The Titanic was designed to be the world’s largest, most luxurious and most unsinkable ship. Then disaster struck.
At 9:40 p.m., one of several iceberg warnings is received in the wireless room. But it’s too late. First Officer Murdoch orders a hard starboard turn, and the ship sideswipes an iceberg.
The Ship’s Maiden Voyage
Taking on board some 2,240 passengers and crew-the ship’s manifest referred to them as “souls”- titanic timeline set sail from Southampton, England, for New York City after stops in Cherbourg, France, and Queenstown (now Cobh), Ireland. It was the largest passenger ship ever built at the time, and its voyage fueled enormous interest. Many of its occupants were wealthy industrialists, dignitaries, and celebrities. White Star Line chairman J Bruce Ismay, for example, was in the first class section. Thomas Andrews, the ship’s chief designer and builder from Harland and Wolff, was aboard as well.
Titanic’s maiden voyage went relatively smoothly until it reached the Atlantic Ocean. At that point, Captain Edward Smith began to receive reports of icebergs on its course. He changed the ship’s course slightly but did not lower its speed.
Senior wireless operator Jack Phillips began receiving a series of warnings about icebergs from other ships. He never passed any of them on to the bridge, however.
At 11:40 pm, an iceberg is sighted in the distance. It is not on Titanic’s direct route but, traveling at 22.5 knots, the collision could have been catastrophic.
The iceberg hits Titanic’s starboard bow side and scrapes along the ship’s surface before disappearing from view. The impact seems to jar the ship somewhat but does not cause any damage.
Minutes later, Titanic’s stern rises from the water and begins to move vertically in the ocean. At the same time, the ship’s watertight compartments begin to fill with seawater.
The first lifeboat, number 7, is lowered. It carries 28 people, including second-class passenger Lucy Noel Martha and her husband, wealthy industrialist Lord Alfred Rothes. Isidor and Ida Straus decline to disobey the order that women and children go into the boat first. Their refusal angers other occupants, particularly nine-week-old Millvina Dean, who will become the last survivor of the disaster.
The Ship’s Sinking
April 15 – 11:40 pm: Titanic collides with an iceberg and begins to take on water. Lookouts spotted the iceberg ahead of her, but they were too late to change course. A glancing blow from the huge piece of ice caused a gash in her side that would eventually fill with water, threatening to sink the ship.
A collision with an iceberg would have been catastrophic for any ship in the era before radio and satellite communication, but Titanic was particularly vulnerable because of its massive size and high speed. Even though she received six ice warnings, she was travelling too fast to turn around quickly.
At least four of her forward watertight compartments were flooded immediately. Designer Thomas Andrews inspects the damage and predicts that the ship will stay afloat for about two hours before it will be completely submerged.
The crew prepares the lifeboats, with women and children placed in them first. They also send out distress flares and use the telegraph system to contact nearby vessels. The rescue ship Carpathia is 58 miles away, but its slow speed and lack of radar equipment means it will take some time to reach the site.
In the meantime, hundreds of human dramas play out as men see off wives and children, families are separated in the confusion, and selfless individuals give up their seats in the lifeboats to allow others to escape. In all, 706 people will survive the disaster.
Lifeboats Numbers 2, 11, and 13 are lowered into the water. Only a few of them have enough room for all of Titanic’s passengers, and some will be forced to board the overturned collapsible boat B. White Star chairman J Bruce Ismay boards one of the boats, but he will later insist that he didn’t have any women or children with him, and he will be branded a coward for his decision not to go down with the ship.
About 30 minutes after the last lifeboat is lowered into the water, Titanic’s lights begin to flicker and she slowly sinks into the deep Atlantic. The front half of the ship disappears beneath the surface, with the stern sinking into the ocean floor a minute or so later.
The Search For Survivors
April 11, 1912: Titanic leaves Queenstown on her final voyage to New York. An estimated 100,000 people line the docks to watch her depart. She passes under the berths of the Olympic-class liners Hawke and New York, displacing enough water to cause their six mooring ropes to break. Quick action prevents a collision, but the incident indicates the relative inexperience of those handling ships of such size.
