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The winter of the year 1912 has been one of the mildest for the last three decades. So giant icefields, ice floats and icebergs were drifting around more south than normal. Otherwise, the winter had been strong enough to prevent a melting of the ice through the Gulf stream. Far more icebergs and ice floats from Greenland rushed into the North Atlantic. Some of these huge creatures reminded on mountains or giant buildings, but some looked like ships.
Four fifths of an iceberg are covered underwater. Than more of an iceberg is melting away, than worse moves the center of gravity, until the whole iceberg turns over and changes his look completely. If this happens, the part of an iceberg, which is over water gets dark and is harder to recognise at night. If the upper part melts away, the iceberg turns back to white. Although it is a big risk to approach an iceberg. Close to the waterline, the iceberg is as sharp as a razor blade and could slice up a ship like a can .
All ships, most of them without radio equipment, that reached their harbours after the sinking of Titanic, reported of a giant icefield between 46° N to 41° 31' N and 46° 18' W to 50° 40' W, moving to South and West. This was exactly on the standard west Transatlantic route (42°N, 47°W) . There were a lot ice-warnings. On April 11th, five ships reported ice. Four more ice-warnings were reported on April 12th . Three more the next day and finally, Sunday April 14th brought seven more ice-warnings. All ships stopped due to the ice, and all icefields that were reported were on the course of Titanic. But neither Captain Smith nor White Star Line thought about slowing down or changing the course.
The Crash
So Titanic made her voyage constantly, taking more than 500 miles of her route per day. She was running out in the Atlantic at fine, cold weather with an speed of 21 knots. Not all boilers had been lit. White Star always ran their ships on their first voyages at reduced speed. Due to this fact, Titanic was running very smooth. She ran without vibrations and behaved with an respectable steadiness although the speed was increasing. On Saturday April 13th, the fire in boiler room number 6 had been finally extinguished. But the watertight doors of this compartment had been severe damaged by the heat of that fire. On Sunday April 14th, Titanic continued the voyage at fine weather. While many passengers of this ship watched the sunset for the last time in their life, Captain Smith corrected the course of Titanic slightly to south and west of its normal route, perhaps as a precaution to avoid contact with the ice of which many ships warned. But there were no orders given to decrease speed, in fact, at that time, Titanic's speed was increasing. At half past eight, three ice-warnings were given to Titanic by the Californian indicating that ice was only 50 miles ahead. Captain Smith retired for night around half past nine giving the unusual order to rouse him "if it becomes doubtful at all". So the first officer Lightoller remembered the lookouts Fleet and Lee to watch out for ice very carefully until morning. Altogether, the ice-warnings given to Titanic on that day showed a huge icefield that was 78 miles long and directly in front of the Titanic. Fatefully, these warnings were ignored.
At eleven o'clock p.m. the Californian is stopped by ice only 10 - 19 miles north of Titanic and sent out ice-warnings to all ships in that area. Titanic radio operators responded the warnings very unfriendly. Phillip responded with the famous reply "Keep out ! Shut up ! You're jamming my signal. I'm working Cape Race". After that derogative message, the radio operator of the Californian shut down his set for that night, not knowing that it has been their last contact with Titanic. At this time, Titanic was running over 22 knots and 24 of the 29 boilers were fired.
Titanic was never going faster than that speed. At half past eleven, the lookouts saw a slight haze appearing directly ahead. At eleven-forty Fleet saw a large iceberg directly ahead and alarmed the bridge. The alarm was recognised on the bridge by sixth officer Moody, who handed over to Murdoch. Murdoch gave an instinctive order. He ordered Titanic to keep "hard starboard", gave the command "Stop, full astern" to the engine room and let the fifteen watertight doors close at the same time. But it was too late. Although Titanic drifted to port she scrapped the iceberg for a length of over 300 feet. Only a few persons on board Titanic noticed this collision. This fateful contact of 10 seconds with the ice sliced up the iron hull under the water line. It opened up five compartments fully to the sea. The coal bunker servicing boiler number nine was also flooded.
