Titanic had been proclaimed unsinkable because of its 16 watertight compartments. Nevertheless, the iceberg sufficiently damaged the Titanic to make it sink in less than three hours. Subsequent investigations found that the ship had been steaming too fast in dangerous waters; that the captain had ignored radio transmissions warning of ice; that lifeboat space had been provided for only about half of the passengers and crew; and that the Californian, close to the scene, had not come to the rescue because its radio operator was off duty and asleep.
