It is implied that the captain of the Pendleton was responsible for the sinking because of an error in judgment. The Pendleton was a T2 style tanker that, as with other "liberty ships," was built in haste during the Second World War to support the Allies in Britain. The limited building facilities resulting from the rush of shipbuilding resulted in the T2 ships being built in two sections (bow and stern) and later joined at the middle. They had a known issue in that they tended to break in half when facing the combination of cold seas and extreme weather.
By insisting on maintaining 7 knots, the captain was hoping to reach a port as quickly as possible, in order to limit the amount of stress on the ship and to avoid metal fatigue that might lead to a break-up. He was balancing the threat of a broken weld versus breaking the ship in two. If he had complied with the engineer's request and dropped to 3 knots, the break-up would have happened anyway, but farther out to sea.
It is likely that, while losing his life and that of the other seven crewmen in the bow, his decision made it possible for the lives of the other half to be saved. In contrast to what has been reported elsewhere, the broken weld had little to do with the ship being broken in half. Rather, the weld broke due to the same strain that caused the ship to break in half.
