International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, 1914
55. British Wreck Commissioner's inquiry opens in London
56. Mersey report published
57. International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea signed in London
58. Evidence
59. Found the loss due to collision with an iceberg brought about by the excessive speed at which the ship was navigated; recorded the ship's particulars, the voyage timings, the ice messages received and the lifeboat complement; held that Titanic exceeded the Board of Trade requirement; found the Californian could have reached her; concluded (incorrectly) that the hull sank intact.