The world’s oceans have
The world’s oceans have been a witness to several maritime accidents, some of which were more catastrophic than others, taking hundreds to thousands of lives. Most of them were caused by human error, negligence or systemic failures. These accidents, however, changed the maritime domain forever as they led to the introduction of international laws that now govern seafaring.
The rules and regulations introduced due to cases like the sinking of the Titanic or the famous Torrey Canyon Oil Spill have shaped maritime safety and asked for greater accountability from stakeholders while also focusing on environmental protection.
1. The Sinking of RMS Titanic & Birth of SOLAS
On its maiden voyage in April 1912, Titanic, which was deemed ‘unsinkable’, hit an iceberg in the North Atlantic and sank, killing over 1500 of the estimated 2224 passengers and crew onboard the ship.
The loss was significant and revealed several flaws in maritime regulations of the time. Investigations into the Titanic sinking found that it carried insufficient lifeboats, which were enough for only 1178 people, per outdated regulations based on ship tonnage and not passenger capacity.
Titanic
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