Letter: Titanic errors

I WAS amazed that Alan Sanderson should seek to defend the reputation of his grandfather, Bruce Ismay (letter, 26 February).

As chairman of White Star Line, he must have approved of the decision to equip the Titanic with fewer lifeboat places than the total number of passengers and crew, contrary to the ship designer's original plan. This was legal at the time, but surely morally indefensible.

As for being "ordered into the last boat", it is on record that other first-class passengers, among them Mr and Mrs Strauss, owners of Macy's of New York, chose not to take up places in the lifeboats.

We cannot all rise to such nobility, but when we fail, a dignified silence in the face of adverse comment is surely the proper response.

DORENE BORRIE

(Lady Borrie)

Abbots Morton, Worcestershire