rms titanic

RMS ''Titanic (also 'SS Titanic') was the largest passenger steamship in the world at the time of its launching, and Titanic's builders hoped that it would dominate the transatlantic ocean liner business. During Titanic's'' maiden voyage, it struck an iceberg at 11:40 p.m. on Sunday evening April 14, 1912, and sank two hours and forty minutes later at 2:20 a.m. the next day. The sinking resulted in great loss of life, ranking as one of the worst peacetime maritime disasters in history and by far the most famous.

Construction

Titanic was a White Star Line ocean liner, built at the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast, Northern Ireland, designed to compete with rival company Cunard Line's Lusitania and Mauretania. The Titanic was the second of three Olympic-class ships and along with her two sister ships, the Olympic and the soon to be built Brittanic (originally named Gigantic), were intended to be the largest, most luxurious ships ever to operate. Construction of the RMS Titanic, funded by the American J.P. Morgan and his International Mercantile Marine Corporation, began on March 31, 1909. Titanic's hull was launched May 31, 1911, and its outfitting completed March 31 the following year. Titanic was 882 ft 9 in (269 m) long and 92 ft 6 in (28 m) wide, had a gross tonnage of 46,328 tons, and a height from the water line to the boat deck of 60 ft (18 m). Although it enclosed more space and therefore had a larger gross tonnage, the hull was exactly the same length as Titanic's sister Olympic. Titanic contained two reciprocating four-cylinder, triple expansion, inverted engines and one low pressure Parsons turbine which powered three propellers. There were 29 boilers fired by 159 coal burning furnaces that made possible a top speed of 23 knots (43 km/h). Only three of the funnels were functional; the fourth funnel, which functioned only as a steam vent, was added to make the ship look more impressive. The ship could hold a total of 3,547 passengers and crew and, because it carried mail, its name was given the prefix RMS (Royal Mail Steamer) as well as SS (Steam Ship). For its time, the ship was unsurpassed in its luxury and opulence. While not the first ship to offer an onboard swimming pool, gynmnasium, baths and elevators, Titanic pulled out all the stops and offered a level of service never before seen including a Turkish Bath and squash court. The ship offered three elevators for use of first-class passengers and, as an innovation, offered one elevator for second-class passengers. Titanic was considered a pinnacle of technological achievement and thought by 'Ship Buiders' magazine to be virtually unsinkable, a claim which would later haunt all those connected with the ship. Titanic was divided into 16 watertight compartments; however, these did not traverse the entire height of the decks (only going as far as E-Deck), an oversight that would doom the ship. The Titanic could stay afloat with any two of the middle compartments flooded or the first four compartments flooded; any more and the ship would sink.

Maiden voyage

The ship began its maiden voyage from Southampton, England, bound for New York City, USA, on April 10, 1912, with Edward J. Smith in command. As Titanic left its berth, the powerful suction it created caused the liner New York, which was docked nearby, to break away from its moorings and was drawn dangerously close to Titanic, delaying departure for one hour. After crossing the English Channel, Titanic stopped at Cherbourg, France, to board additional passengers and stopped again the next day at Queenstown (known today as Cobh), Ireland, before continuing towards New York with 2,210 people aboard. Titanic had three class sections segregating the passengers. Third-class, comprised of small cabins on the lower decks, was occupied by mostly immigrants hoping for a better life in America. Second-class cabins and common rooms, located towards the stern, were equal to first-class accommodations on lesser ships. Many second-class passengers were originally booked first-class on other ships but, because of a coal strike, transferred to Titanic. First-class was the most expensive and luxurious part of the ship. Some of the most prominent people in the world were travelling on board. These included millionaire John Jacob Astor and his wife Madeleine Force Astor; industrialist Benjamin Guggenheim; Macy's Department Store owners Isador and Ida Straus; Denver millionairess Margaret Brown; Sir Cosmo Duff Gordon and his wife couturiere Lady Lucile Duff Gordon; George Elkins Widener and his wife Eleanor; John Borland Thayer, his wife Marian and their seventeen-year-old son, Jack; journalist William Thomas Stead; The Countess of Rothes; military historian Archibald Gracie; author and socialite Helen Chruchill Candee; author Jacques Futrelle and his wife May, their friends, Broadway producers Henry and Irene Harris; silent film actress Dorothy Gibson; and others. Also travelling in first class were White Star Line's managing director J. Bruce Ismay and ship's designer Thomas Andrews.

