New York, the city, knew all about the Titanic before the problem with New York, the ship.

The Titanic — the largest passenger ship the world had seen, and the most unbelievably and unapologetically opulent — was an event before it was an event, and New York had read all about it in progress reports on the positioning of the stern frame, in accounts of its launching and in short paragraphs about brief test runs. And then, as it left Southampton, England, on its maiden voyage, it yanked the New York, which was alongside it at the pier, from its moorings.

This was four days before the problem with the iceberg....