Fire And Ice

"A huge fire ripped through Titanic before it struck iceberg, fresh evidence suggests"

The burning bunker news was published in 1912. I wrote about that here: Fire And Ice.
I've read other theories about how that fire contributed to the sinking: the fire weakened a crucial bulkhead and failed dramatically on contact with cold seawater, compromising the elaborate bulkhead system designed to keep her afloat.

But there is always comforting authority:

The Court, having carefully inquired into the circumstances of the above mentioned shipping casualty, finds, for the reasons appearing in the annex hereto, that the loss of the said ship was due to collision with an iceberg, brought about by the excessive speed at which the ship was being navigated. 

That was the conclusion of the British Admiralty at the time of the sinking. (h/t EBL).

A ship sank. People died. Who cares?

Some say the world will end in fire, 

Some say in ice. 

From what I’ve tasted of desire 

I hold with those who favor fire. 

But if it had to perish twice, 

I think I know enough of hate 

To say that for destruction ice 

Is also great 

And would suffice.

~Robert Frost (1920)