Disaster

On the night of Sunday, April 14 the temperature had dropped to near freezing and the ocean was completely calm. There was no moon out and the sky was clear. Captain Smith, in response to iceberg warnings received via wireless over last few days, altered Titanic's course slightly to the south. That Sunday at 1:45 p.m., a message from the steamer Amerika warned that large icebergs lie in Titanic's path, but inexplicably, the warning was never relayed to the bridge. Later that evening, another report of numerous, large icebergs, this time from the Mesaba, also failed to reach the bridge. At 11:40 p.m. while sailing south of the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, lookouts Fredrick Fleet and Reginald Lee spotted a large iceberg directly ahead of the ship. Fleet sounded the ship's bell three times and telephoned the bridge exclaiming "Iceberg, right ahead!" First Officer Murdoch ordered an abrupt turn to port (left) and full speed astern, which stopped and then reversed the ship's engines. A collision turned out to be inevitable, and the iceberg brushed the ship's starboard (right) side, buckling the hull in several places and popping out rivets below the waterline over a length of 300 ft (91 m). The watertight doors were shut as water started filling the first six watertight compartments, two more than the Titanic could stay afloat with. The weight of six watertight compartments filling with water weighed the ship down past the top of the watertight bulkheads, allowing water to flow into other parts of the ship. Captain Smith, alerted by the jolt of the impact, arrived on the bridge and ordered a full stop. Following an inspection by the ship's officers and Thomas Andrews, it was apparent that Titanic was doomed, and shortly after midnight on April 15, lifeboats were ordered to be readied and a distress call sent out. The first lifeboat launched, boat 7, was lowered at 12:40 a.m. on the starboard side with 28 people on board. Titanic carried 20 lifeboats with a total capacity of 1,178 persons. While not enough to hold all of Titanic's passengers and crew, Titanic carried more boats than required by the British Board of Regulations. At the time, the number of lifeboats required was determined by a ship's gross tonnage, rather than its human capacity. Wireless operators Jack Phillips and Harold Bride were busy sending out CQD, the universal distress signal. Several ships responded, including Titanic's sister ship Olympic, but none were close enough to make it in time. The closest ship was Cunard Line's RMS Carpathia 58 miles away (93 km) and would arrive in about four hours—too late to get to Titanic in time. From the bridge, the lights of a nearby ship could be seen. Not responding to wireless, Fourth Officer Boxhall attempted signaling it with distress rockets. The SS Californian, 15 miles (24 km) away and stopped for the night because of ice, also saw lights in the distance. Californian's wireless was turned off, and the wireless operator had gone to bed for the night. When Californian's officers first saw the ship, they tried signaling it with the Morse lamp, but never saw a response. Later, they noticed Titanic's distress signals over the lights and informed Captain Stanley Lord. Even though there was much discussion about the mysterious ship in the distance, the Californian did not wake her wireless operator until morning. At first, passengers were reluctant to leave the ostensibly safe Titanic, showing no outward signs of being in imminent danger, and board small lifeboats. As a result, most of the boats launched partially empty; one boat meant to hold 40 people left Titanic with only 12 people on board. With "Women and children first" the imperative for loading lifeboats, Second Officer Lightoller, who was loading boats on the port side, allowed men on only if oarsmen were needed and for no other reason, even if there was room. First Officer Murdoch, who was loading boats on the starboard side, let men on board if women were absent. As the ship's tilt became more apparent, people started to become nervous, and some lifeboats began leaving fully loaded. By 2:05 a.m., the entire bow was under water, and all the lifeboats, save for two, had launched. Around 2:10 a.m., the stern rose out of the water exposing the propellers, and by 2:17 the waterline reached the boat deck. Events began to transpire rapidly as the last two lifeboats floated right off the deck, one upside down, the other half-filled with water. Shortly afterwards, the forward-most funnel collapsed, crushing part of the bridge and people in the water. On deck, people were scrambling towards the stern or jumping overboard in hopes of reaching a lifeboat. The ship slowly rose into the air, and everything not secured crashed towards the water. After operating the entire night, the lights finally went out. Shortly after the power went off, the stress on the hull caused Titanic to break apart between the last two funnels, and the bow went completely under. The stern righted itself on the water slightly and then rose back up vertically. After a few moments, at 2:20 a.m., this too sank into the ocean. Of a total of 2,208 people, only 705 survived; 1,503 perished. As the ship fell into the depths, the two sections ended their final plunges very differently. The streamlined bow planed off approximately 2,000 feet (609 m) below the surface and slowed somewhat, landing relatively gently. The stern, however, fell violently to the ocean floor, the hull being torn apart along the way, smashing into the bottom at high speed and grinding the hull deep into the silty bottom.

