Titanic Sunk by Steering Mistake, Author Says

Titanic Sunk by Steering Mistake, Author Says
      This article discussed a supposed "cover up" involving the sinking of the Titanic. A writer named Louise Patten, the granddaughter of Titanic second in command Charles Lightoller, claims that the change from sail ships to steam resulted in the creation of two different steering systems. One system called for the wheel to be turned one way, and the other system resulted in steering the complete opposite direction. Upon seeing an iceberg in the distance, the ship's steerman, Robert Hitchins, supposedly panicked and ordered the ship to turn the wrong way.
      Patten claims that the ship could have survived until support arrived by simply not moving. However, by setting the wrong course, the captain had only four minutes to change it and it was too late by the time the mistake was spotted.
      Conveniently enough, Patten released these revelations right around the time her new book about the sinking of the titanic was published. Patten claims that the secrets had been kept hidden in order to protect her grandfather's reputation because he knew of the fatal mistake, but I don't buy it. First of all, Patten's account of the ship's final hours has not been proven and has no real factual evidence to back it up. This is simply good publicity for Patten's book, and the fact that the so-called 'evidence' was just recently released is even more suspicious.