Titanic

The Titanic was a large (the largest of its kind at the time) luxury ocean liner that many at the time thought to be "unsinkable". The ship struck an iceberg on the night of April 14, 1912. It broke in two and sank to the bottom of the ocean, where it remains today. 1,514 people died in the sinking. The disaster led to many improvements in maritime safety. People were able to retrieve some artifacts from the Titanic and they are on display in museums and traveling exhibits.

For more on what the experience was like, I suggest the movie Titanic, and the book (and film) A Night to Rememberfrom Walter Lord.

This ship is the most interesting in the whole world. It's also been given names like "the Millionaire's Special," ''Wonder Ship,'' and ''The Last Word in Luxury." On top of all that, it's unsinkable. But "it'' is now ''was,'' for this ship did sink, and now it's at its final resting place on the ocean floor, where it has been for over a century. It is the RMS Titanic.

Built by White Star Line, this gigantic steamer nearly cost 7.5 million dollars in 1910-12, around four hundred million dollars today. Taking two years and over three thousand men to build, the ship was finally ready to take to the seas in 1912. It was one hundred feet tall from the keel to the top of the funnels and eight hundred eighty-three feet long. It had six engines, a low-pressure Parsons turbine, three propellers (each between seventeen to twenty-three feet long), 159 furnaces (heating over one hundred forty-four thousand sq. feet), and twenty-nine boilers. With nine decks and a total capacity of 3547 passengers and crew, the only thing left to do was get the ship into the water. Sixteen watertight compartments made it practically unsinkable. But getting it into the water wasn't easy. It took twenty-two tons of soap, grease, and train oil to slide it into the ocean.

The Titanic was huge. In each of its four funnels, the diameter was large enough to drive two trains through. Together, her three anchors weighed a total of thirty-one tons. It took half a mile for the ship just to stop. Everyday the ship needed eight hundred twenty-five tons of coal just to function. This steamer was known to be the largest in the world at the time.

Tickets were expensive. A single third class one-way ticket cost $15 to $40, that's $172 to $550 today. A second class ticket cost $60, or $750 today. A first class berth was $150, or $2000 today. And being the most expensive was one of the four first class parlor suites. They were $4350 then. That would be nearly $60,000 today!

To send a telegram, it was about $3.12, or $50 today for the first ten words. All others afterwards were nine pence each. Altogether, nearly two hundred fifty telegrams were sent and received during the trip.

Many people boarded the ship. A total of 2228 people were on board. That includes 337 in first class, 285 in second, and 721 in third class, along with 885 crew members.

There were many staterooms on the ship. In third class, there were eighty-four two-berth cabins. In second class, rooms had linoleum floors, mahogany furniture and sofas. They were almost as nice as some of the first class accommodations on other ships. First class rooms were even decorated in different styles like: Empire, Adams, Italian Renaissance, Queen Anne, Modern and old Dutch.

Besides staterooms, there were many other rooms aboard the ship. There were two barber shops, a heated swimming pool, gymnasium, first and second class smoking rooms and libraries, four electric elevators (three in first class and one in second class), reading and writing rooms, first class dining saloon, a piano in third class, a Veranda Cafe with real palm trees, two physicians and an operating room, a darkroom for photographers, a Parisian Cafe with French waiters, and a wireless radio for passenger telegrams. The most recognizable scene was the beautiful Grand Staircase.

The Titanic had millions of things on board including twenty lifeboats, 3560 life jackets, 44,000 pieces of cutlery, 29,000 pieces of glassware, 57,600 crockery items such as 3000 tea cups, 2000 wine glasses,12,000 dinner plates, 2000 salt shakers, et cetera. There were also 75,000 pounds of fresh meat, 10,000 pounds of sugar, 8000 cigars, 1750 pounds of ice cream, 2200 pounds of coffee, and 800 pounds of tea, along with tons of fresh fruit and vegetables. There was actually enough food to feed a small town for several months. Also aboard the ship were nine hundred tons of baggage and freight. 45,000 table napkins, 7500 blankets and bath towels each, and other linens were also on the steamer.

But not everything on the ship was recovered after the collision. 3364 bags of mail, three crates for the Denver Museum, fifty cases of toothpaste, five grand pianos, a cask of china for Tiffany's, eight dozen tennis balls, an automobile, and a marmalade machine were some of the items lost after the incident.

The story of the Titanic is a tragic one. It all started on Wednesday, April 10, 1912, when the steamer set sail for America from Southampton. They planned to reach New York by the following Wednesday. After making a few stops in France and Ireland, the ship continued its voyage. On April 14, 1912, the ship sailed on smoothly as it had, already at the midpoint of their journey to the U.S. As the ship sailed on throughout the day, seven ice warnings were received. Some ships reported ice, icebergs, and, as it got colder, packed ice. At 7:15 p.m., the temperature dropped to thirty-nine degrees Fahrenheit. Later, at 9p.m., the crow's nest was ordered to "keep a sharp lookout for ice,'' as the temperature got near thirty-three degrees.

