Crew granddaughter says steering error sank Titanic

Instead of steering Titanic safely round to the left of the iceberg,once it had been spotted dead ahead,the steersman,Robert Hitchins,had panicked and turned it the wrong way, Patten said.

She added that her grandfather was lying when he told investigators that he had no idea what had happened. Patten said that the ships captain and first officer told the second officer about the error,but he had concealed the truth to protect the reputation of his employer.

Patten was told of the error by her grandmother,Sylvia,but was sworn to secrecy. She said: Nearly 40 years later,with Granny and my mother long dead,I was plotting my second novel and it struck me that I was the last person alive to know what really happened on the night Titanic sank.