The story of the Titanic is one that has captivated people for 100 years. But why. It was far from the worst maritime disaster. It was just before the start of WWI in which millions lost their lives. It is one of those stories that if it was fiction would seem to good.
Titanic was the second of the Olympic class ships to be built. Olympic and Titanic were essentially the same size although Titanic was heavier, thus making it the largest ship in the world at that time. It was also one of the most technologically advanced ships with water tight compartments and remotely operated water tight doors. Many considered her unsinkable.
Titanic was also the height of luxury. It had restaurants, libraries, a gym and a swimming pool. The passenger list included some of the richest people in the world and high society.
The fact that this was Titanic's maiden voyage also adds to the story.
Titanic departed Southampton on April 10th, 1912. It picked up more passengers in Cherbourg, France then began it's trans-Atlantic crossing. Four days later tragedy struck.
The night of April 14, 1912 was clear and calm. There was no moon but the stars were described as brilliant. Lookouts said that the horizon was soft. It is very possible that the temperatures on that night led to some mirage lensing of the horizon making it difficult to see and almost impossible to see an iceberg.
Because the night was "clear" the Titanic was running fast. When they saw the iceberg there was very little time to react. The ship took a glancing blow on it's starboard side. Water began flooding into the ship. Five of the first water tight compartments were taking on water. The ship could stay afloat with the first four compartment flooded but not five. Additionally, as the bow went down the water began to overflow each of the water tight compartments. The ship would sink.
While Titanic had more lifeboats than were required by law, there were still only enough for half of the people on board. Many of those lifeboats were not even fully loaded when they left the ship. Almost all of the survivors were the people in those lifeboats. Only 13 of the people that went into the water survived. The water was cold and most succumb to hypothermia within minutes. Of course many actually went down with the ship to a watery grave at the bottom of the ocean.
It took just over two and a half hours for Titanic to sink. It was almost another two hours until RMS Carpathia arrived to pick up survivors. Only 710 people survived.
It is an amazing story of technology, nature and human tragedy.
A few other interesting facts:
The ship the Californian was close enough to Titanic to have been able to assist in rescuing people but did not come to its aid. They likely saw the Titanic but did not realize that that is what they were looking at.
Stewardess and nurse, Violet Jessop survived the sinking of Titanic and her sister ship Britannic as well as being on board the Olympic when it collided with a navy ship.
In James Cameron's movie, Titanic, the ship strikes the iceberg at the 1 hour 40 minute mark. If you are going to see the rerelease 3D version in a theatre tonight (April 12, 2012) and you go to a 10pm showing, the on screen ship will hit the iceberg at the same time that the actual Titanic did 100 years ago.
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