Five minutes before midnight, only fifteen minutes after the collision, the "G" deck has been already flooded. After a quick inspection of the damage taken by the collision, Wilde, Boxhall and Andrews came to a terrible conclusion. After having had the report of them, Captain Smith knew that the unexpected happened. Titanic was sinking and the more than two thousand two hundred people were in extreme danger, having only slightly more than two hours left. With a heavy heart, Smith personally took Titanic's last position, worked out by Boxhall, to the radio room. Handing his paper over to Phillips shortly after midnight, he ordered a call for assistance. Phillip tapped out the distress signal CQD...MGY...CQD...MGY... (CQD means Come Quick Danger; MGY was the shortage for Titanic).
The Sinking and the Tragedy
Although Titanic was constructed to be unsinkable, this vessel in fact could sink and did. But how could that happen ?
Titanic was lost from the moment the fifth compartment was flooded. She could stay afloat with four of the five bow compartments. Only the first compartment reached up to the highest deck (C-Deck), compartments two and eleven to fifteen reached only up to the second highest deck (D-Deck), while the other compartments reached only up to the third highest deck (E-Deck). The first four compartments would have kept the water in it, preventing a flooding of the niveau of D-Deck. But the flooded fifth compartment (boiler room number six) reached only up to the E-Deck. This caused a flow over into compartment number six, which pushed down the hull until the bitter end had come and ground was reached.
Shortly after midnight, the Squash court, 32 feet above keel, has already been flooded. The majority of the boilers had been extinguished by the incoming water and so huge clouds of steam came out of the security vents aside of the funnels. Captain Smith ordered to uncover the lifeboats and to muster the crew and the passengers, knowing that there would be only room for 1,178 people out of estimated 2,227 people on board, if every boat was filled up to it's maximum capacity. Between 10 minutes past midnight and ten minutes to two o'clock in the morning, the crew of the Californian, which had been only 19 miles away, close enough to give quick aid, noticed the distress rockets fired up by Titanic. But the Crew did not react, thinking it would just have been some fireworks. A lot of ships had received Titanic's distress calls and were approaching to help, but they were too far away. The Cunard liner Carpathia was the vessel that was closest, but had still been 59 miles away. The Captain of the Carpathia, Arthur Roston, had already been asleep as he had been waken by his radio operator. He ran up to the bridge and set direct course to Titanic. He also woke his crew, to prepare his ship for rescuing the people, knowing that not much time has been left. So the crew started overheating the ten year old boilers to let their ship go faster than ever. Carpathia was riding along with more than 17 knots, much faster than her registered 14.5 knots. Roston behaved like it is taught in every marine schoolbook. Cabins and dining rooms were prepared, hot coffee and a hot soup were cooked, nets and lights were fixed to the outside of the vessel, the gangway and some special devices for fishing out persons were prepared, and even oil was kept ready for taming the wild sea. Meanwhile, twenty-five minutes past midnight the first lifeboats on board Titanic had been loaded with women and children and were lowered away, filled up with only 28 persons, able to carry 65. Nobody really believed Titanic could be sinking. Many passengers told their maids to boil hot water, thinking of having a cup of tea after returning from that "test". At the same time the first distress rocket was fired. These rockets soared 800 feet up in the air and exploded into twelve brilliant white stars under a loud report. Officer Boxhall saw a ship appear and then disappear after having tried to contact it with a Morse lamp. At a quarter past one o'clock, Titanic had only one hour left, the name on the bow was already covered by water and she began listing to port. By that time already seven boats have been lowered filled up only with far fewer passengers and crew than rated capacity. While the chaos on deck was growing, the boats began to be more fully loaded, starting with the starboard lifeboat number 9, that was lowered at twenty minutes past nine, when only less than one hour had been left. At that time, the Titanic had developed a heavy list to starboard. At half past one, as only half of an hour was left to live, signs of panic occurred as port lifeboat number 14 had been lowered, keeping 60 people, including fifth officer Lowe.
