RMS Titanic

RMS Titanic (also SS Titanic) was the second of a trio of superliners intended to dominate the transatlantic travel business.{{ref|trio_ref}} Owned by the White Star Line and built at the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast, Ireland, the Titanic was the largest passenger steamship in the world at the time of its launching. During Titanic's maiden voyage, it struck an iceberg at 11:40 PM (ship's time) on Sunday evening April 14, 1912, and sank two hours and forty minutes later at 2:20 AM Monday morning.

Maiden voyage

The ship began its maiden voyage from Southampton, England, bound for New York City, New York, on Wednesday, April 10, 1912, with Captain Edward J. Smith in command. As the Titanic left its berth, the powerful suction created by the ship's propellers caused the liner New York, which was docked nearby, to break away from its moorings and was drawn dangerously close (about 4 feet) to the Titanic before a tugboat towed the New York away. The near accident delayed the departure for one hour. After crossing the English Channel, the Titanic stopped at Cherbourg, France, to disembark and board additional passengers, and stopped again the next day at Queenstown (known today as Cobh), Ireland, before continuing towards New York with 2,223 people aboard.{{ref|Titanicnumbers}}

Related Topics:
Southampton - England - New York City - New York - Wednesday - April 10 - 1912 - Edward J. Smith - English Channel - Cherbourg - France - Cobh - Ireland

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The Titanic had three class sections segregating the passengers. Third class, also known as steerage, comprising small cabins on the lower decks, was occupied mostly by 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 other ships. Many second-class passengers were originally booked first class on other ships but, because of a coal strike, transferred to the Titanic. First class was by far the most luxurious part of the ship.

Related Topics:
Steerage - Immigrant - Stern

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Some of the most prominent people in the world were travelling in first class. These included millionaire John Jacob Astor and his wife Madeleine; industrialist Benjamin Guggenheim; Macy's department store owner Isidor Straus and his wife Ida; Denver millionairess Margaret "Molly" Brown; Sir Cosmo Duff Gordon and his wife couturiere Lady Lucille 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; United States presidential aide Archibald Butt; author and socialite Helen Churchill Candee; author Jacques Futrelle, his wife May, and 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 who came up with the idea for Titanic, and the ship's builder Thomas Andrews, who was on board to observe any problems and assess the general performance of the new ship.

Related Topics:
John Jacob Astor - Madeleine - Benjamin Guggenheim - Macy's - Isidor Straus - Denver - Margaret "Molly" Brown - Lady Lucille Duff Gordon - William Thomas Stead - Countess of Rothes - Archibald Butt - Jacques Futrelle - Broadway

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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 the last few days, had altered the Titanic's course around 10 miles (20 km) south of the normal shipping route. That Sunday at 1:45 PM, a message from the steamer Amerika warned that large icebergs lay in the Titanic's path, but inexplicably, the warning was never relayed to the bridge. Later that evening, another report of numerous, large icebergs in Titanic's path, this time from the Mesaba, also failed to reach the bridge.

Related Topics:
April 14 - Iceberg - Wireless - Bridge

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At 11:40 PM 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 (90 m). The watertight doors were shut as water started filling the first five watertight compartments, one more than the Titanic could stay afloat with. The weight of five watertight compartments filling with water weighed the ship down past the top of the watertight bulkheads, allowing water to flow into the other compartments. 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 the Titanic would sink, and shortly after midnight on April 15, lifeboats were ordered to be readied and a distress signal sent out.

Related Topics:
Grand Banks of Newfoundland - Fredrick Fleet - Reginald Lee - First Officer Murdoch - Port - Starboard - Rivet - April 15 - Lifeboat - Distress signal

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The first lifeboat launched, boat 7, was lowered around 12:40 AM on the starboard side with 28 people on board. The Titanic carried 20 lifeboats with a total capacity of 1,178 persons; while only enough for a little more than half the passengers and crew, the Titanic carried more boats than required by the British Board of Trade. At the time, the number of lifeboats required was determined by a ship's gross tonnage, rather than its human capacity. The regulations concerning lifeboat capacity had last been updated in 1894, when the largest ships afloat weighed approximately 10,000 tons.

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First and second-class passengers had easy access to the lifeboats with staircases that led right up to the boat deck, but third-class passengers found it more difficult. Many found the corridors leading from the lower sections of the ship difficult to navigate and had trouble making their way up to the lifeboats. Not helping third-class passengers were gates kept locked by crew members waiting for orders to let the passengers up to the deck.