Rescue

Almost two hours after Titanic sank, the RMS Carpathia arrived on scene and picked up its first lifeboat. Over the next several hours, the remainder of the survivors were rescued. On board the Carpathia, a short prayer service for the rescued and a memorial for the people who lost their lives was held, and at 8:50 a.m., Carpathia left for New York, arriving on April 18. Once the loss of life was verified, White Star Line charted the ship MacKay-Bennett to retrieve bodies. A total of 338 bodies were eventually recovered. Many of the bodies were taken to Halifax, Nova Scotia, where the majority of the unclaimed were buried in Fairview Cemetery.

Aftermath and consequences

As news of the disaster spread, many people were shocked that the Titanic could sink with such great loss of life despite all of its technological advances. Newspapers were filled with stories and descriptions of the disaster and were eager to get the latest information. Many charities were set up to help the victims and their families, many of whom lost their sole breadwinner, or in the case of third-class survivors, lost everything they owned. Before the survivors even arrived in New York, investigations were being planned to discover what had happened to Titanic, and what could be done to prevent a recurrence. The United States Senate initiated an inquiry into the Titanic disaster on April 19, a day after the Carpathia arrived in New York with the survivors. Chairman of the inquiry, Senator William Alden Smith, wanted to gather accounts from passengers and crew while they were still fresh in their minds. Smith also needed to subpoena the British citizens while they were still on American soil. The American inquiry lasted until May 25. Lord Mersey was appointed to head the British Board of Trade's inquiry into the disaster. The British inquiry took place between May 2 and July 3. Each inquiry took testimony from both passengers and crew of Titanic, members of Californian's crew and other experts. As a result of the disaster and subsequent investigations, numerous safety measures were enacted. Californian's failure to come to Titanic's aid, since her wireless operator was off duty at the time, inspired 29 nations to ratify the Radio Act of 1912, which streamlined radio communications, especially in the event of emergencies. The disaster also led to the convening of the first International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea in London, England, on November 12, 1913. On January 20, 1915, a treaty was signed by the conference and resulted in the formation and international funding of the International Ice Patrol, an agency of the United States Coast Guard that to the present day monitors and reports on the location of North Atlantic Ocean icebergs that could pose a threat to trans-Atlantic sea lane traffic. It was also agreed in the new regulations that all passenger vessels would have sufficient lifeboats for everyone on board, that appropriate safety drills would be conducted, and that radio communications would be operated 24 hours a day along with a secondary power supply, so as not to miss distress calls. In addition, it was agreed that the firing of red rockets from a ship must be interpreted as a distress signal.

Legends and myths

Common myths

Despite popular belief, the sinking of Titanic was not the first time the internationally recognized Morse code distress signal "SOS" was used. The SOS signal was first proposed at the International Conference on Wireless Communication at Sea in Berlin in 1906. It was ratified by the international community in 1908 and had been in widespread use since then. The SOS signal was, however, rarely used by British wireless operators, who preferred the older CQD code. First Wireless Operator Jack Phillips began transmitting CQD until Second Wireless Operator Harold Bride suggested half jokingly "Send SOS; it's the new call, and this may be your last chance to send it." Phillips then began to intersperse SOS with the traditional CQD call. Another myth was that Titanics rudder was too small and having a larger one may have saved the ship. While a larger rudder may have saved Titanic by allowing the ship to turn quicker, the dimensions of the rudder were not legally too small for a ship its size, and in fact, the dimensions of the rudder for a ship the size of the Titanic would still be compliant with ship regulations in use today. Had the ship started turning five seconds before or five seconds after the iceberg was spotted, the ship might have been able to avoid hitting the iceberg. It has also been speculated that the ship could have been saved if she had rammed the iceberg head on. It is hypothesised that if Titanic had not altered her course at all and had ran head on into the iceberg, the damage would only have affected the first or, at most, first two compartments. This would have disabled her severely, but would not likely have resulted in her sinking.