He was forced to fire three warning shots along the side of the vessel to stop a group of unruly passengers jumping into the full lifeboat. J. Bruce Ismay left at 1:40 a.m. on a collapsible boat filled up with 39 persons. He was disliked for having left his own ship and leaving more than thousand people on a sinking ship. At this time the water was only ten feet below the promenade deck. Wallace Hartley, the leader of the band, chose the band's final song "Nearer, My God to Thee!". Hartley had always said it would be the hymn he would select for his funeral. At two o'clock, as Titanic had only minutes left, there were about 1,500 persons left on board and there was only space for 47 passengers in the last collapsible lifeboat. Lightoller gave instructions to the crew to lock arms and to form a circle around the last lifeboat, allowing only women and children to get into the last lifeboat.
At five minutes past two the last lifeboat, collapsible boat "D" left Titanic with only 44 instead of 47 possible persons on board. At this time, the A deck was already under water, and Titanic's tilt was getting steeper and steeper. Smith went up to the radio cabin and released the radio operators Phillips and Bride by telling them that they had "done their duty". On his way back to his bridge, Captain Smith told several members of the crew that everybody had to fight for his own life ("It's every man for himself"). His last thoughts were probably bound to his wife Eleanor and his daughter Helen.
The stern began to lift clear of the water and the passengers moved further and further to the back of the ship. At 2:17 a.m. the bow of Titanic was completely under water. Father Thomas Byles, a prayer on board Titanic, gave confessional advice to the passengers, mostly 2nd and 3rd class, at the back of the boat deck. One minute later a huge roar went through the hull of Titanic when all movable objects slid down to the submerged bow. Suddenly the lights blinked once and then shut down for ever, leaving Titanic as an dark silhouette against the clear sky full of stars. The iron hull broke between the third and the fourth funnel. The stern of the ship settled back, digging some hundreds of swimming persons under itself. Then, the stern achieved for several minutes a completely perpendicular position. At twenty minutes past ten it slid into the ice-cold ocean down to the bed of the North Atlantic some 13,000 feet below water line.
About 1,522 passengers and crew members lost their life. Most of them were passengers of the third class. As the third class was separated form first and second class, lattices locked the stair cases leading to the promenade deck, where the lifeboats have been boarded. Most of the third class passengers had no chance to escape from their decks and had to drown like rats. But also some important first class passengers died.
Benjamin Guggenheim preferred to die giving his place to women and children. As he heard about the fate of Titanic, he went with his manservant into his cabin, putting on their best suits. Then they sat waiting in the Grand Saloon. He explained their behaviour with the famous sentence "We've dressed up in our best and are prepared to go down like gentlemen". Also, Isidor Straus preferred to die, helping a pregnant woman getting into the lifeboat where he should take place. John Astor set his wife into the lifeboat and stayed on board like many other men, behaving like a gentleman. Many passengers jumped over board. They all died, either being smashed on the water, as the stern of the ship was nearly 100 feet out of the water, or they died in the ice-cold water, which had no more than 2° C.