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Wireless operators Jack Phillips and Harold Bride were busy sending out CQD, the universal distress signal. Several ships responded, including the Mount Temple, the Frankfurt and Titanic's sister ship, the Olympic, but none were close enough to make it in time. The closest ship to respond was Cunard Line's RMS Carpathia, and at 58 miles (93 km) away it would arrive in about four hours, still too late to get to Titanic in time. The only land?based location that received the distress call from the Titanic was the wireless station at Cape Race, Newfoundland.

Related Topics:
Jack Phillips - Harold Bride - CQD - Cunard Line - RMS ''Carpathia'' - Wireless - Cape Race - Newfoundland

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From the bridge, the lights of a nearby ship could be seen off the port side. Not responding to wireless, Fourth Officer Boxhall and Quartermaster Rowe attempted signalling the ship with a Morse lamp and later with distress rockets, but the ship never appeared to respond. The SS Californian, which was nearby and stopped for the night because of ice, also saw lights of a ship in the distance. The Californian's wireless was turned off, and the wireless operator had gone to bed for the night. Just before he went to bed at around 11:00 PM the Californian's radio operator attempted to warn the Titanic that there was ice ahead, but he was cut off by an exhausted Jack Phillips, who sent back, "Shut up, shut up! I am busy, I am working Cape Race." When the Californian's officers first saw the ship, they tried signalling it with their Morse lamp, but also never appeared to receive a response. Later, they noticed the Titanic's distress signals over the lights and informed Captain Stanley Lord. Even though there was much discussion about the mysterious ship, which to the officers on duty appeared to be moving away before disappearing, the Californian did not wake its wireless operator until morning.

Related Topics:
Morse lamp - SS ''Californian'' - Captain Stanley Lord

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At first, passengers were reluctant to leave the ostensibly safe Titanic, which showed no outward signs of being in imminent danger, and board small lifeboats. As a result, most of the boats launched partially empty; one boat, boat number one, meant to hold 40 people, left the Titanic with only 12 people on board. With "Women and children first" the imperative (see origin of phrase) 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. Shortly after 2:00 AM the waterline had reached the forward boat deck, and all the lifeboats, save for two, had been lowered.

Related Topics:
Origin of phrase - Second Officer Lightoller

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Around 2:10 AM, the stern rose out of the water exposing the propellers and the forward boat deck was flooding. Events began to transpire rapidly as the last two lifeboats floated right off the deck, collapsible lifeboat B upside down, and collapsible lifeboat A 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's stern slowly rose into the air, and everything not secured crashed towards the bow. While the stern rose, the electrical system finally failed and the lights went out. Shortly thereafter the stress on the hull caused Titanic to break apart between the third and fourth funnels, and the bow section went completely under. The stern section briefly righted itself on the water before rising back up vertically. After a few moments, at 2:20 AM, the stern section also sank into the ocean.

Related Topics:
Stern - Propeller

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Of a total of 2,223 people, only 706 survived; 1,517 perished.{{ref|Titanicnumbers_a}} The majority of deaths were caused by victims succumbing to hypothermia in the 28 °F (−2 °C) water. Out of the 18 lifeboats launched only two rescued people out of the water after the ship sank. Lifeboat 4 was close by and picked up five people, two of whom later died. Close to an hour later Lifeboat 14 went back and rescued four people, one of whom died afterwards. Other people managed to climb onto the lifeboats that floated off the deck. There were some arguments in some of the other lifeboats about going back, but many survivors were afraid of being swamped by people trying to climb into the lifeboat or getting pulled down by the suction from the sinking Titanic, though it turned out that there had been very little suction.

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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 (600 m) below the surface and slowed somewhat, landing relatively gently. The stern, however, fell fairly straight down towards the ocean floor, possibly rotating as it sank, with the air trapped inside causing implosions. The bow section, having been opened up by the iceberg, had no air left in it when it sank.

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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 AM, Carpathia left for New York, arriving on April 18.

Related Topics:
RMS ''Carpathia'' - April 18

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Once the loss of life was verified, White Star Line chartered the ship MacKay-Bennett to retrieve bodies. A total of 328 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.

Related Topics:
Halifax, Nova Scotia - Fairview Cemetery

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