Titanic's band

One of the most famous stories of Titanic is of the band. On April 15, Titanics eight member band, led by Wallace Hartley, had assembled in the first-class lounge in effort to keep passengers calm and upbeat. Later they would move on to the forward half of the boat deck. The band continued playing music even when it became apparent the ship was going to sink. None of band members survived the sinking, and there's been much speculation about what their last song was. Some witnesses said the final song played was the hymn "Nearer, My God, to Thee." Hartley reportedly said to a friend if he was on a sinking ship "Nearer, My God, to Thee" might be one of the songs he would play. Walter Lords book A Night to Remember popularized wireless operator Harold Brides account that he heard the song "Autumn" before the ship sank. It is considered Bride either meant the hymn called "Autumn" or "Songe dAutomne," a popular song at the time. Although it must be said that Bride's account's were not the most consistent.

David Sarnoff

An often-quoted story that's been blurred between fact and fiction states the first person to receive news of the sinking was David Sarnoff, who would later found media giant RCA. Sarnoff was not the first to hear the news (even though Sarnoff willingly promoted this), but he and others did man the Marconi wireless station, atop the Wanamaker Department Store in New York City, and for three days relayed news of the disaster and names of survivors to people waiting outside. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/technology/bigdream/masarnoff.html

The "Titanic curse"

When Titanic sank, claims were made that a curse existed on the ship. One of the most widely spread legends linked directly into the sectarianism of the city of Belfast, where the ship was built. It was suggested that the ship was given the number 390904 which, when read backwards in a mirror, was claimed to spell 'no pope', a sectarian slogan attacking Roman Catholics that was (and is) widely used provocatively by extreme Protestants in Northern Ireland, where the ship was built. In the extreme sectarianism of northeast Ireland (Northern Ireland itself did not exist until 1920), the ship's sinking, though mourned, was alleged to be on account of the sectarian anti-Catholicism of its manufacturers, the Harland and Wolff company, which had an almost exclusively Protestant workforce and an alleged record of hostility towards Catholics. (Harland and Wolff did have a record of hiring few Catholics; whether that was through policy or because the company's shipyard in Belfast's bay was located in almost exclusively Protestant East Belfast — through which few Catholics would dare to travel — or a mixture of both, is a matter of dispute.) The 'no pope' story is in fact an urban legend, with no basis in fact. RMS Olympic and Titanic were assigned the yard numbers 400 and 401 respectively.

The rediscovery of Titanic

The idea of finding the wreck of Titanic, and even raising the ship from the ocean floor, had been around since shortly after the ship sank. No attempts were successful until September 1, 1985, when a joint American-French expedition, led by Jean-Louis Michel and Dr. Robert Ballard of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, located the wreck. It was found at a depth of 2 miles (3,800 m), southeast of Newfoundland at , 13 miles (22 km) from where Titanic was originally thought to rest. The most notable discovery the team made was that the ship had split apart, the stern section lying 1,970 feet (600 m) from the bow section and facing opposite directions. There had been conflicting witness accounts of whether the ship broke apart or not, and both the American and British inquires found that the ship sank intact. Up until the discovery of the wreck, it was generally assumed the ship did not break apart. The bow section had imbedded itself 60 feet (18 m) into the silt on the ocean floor. Besides parts of the hull having buckled, the bow was mostly intact. The stern section was in much worse condition. As the stern section sank, water pushed out the air inside tearing apart the hull and decks. The speed at which the stern hit the ocean floor caused even more damage. Surrounding the wreck is a large debris field with pieces of the ship, furniture, dinnerware and personal items scattered over one square mile. Softer materials, like wood and carpet, were devoured by undersea organisms. Human remains suffered a similar fate. Originally, historians thought the iceberg had cut a gash into Titanics hull. Since the part of the ship the iceberg damaged was buried, scientists used sonar to examine the area and discovered the iceberg had caused the hull to buckle, allowing water to enter Titanic between its steel plates. During subsequent dives, scientists retrieved small pieces of Titanic's hull. A detailed analysis of the pieces revealed the ship's steel plating was of a variety that loses its elasticity and becomes brittle in cold or icy water, leaving it vulnerable to dent-induced ruptures. Furthermore, the rivets holding the hull together were much more fragile than once thought. It is unknown if stronger steel or rivets could have saved the ship. Dr. Ballard and his team did not bring up any artifacts from the site, considering it to be tantamount to grave robbing. Under international maritime law, however, the recovery of artifacts is necessary to establish salvage rights to a shipwreck. In the years after the find, Titanic has been the object of a number of court cases concerning ownership of artifacts and the wreck site itself. In 1994 RMS Titanic, Inc. was awarded ownership and salvaging rights of the wreck. Approximately 6,000 artifacts have been removed from the wreck. Many of these were put on display at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, England, and later as part of a traveling museum exhibit.