Being Rescued
Captain Roston navigated his 540 feet long vessel at full speed through the icefield. At half past two, all preparations for rescuing the survivors had been done. From three o'clock on, Roston ordered to fire up rockets every quarter of an hour. At 3:35, the Carpathia reached the position where Titanic should have been, but there was no ship, only ice. At four o'clock Carpathia stopped her engines, and soon a green position lamp has been expected. About ten minutes later, the first survivors climbed on board Carpathia. By 5:30 a.m. the Californian was informed by the Frankfort of the loss of Titanic and set course for the disaster's site. She arrived at 8:30 a.m., just as the last boat had been picked up by the Carpathia. True to his rules, Lightoller as the highest surviving officer came as the last survivor on board Carpathia. At ten minutes to nine, the California continued to search for survivors, and the Carpathia set course for New York. As she carried 705 survivors, 1522 persons had been lost. So J. Bruce Ismay sent out the following message to White Star's New York office : "Deeply regret advise you Titanic sank this morning after collision with iceberg, resulting in serious loss of life. Full particulars later." During their voyage to New York, the radio operators neglected any information about the things that happened last night. No matter if the questions were private or official. Even a personal question of President Taft about his close friend Major Archibald Butt remained unanswered. It was a big problem to transmit the names of the survivors, because the radio communication was of bad quality. So president Taft forbid all radio contacts, except the contact between Carpathia and New York. Later, even the Navy Cruiser Chester was ordered to give company to Carpathia and to help her with his powerful radio equipment. On April 17th, as Carpathia has been approaching New York, the 705 names of the survivors were known. On April 18th, 4 days after the collision, Carpathia arrived in the harbour of New York in pouring rain about half past eight in the evening. She was escorted by ships crowded with reporters. On the White Star piers 59 and 60, where Titanic's voyage should have ended, she dropped the thirteen lifeboats of Titanic. These lifeboats were the only thing left of the most giant liner in the world and were kept for a long time at these pier, until they were rotten or damaged by souvenirhunters. At half past nine, Carpathia reached her pier and the survivors could leave the vessel. The 174 survivors of the third class left the ship at about eleven p.m., long time after all the other passengers. Most of them had lost everything they owned. White Star line gave immediate aid, supported by many local caritative aid stations.
What Happened after this Tragedy ?
On April 15th, White Star chartered a little ship called Mackay-Bennet, a cable building ship under the command of Captain F.H. Lardner, to search for dead bodies in the region where Titanic had sunk. More than 40 specialists came to help; they all were getting a doubled payment for their unpleasant work . On April 17th all needful things - tons of ice, devices for mummifying the dead bodies and more than 100 coffins - were stored on board Mackay-Bennet. At noon they left the harbour of Halifax. On April 20th the Mackay-Bennet reached her destination and began to work. After a week the capacity of the Mackay-Bennet had been reached and so a second ship, the Minia, came to help. The departure of the Minia was delayed by an shortage of coffins. Soon the Mackay-Bennet returned to Halifax, carrying 190 dead bodies, 100 in coffins, the rest hulled in sails, after having found 306 dead bodies. They buried 116 dead bodies at the sea. Most of the dead bodies were buried at grave-yards in Halifax. Most of the victims died due to the cold water, they were frozen to death. Only 15 of the dead bodies had water in their lungs, a sign for being drowned. All in all 328 dead bodies had been found, 128 have never been identified. For 1314 dead bodies the Titanic and the cold sea became a grave-yard. The heroes and heroines, such like the American millionaire Margaret "Molly" Brown, who fought for the lives of the people in the water, were identified and celebrated by the press. J. Bruce Ismay had to stand a lot of scorn. He was celebrated in the press as a coward.
On the day after the arrival in New York, a trial in front of the marine court was held in the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. Striking questions were the behaviour of the crew, the insufficient number of lifeboats and the mysterious ship that drove between Titanic and Californian. As a result of this disaster the International Convention for Safety of Life at Sea was held in London in May. The convention made up new rules, requiring that every ship is to have a lifeboat space for every person embarked (not like Titanic's 1,178 spaces for 2,228 persons), that lifeboat drills had to be held during each voyage, and because the Californian had not received Titanic's distress signal, although she was closest to the disaster, that ships have to maintain a 24-hour radio watch. The International Ice Patrol, which was also established these days to warn ships of icebergs in the shipping lanes of the North Atlantic.
As there were American people under the victims and the owner of Titanic has been an American company and the destination of Titanic had been New York, it was obvious for American senator William Alden Smith to make up a trial against the owners of Titanic. There has been a catalogue of 25,622 open questions that filled 959 pages. On July 30th, the commission presented their report : "The cause of the collision of Titanic with an iceberg has been the too high velocity. There were no sufficient lookouts. The lifeboats were lowered correctly, but have not been filled up correctly. The Californian could have reached the Titanic if they had tried. The course had been safe if enough care would have been taken. During the rescue the passengers of third class had been discriminated against." J. Bruce Ismay and Sir Cosmo Duff-Gordon were released, being acquitted of all guilt. The following trials were about regulating the financial damage. The acquisitors wanted to get a sum of about 16,084,112 US-Dollars. White Star was willing to pay only 97,772.02 US-Dollars matching the worth of the 13 used lifeboats and pre-paid cargo. In 1916, 4 years after this tragedy, a deal had been made up by judge Mayer, that ended all trials. White Star had to pay 663,000 Dollars.
