Construction started on 31 March 1909 and it took more than 4,000 people and three years to finish it.
The finished ship was an achievement of Edwardian engineering, measuring 886ft.
On April 10 1912, the Titanic set off from Southampton across the north Atlantic towards New York. "She was impressive, boasting four towering funnels, triple propellers and 11 decks. More than 600 tonnes of coal a day were needed to propel the ship, with more than 150 stokers working below, day and night, to keep Titanic's 29 boilers steaming". (IrisPictureLibrary/FatherBrowneSJCollection).
The ship carried 2,224 passengers and crew, from millionaires, to teachers and emigrants. Just over 700 escaped and made it to New York.
On Sunday 14 April, as the Titanic was sailing on a clear night over a calm sea. At 23:40 the bell tolled three times and lookout Frederick Fleet cried: "Iceberg, right ahead". Seconds later the ship hit the iceberg. By midnight, water was already flooding into third-class sections. However, many passengers were reluctant to go out on deck, as Captain Smith ordered the lifeboats to be launched. It was hard to believe that the ship which was unsinkable would go down before another boat came to its rescue.
There was only space to save 1,178 people on Titanic, with only 20 lifeboats on board. Women and children went first, but many of the life boats were launched only half full, while many third-class passengers remained trapped inside the ship.
Everyone hears how nobel it is for a Captain to go down with his ship and it was exactly what happened with Captain Smith. However, his story is not that good. He failed the passengers and crew of the Titanic, because "He failed to heed ice warnings, did not slow his ship when ice was reported directly in his path and allowed lifeboats to leave the sinking ship partially filled, unnecessarily adding at least 500 names to the list of the dead". The first lifeboat to launch, with a capacity for 40, contained just 12 people.
Captain Smith
The last lifeboat was lowered from the ship just after 2 am. Captain Edward Smith released his staff with the words: "every man for himself". He returned to the bridge and prepared to go down with his ship.
Even though S.O.S. messages were sent, the nearest ship that answered their calls was the Carpathia, which was four hours away.
With all the hard work with the construction, the myths surrounding the captain and other passagers about cowardly acts and the horror from the 2 hours and 40 minutes that the Titanic took to sink entirely, there is a love story that is always remembered, that of Isidor Straus and his wife, Ida.
"On the night of the disaster, as the call to board the lifeboats went out, Isidor escorted Ida to Lifeboat 8 and prepared to say goodbye to her. Ida, however, refused to enter the small boat, saying, “We have lived together for many years. Where you go, I go.” Several other first- class passengers tried to convince Ida to board but she could not be swayed. Instead, she sent her newly employed maid, Ellen Bird, in her place, after first wrapping her in a fur as protection against the cold. The Strauses were last seen seated side by side on Titanic’s Boat Deck.
Isidor’s body was recovered by the Mackay-Bennett. A funereal service for Isidor was delayed for a few days in the hopes that Ida’s body might too be recovered, allowing the two who had lived and died together to also share a funeral—but Ida’s body was never found".
On this article, in the BBC website, it shows an image of how the Titanic sank in 2 hours and 40 minutes.
On this offical website dedicated to the RMS Titanic, it shows how the ship looks like deep down on the sea bed.
It's been 100 years since the Titanic struck an iceberg and sank into icy waters off the coast of Canada. Now, she lies some four kilometers under the surface of the North Atlantic. And people often question themselfs: "Why is The Titanic disaster so popular?". The answer is as simple as the question. A perfect focus on the supreme choices of individual lives.
The crew and the passagers dind't had much time to think about consequences. That they had time to think was: the ship was saking, there wasn't going to be room from everybody to be saved and everybody wanted a spot on the lifeboats. After the disaster people were questioned of why they were the one that survived when many other didn't even got the chance.
Bibliographical references:
No comments:
Post a Comment