Current condition of the wreck

Many scientists, including Robert Ballard, are concerned that visits by tourists in submersibles are hastening the decay of the wreck. Underwater microbes have been eating away at Titanics iron since the ship sank, but because of the extra damage visitors have caused, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration estimates that "the hull and structure of the ship may collapse to the ocean floor within the next 50 years." Ballard's book Return to Titanic, published by the National Geographic Society, includes photographs depicting the deterioration of the promenade deck and damage caused by submersibles landing on the ship. The mast has almost completely deteriorated and has been stripped of its bell and brass light. Other damage includes a gash on the bow section where block letters once spelled Titanic, and part of the brass telemotor which once held the ship's wooden wheel is now twisted.

Comparable maritime disasters

With the loss of 1,503 lives, the sinking of the Titanic was, at the time, one of the worst maritime disasters in history, although the death toll was exceeded by the explosion and sinking of the steamboat Sultana on the Mississippi River in 1865, with 1,700 dead. In terms of loss of life in a single vessel, the worst maritime incident in history is recognised as the sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff by a Russian submarine in 1945, claiming between 5,000 and 7,000 lives. Some recent studies of the disaster estimate the actual death toll to be over 9,000. The worst maritime incident in history, in terms of loss of life in two vessels, is recognised as the sinking of the Cap Arcona and the Thielbek by RAF Typhoons on May 3 1945, in which around 8,000 deportees died. On 17 June 1940, HMT Lancastria, evacuating troops and civilians from Saint-Nazaire, France, was sunk by German aircraft. The death toll is estimated at 4,000 to 9,000. The true figure will remain unknown until secret British Government papers are released to the public in 2040.

Titanic in popular culture

The sinking of Titanic has been the basis for many novels. Morgan Robertson's 1898 novella Futility was found to have many parallels with the Titanic disaster; Robertson's work concerned a fictional state-of-the-art ocean liner called Titan, which eventually collides with an iceberg whilst en route to New York, sinking in the dead of night with great loss of life. Both Titan itself and the manner of its demise bore many striking similarities to the eventual fate of Titanic, and Robertson's novella remains in print today as an unnerving curiosity. Titanic has featured in a large number of movies and TV movies, most notably:

The most widely-viewed is the 1997 film Titanic, directed by James Cameron and starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. It became the highest-grossing film in history (unadjusted for inflation). It also won 11 out of 14 Academy Awards, tying with Ben-Hur (1959) and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) for the most awards won. The story was also made into a Broadway musical, Titanic, that ran from 1998 to 2000. In 1964 the Broadway and film musical The Unsinkable Molly Brown tells survivor Margaret Brown's colorful life story, including the events on Titanic. and Starship Titanic are computer games inspired by the story. In the animated TV series Futurama, one episode saw the cast boarding a space-faring vessel called Titanic. The ship was torn in half by a black hole on its maiden voyage. The main cast survived, but a female robot that fell in love with Bender was lost. The Intel Itanium microprocessor has often been jokingly called the "Itanic", since (as of 2005) its sales have fallen far short of expectations.

References

Eaton, John P. and Haas, Charles A. Titanic: Triumph and Tragedy (2nd ed.). W.W. Norton & Company, 1995
Lynch, Donald and Marschall, Ken. Titanic: An Illustrated History. Hyperion, 1995
Quinn, Paul J. Titanic at Two A.M.: An Illustrated Narrative with Survivor Accounts. Fantail, 1997