Why is the Sinking of this Ship so Famous ?
So many ships hit the ground due to a collision with an iceberg, or were sunk by a torpedo. But why did the Titanic become so famous ?
Titanic has been the most modern ship of that period. Among the guests there were a lot of prominent people. So you can compare it with the following scenery : Imagine a new plane is developed, more giant than the state of the art Boeing 747 Jumbo Jet. It is to be the safest plane in the whole world. On its maiden flight, this plane is filled up with Hollywood stars and famous sport stars. Then it suddenly crashes and most of the people die due to insufficient safety devices. This would be a modern version of the Titanic disaster. Also most of the people could have been saved, if there had been enough lifeboats. There are also many open questions and mystic theories :
. Where had the binoculars of the lookout gone ? Equipped with binoculars, the iceberg would have been seen earlier and Titanic would have had enough time to avoid the collision.
. If she had turned around just one second earlier, she would have passed the iceberg.
. If she had turned around just one second later, she would have hit the iceberg with her front and could have stayed afloat.
. A cursed mummy should have been on board of the Titanic. In fact a mummy as described in these stories is today in the British National Museum in London. (It is property number 22542).
. Were there really too many bad omens ?
. The serial number 390904 read in a mirror seen "no pope".
. A horoscope read danger, combined with the co-ordinates of Belfast and the date of birth of Titanic.
The Fate of Titanic's sisters
The Unlucky Britannic / Gigantic
The construction of the biggest of the three superliners had just begun, as work had to be stopped until the report of the commission of Titanic has been delivered. As work had to be continued, the plans had to be redone and the whole ship had to be dated up. Even the name Gigantic has been changed into Britannic. For instance the new vessel had a doubled hull, so it became two feet wider. The watertight compartments have been stretched up to the B deck. Also, huge lifeboat-Davits have been installed. Britannic had been launched on February 26th 1914 and White Star announced that this vessel was to be set on duty on the line Southampton - New York. But then suddenly World War I started. So the nearly finished interior was converted into a clinic. On December 12th, the ship with a whole new painting - white and on the sides a green stripe and red crosses - left Belfast for war services. On November 21st 1916, Britannic was steaming in the Aegean Sea, coming from Saloniki, heading for the Channel of Kéa. Suddenly, an enormous explosion shook the body of the ship, and within one hour, she sunk. 30 out of the 1100 passengers were killed. Jaques Costeau explored the wreck of Britannic in the year 1976 and found a vessel that was nearly undamaged.
The Olympic - the Reliable Old Woman
Only one of the three superliners, planned 1907 during the dinner at Lord Pirrie, met the expectations set to such a ship. This Ship has been Olympic. In contrast to her short-lived sisters Titanic and Britannic, which sunk after a short time, Olympic cruised nearly a quarter of a decade across the oceans. After the Titanic disaster, Olympic had to be rebuilt for almost half a year. That way, Olympic also received a doubled hull and the number of lifeboats was increased rapidly. In spring of 1913 Olympic has been used for transatlantic service again. Even after the breakout of the first World War, Olympic served a long time civil routes. From September 1915 on, she had been used for military services and carried soldiers to the front during the following years of war. After the end of World War I, she has been generally renovated and was released in July 1920. During the following 15 years, she did a large number of Atlantic crossings without any problems. Just once, on May 15th 1934, she had a collision as she rammed a lightship in thick fog . Seven of the eleven crew members of the little lightship died. In the same year, White Star fused together with their biggest opponent Cunard forming a new number one ship line in the world. As the Olympic lost more and more passengers to newer, modern ships, she did a last voyage to New York in the year 1935. Later she has been sold, stripped and was wrecked in Scotia. Many items of the furniture can be found in old barns, or being built into some hotels or houses.
