RMS Titanic even head-on collisions had not been disastrous. In 1907 , a German liner, had rammed an iceberg but still had been able to complete her voyage, and Captain Smith himself had declared in 1907 that he "could not imagine any condition which would cause a ship to founder. Modern shipbuilding has gone beyond that." At 11:40 p.m. (ship's time) on 14 April, lookout Frederick Fleet spotted an iceberg immediately ahead of "Titanic" and alerted the bridge. First Officer William Murdoch ordered the ship to be steered around the obstacle and the engines to be stopped, but it was too late;
RMS Titanic Maritime Memorial Act Department of State proposed an agreement with the United Kingdom, Canada and France (as well as other interested countries) to enact the policies from the 1986 Act on an international scale. Known as the "Agreement Concerning the Shipwrecked Vessel R.M.S. "Titanic"", Canada and France did not ratify it, though the signature of only two countries is sufficient for the agreement to enter force – the United Kingdom ratified the agreement on November 6, 2003, and it was subsequently signed by the United States on June 18, 2004. RMS Titanic Maritime Memorial Act The R.M.S. "Titanic" Maritime Memorial Act of 1986