Business conflict between Mr. Meyer and Captain Bryce

The business conflict between Mr. Meyer and Captain Bryce erupts in the aftermath of the Titan's destruction, when the underwriter who insured the ship and the captain who commanded her collide over the question of liability. Mr. Meyer, a corpulent, hook-nosed underwriter at Lloyds, faces ruin if the insurance must be paid, while Captain Bryce, a part owner of the Titan, stands to lose everything if his concealment of a prior collision is exposed. Their struggle, fought in the offices of Lloyds and the private chambers of Threadneedle Street, becomes a battle over truth, perjury, and the very meaning of maritime responsibility.

Origins of the Conflict

The conflict is rooted in the Titan's design and the reckless policies that governed her. The ship was built to be practically unsinkable, with ninety-two water-tight doors and nineteen compartments, so that even with nine flooded she would still float. This confidence led the steamship company to announce a rule of navigation: the Titan would steam at full speed in fog, storm, and sunshine, on the Northern Lane Route, winter and summer. The rationale was that at full speed the Titan would cut any other craft in two, and even in a collision with an iceberg—the only thing afloat she could not conquer—her bows would be crushed in but a few feet further, flooding at most three compartments, which would not matter with six more to spare. Mr. Meyer, as the heaviest insurer, took the risk knowing these rules, as did others, but it was he who would bear the financial brunt when the ship was lost.

The immediate cause of the conflict, however, was not the iceberg but a prior disaster. On the first night out from New York, the Titan, charging through a thick fog at twenty-five knots, cut in half a deep-laden ship crossing her bow. The first officer, Mr. Austen, had seen the ship and ordered the helm hard aport, but it was too late; the Titan sliced through the smaller vessel, and from the darkness came a sailorly voice crying, "May the curse of God light on you and your cheese-knife, you brass-bound murderers." The captain, Bryce, ordered silence, and when Rowland, the lookout who had witnessed the collision, refused a bribe of one hundred pounds to keep quiet, Bryce and Austen conspired to discredit him by drugging him with hasheesh, hoping his ravings would render his testimony worthless.

The Confrontation at Lloyds

The conflict comes to a head in Mr. Meyer's private office, where Captain Bryce and Mr. Austen have sworn in an affidavit that the voyage was uneventful up to the moment of the wreck. Mr. Meyer, having learned of the collision with the Royal Age from Rowland's bulletin, confronts the captain with the accusation: "I mean that you have concealed in your sworn statement all reference to der fact that you collided with and sunk the ship Royal Age on der night before the wreck of your own ship." Bryce blusters, calling Rowland "an irresponsible drunkard," and Austen adds that Rowland was in a condition of delirium tremens up to the shipwreck. But Mr. Meyer, with an oily smile, has already noted that Bryce is a part owner of the Titan, holding two sixty-seconds of the stock, which makes him legally responsible as such.

The confrontation escalates when Rowland, pale and weak, with an empty left sleeve, arrives at the office, accompanied by Captain Barry of the Peerless, who carries little Myra on his shoulder. Rowland tells the terrible story of the cutting in half of the ship, the attempted bribery, and his refusal. Captain Bryce storms, "A lie, from beginning to end," but Captain Barry, who has seen Rowland kill a polar bear in open fight, warns, "If you insult him again in my presence I'll knock your teeth down your throat." The tension breaks when Bryce, enraged, strides toward Rowland and is stopped by a huge brown fist that sends him reeling across the room, floundering over Mr. Selfridge and the child.

The Legal Battle and Its Aftermath

The legal battle turns on the question of barratry. Mr. Meyer argues that the concealment of the collision voids the policy, but the attorney, Mr. Thompson, insists it has no bearing, since it occurred after the policy attached and after liability was confirmed. Meyer then seizes on the drugging: "der fact that he had a drunken man on lookout when der Titan struck der iceberg will be enough." But Austen, desperate, recants, saying, "I say now, that John Rowland, whatever may have been his condition on the preceding night, was a sober and competent lookout at the time of the wreck of the Titan." Rowland, however, turns the tables, pointing out that Bryce and Austen, as part owners, committed an act that nullifies the insurance by drugging a sailor and having him on lookout out of his turn. Bryce, in a moment of self-conviction, blurts out that the drug was "an infusion of Indian hemp," which is hasheesh, and Rowland quietly notes, "Self-convicted."

Mr. Meyer, triumphant, declares that the insurance will not be paid, and that the company must reimburse him for the Royal Age. He tells Bryce and Austen, "England is a fine country, my friends --- a fine country to leave pebind sometimes. Dere is Canada, and der United States, and Australia, and South Africa --- all fine countries, too --- fine countries to go to with new names." He warns that they will be bulletined at Lloyds and that Scotland Yard will be looking for them, but his door is not locked. Silently, pale and crushed, they leave.

The Resolution and Its Ironies

The conflict's resolution is ironic and morally complex. Mr. Selfridge, the heaviest stockholder in the Titan, collapses and dies upon learning he is ruined, for the insurance will not be paid. But Rowland, who has the power to testify and void the policy, refuses, saying, "I, the one man who can prevent it, refuse to testify." He explains to Captain Barry, "The cause of the wreck was full speed in a fog. All hands on lookout could not have seen that berg. The underwriters knew the speed and took the risk. Let them pay." Thus, Mr. Meyer, who had schemed to avoid payment, is forced to pay after all, and Captain Bryce, who had sought to protect his investment, is exposed and disgraced. The conflict between the underwriter and the captain ends not with a clear victor but with a demonstration that the pursuit of profit and the concealment of truth lead to mutual ruin, while the one man who acts with integrity—Rowland—chooses to let the insurance be paid for the sake of a child, not for the sake of justice or revenge.