Senior wireless operator Jack Phillips begins receiving warnings of icebergs from vessels further west. One, from the liner Caronia, reports icebergs and “growers” (smaller, harder to see but still dangerous) in an area about a day’s sailing away from the Titanic (41o N, from 49o to 51o W).
At around 10:30 PM, lookout Frederick Fleet spots an iceberg. A message is sent to the bridge, and Second Officer Harold Lightoller orders the ship to turn hard a starboard. He also tells First Officer William Murdoch to close the ship’s watertight doors.
The captain, Edward Smith, retires to his room. At about 9:30 PM, an emergency call is received in the wireless room. A large iceberg has been spotted, and the crew is instructed to send out a distress signal using the Morse code.
But the nearest ship, the Californian, has turned off her wireless after receiving Phillips’ curt response earlier in the evening and will not hear the warning. Also, the iceberg is directly in the path of the Titanic’s starboard bow, and the lifeboats are not yet fully unfurled.
The order to load the lifeboats is given, women and children going first. Lifeboat No 7 is lowered, but it carries only 28 people, well below its capacity of 65. The first distress rocket is fired. The crew attempts to attract the attention of a nearby ship by flashing a light on its stern. The ship is the Carpathia, and it will later pick up survivors from the Titanic. The Managing Director of the White Star Line, J Bruce Ismay, is among those aboard. It is a tragic end to a voyage that started with such high hopes.
The Discovery Of The Wreck
A century after Titanic’s ill-fated voyage, humans have been fascinated by the story of this great ship. The infamous disaster has had an enduring impact on culture, from the stories and songs that grew out of it to the numerous monuments and memorials that commemorate those who lost their lives. It’s also been the subject of countless documentaries, movies, and television shows.
Construction of the Titanic begins with the keel being laid at Harland and Wolff’s shipyard in Belfast, Ireland. In 1912, Titanic’s hull is launched and the ship sails for Southampton on its maiden voyage. A crowd of 100,000 people lines the shore at Southampton to watch the great ship set sail, waving handkerchiefs and singing “Rule Britannia!”
Lookout Frederick Fleet spots an iceberg and alerts first officer Murdoch. Murdoch orders a hard starboard turn, which only scrapes the iceberg’s side. Many passengers and crew, including lookout man Fleet, assume the iceberg was only a glancing blow.
Senior wireless operator Jack Phillips begins to receive warnings about icebergs from other ships farther west than Titanic. He will later pass this information on to Captain Smith, but Titanic is too close to the iceberg by that time.
At 11:40 p.m., Titanic hits the iceberg. The collision sends water flooding into the front of the ship. Some 4,000 people will die in the sinking.
The wreck was spotted in 1985 by marine explorer Robert Ballard on sonar. His team returned to the site in 2004 to conduct an up-close evaluation of its deterioration using stereoscopic still images and high-definition video. They were able to identify some of the ship’s most famous features, including the stern section and a staircase that leads down to the propeller shaft. In addition to the remains of the ship itself, there are rust-colored stalactite-like formations covering the wreck, which scientists will later determine were created by iron-eating microorganisms.
In 2012, Titanic was brought under UNESCO treaty protections. Since then, divers have explored the wreck and retrieved various artifacts. A new documentary based on the discovery of the ship, entitled Titanic: The Last Voyage, will premiere on National Geographic in April 2016. Several pieces of footage from that first expedition have already been released online, including shots of the rust-caked bow and intact railings.
Conclusion
The Titanic’s ill-fated voyage in 1912 stands as a poignant reminder of human hubris and the consequences of overlooking safety measures. This tragic event continues to captivate the world, serving as a cautionary tale about the fragility of life at sea and the importance of learning from history’s mistakes.
FAQs:
- Was the Titanic’s sinking avoidable? While unforeseen circumstances played a role, the Titanic’s sinking could have been avoided with better safety practices. The absence of enough lifeboats for all passengers and crew, as well as the excessive speed in icy waters, were critical factors that contributed to the disaster.
How many people survived the Titanic’s sinking? Of the approximately 2,224 people on board, around 706 individuals survived the Titanic’s sinking. The rest tragically perished, making it one of the deadliest commercial peacetime maritime disasters in modern history