The Finding of Titanic
The dream of raising the Titanic has been created at the same time as she sunk. There were immense treasures on board of the Titanic. So some enthusiasts created the idea of raising Titanic in the twenties. They just thought of putting Ping-Pong balls into the wreck or pumping oxygen into the hull to raise the giant. But even with modern state of the art technique it is impossible to lift the heavy wreck of Titanic. Little parts have already been lifted up. After a huge number of unsuccessful attempts, a group of scientists localised the wreck of Titanic in the year 1985. It has been found by an expedition with the Navy cruiser "Knorr", with two remote controlled camerasystems, called ANGUS and ARGO. On September 1st 1985, after more than 73 years on the ground, the first photo has been taken of Titanic by Robert Ballard. He also was the first man to go down to Titanic to the ground in the year 1986. The research vessel Atlantis II carried the little submarine Alwin to the position of the wreck. From Alwin, a remote controllable robot had been set out, called Jason jr. or "JJ". On Sunday, July 13th, the first time for 74 years, human beings saw Titanic lie in front of them. In the year 1987, a giant expedition to Titanic took place. Between July 22nd and September 11th 1987, 32 dives were done to lift up more than 1800 items of Titanic. In October 1989, a huge exposition about Titanic took place in Paris. This exposition travelled around in Europe. In the summer of 1991 an independent film team visited Titanic, doing an IMAX movie. The most striking point is the fact, that Titanic became the grave of more than thousand persons. So the big question is : Is it right to break into that grave and save parts of Titanic from corrosion or is it grave plundering ? That is why an American court condemned the firms that collected items out of Titanic to fines of about 60,000 US-Dollars. The money was collected by the R.M.S. Titanic Inc. This foundation gave all the items of the exhibition into the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich and wants to protect Titanic from being plundered.
The Future of Titanic
The future of Titanic is not looking good. The pressure in the depth of more than 13,000 feet is enormous and the corrosion in the salty water is destroying many parts of the vessel. Maybe in ten years nothing will be left of the Titanic. It is planned to do some more dives down to Titanic to explore everything before it will be gone forever. In the year 1998 a new film about Titanic created a real boom. Everybody wanted to know everything about Titanic. Titanic Inc. sold merchandise products in every variation. An own swimming museum is planned to be built in Southampton, giving the exhibition about Titanic the kind of home that it well deserves. A Swiss firm plans to build an exact copy of Titanic in the near future, with all the luxury of the old liner, but equipped with modern safety standards to prevent a second disaster. The costs are estimated to be about 500 Million US-Dollars. The Maiden Voyage is planned to take place on the 90th anniversary, April 12th 2002.
Appendix 1:
The "shopping list" for Titanic's Maiden Voyage:
Meat (fresh) 75,000 pounds
Fish (fresh) 11,000 pounds
Dried Fish & Meat 4,000 pounds
Ham & bacon 7,500 pounds
Poultry & venison 25,000 pounds
Eggs 40,000 pieces
Sausages 2,500 pounds
Bread 1,000 pounds
Ice-cream 1,750 litres
Coffee 2,200 pounds
Tea 800 pounds
Rice 10,000 pounds
Sugar 10,000 pounds
Flour 200 barrels
Rolled oats 10,000 pounds
Oranges 36,000 pieces
Lemons 16,000 pieces
Grapes 1,000 pounds
Milk (fresh) 6,825 litres
Evaporated Milk 2,730 litres
Cream 1,200 litres
Butter 6,000 pounds
Grapefruit 50 chests
Lettuce 7,000 pieces
Tomatoes 2.75 tons
Asparagus 800 bounds
Green peas 2250 pounds
Potatoes 40 tons
onions 3500 pounds
Marmalade 1120 pounds
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