No one aboard the ship thought about sinking. After all, the ship was ''unsinkable.'' The passengers were all comfortable and doing as they pleased, yet none of them were aware of the ice ahead. The captain retired to his cabin for the night, and merely twenty minutes later, at 9:40 p.m., a message from the Mesaba was sent warning the Titanic of pack ice, field ice, and icebergs in their direction. But that message was never seen because the wireless operator, Jack Phillips, was busy sending messages that had accumulated during the day, and he put the warning message from the nearby ship aside.

At 10 o'clock that night, the temperature read thirty-two degrees. While traveling at twenty-two point five knots, the sea was calm on a moonless night. The crow's nest was then replaced with two new lookouts, who appeared to be without binoculars. At around 10:50 that night, the ocean was at twenty-eight degrees as a message from the Californian, another ship only twenty miles away, warned that they were surrounded by ice and stopped, but again, the wireless operator was too preoccupied and he ignored the message.

It was 11:30 that night, as the lookouts in the crow's nest noticed low-lying mist ahead. Merely nine minutes later, the lookouts alerted, "Iceberg right ahead!" Immediately, a ''stop'' signal was sent to the engine room. The Titanic makes a turn to the left, and within a total time of thirty seconds from when the lookouts first spotted the danger, the RMS Titanic struck the iceberg. There was a sudden silence throughout the ship and only a small shudder was felt. It came and went quickly, and once it was over, no one gave it much thought. One survivor compared it to ''the tearing of calico, nothing more.''

Many sleeping passengers weren't even awakened, but the crew was running around wildly to take procedures to prevent the ship from sinking. The watertight doors were immediately closed, yet they weren't watertight. There was an opening at the top of each compartment. At midnight, the ship was predicted to last only two hours above water at the most. Captain Smith then ordered his crew to prepare the lifeboats as the first distress signals were shot. At 12:25, most passengers were aware of the event. Orders were then given to begin filling lifeboats- "women and children first."

At 12:45, the first lifeboat was launched, yet not all seats were filled. Between the times of 12:45 and 1:12, five more lifeboats were launched and at 1:15, water was up to the bridge deck as the bow began to submerge under water. At 2:10, the last of the distress rockets were fired and the last of the distress signals were sent. "We are sinking fast... cannot last much longer..."

The stern began to rise noticeably above the water, and at 2:17 all distress signals ended, for the radio room lost power. At 2:18, the lights blinked once and went out. At once, the forward funnel broke off, crashing into the water, and crushing anyone in its path. Then, in a single minute, the entire steamer broke into two pieces. At 2:20, nearly two hours and forty minutes after hitting the iceberg, the Titanic began slipping into the murky water.

The Carpathia picked up many lifeboats with survivors, but most of the people on the ship were not rescued. The band played music until the very end, but none of the members survived. Most of the survivors were women and children. Only one child in first class died, yet forty-nine in steerage, or third class, died. Also among the survivors were two dogs. Thirteen couples celebrated their honeymoon on the steamer, yet the beginning of their new life ended. Captain Smith even planned to retire after the voyage of the Titanic. Either way, it was the last time he'd be captain.

Most of the ones who didn't survive, didn't drown. Many were found floating in their life jackets frozen to death in the thirty-one degree water. Also, more people could've survived, but didn't. It appears that four hundred seventy-two more life boat seats could have been used, but weren't.

When the Carpathia returned with survivors and brought back the awful news, the story was printed in the New York Times. And although the gash in the ship was only twelve square feet, it affected everyone on board. A total of about fifteen hundred people died and only about seven hundred people survived.

Because of the Titanic incident, there now must be enough lifeboats for everyone on board any ship. The story of the Titanic is known by many and will always be remembered in the hearts and souls of anyone who knows the story. In the end, the RMS Titanic will never be forgotten.

Answer: It sank! - that's the only reason it's famous because it was claimed it was 'unsinkable'....but it sank!

The Titanic was a ship that sank on her maiden voyage from Belfast to New York by colliding with an iceberg in the Atlantic ocean in 1912.

Of 2229 passengers and crew, only 713 survived to be rescued by the MV Carpathia, making this the largest loss of life on a passenger vessel at that time. Although the Titanic conformed to the lifeboat requirements of the day, the huge loss of life resulted in new regulations being set for ship safety.

Some people claimed that the ship was unsinkable due to its watertight doors and seals but the shipyard never claimed it to be "unsinkable". The 'unsinkable' myth was probably speculation: the speculation in an article in the Irish News and the Shipbuilder magazine.