The Titanic
Titanic is the most iconic ship in history, and it’s tragic events are known worldwide. More than 1,500 passengers and crew members lost their lives in this disaster. The sinking of the Titanic is one of the most captivating disasters experienced in the past 100 years. The tale of the magnificent ship that sank after hitting an iceberg is one story known to most everyone. People were tempting fate by saying, “ The Titanic is so unsinkable, not even God could sink it.” The construction of the Titanic was very expensive and time-consuming, but in the end, it took less than 3 hours to sink.
The White Star Line was determined that absolutely no expense would be spared in the construction of the Titanic. It took 3 years for the building of the Titanic to be completed and the end result cost $7.5 million for the ship to be finished. There were over 3000 men that were employed in the building of the Titanic over this 3 year time span. The price of a single first class ticket for the voyage on the Titanic cost $4,700. That’s the equivalent of about $50,000 today. Since the Titanic was advertised as “unsinkable”, there were only 20 lifeboats on the Titanic, when it was built to hold 64 total life boats. They didn’t want to waste valuable space. That’s not even enough for half of the 2,230 passengers on the Titanic. The Titanic features an onboard heated swimming pool (the first of it’s kind), and a Turkish bath, and two separate libraries- one for first-class passengers and one for second class.
April 14th, 1912, the Titanic hit the iceberg at 11:40, less than three hours later the Titanic lay at the bottom of the Atlantic ocean. The surviving passengers said that all they felt was a slight tremor upon impact, and many thought nothing of it. According to Lady Patten (granddaughter of the 2nd officer Charles Lightoller), the crew spotted the iceberg with plenty of time to dodge it. However, the helmsman at the wheel panicked and turned right instead of left dooming the vessel. (You had to steer the opposite way you wished to turn.) The iceberg was recorded at 100 feet tall. As the lifeboats began to fill up with women and children, it became obvious that many would not find safety in a lifeboat. Each passenger was issued a life jacket, but life expectancy would be short when exposed to water four degrees below freezing. The first few lifeboats that departed were less than half full. The lifeboats had a carrying capacity of 40 people. Had all the lifeboats been filled to capacity, 1,178 people could have been saved.
John Thayer witnessed the sinking from a lifeboat. “We could see groups of almost fifteen hundred people still aboard, clinging in clusters or bunches, like swarming bees; only to fall in masses, pairs, or singly, as the great after part of the ship, two hundred and fifty feet of it, rose into the sky, till it reached a sixty-five or seventy degree angle.” That morning, a few hours later, the liner Carpathia rescued 705 survivors. About 60% of the first-class passengers survived, about 42% of the second-class passengers survived, and about 25% of the third-class passengers aboard survived. But about a month after the sinking, one of the lifeboats from the Titanic was found in the ocean with three bodies in it.The last survivor of the sinking of the Titanic, passed away on May 31, 2009. Her name was Milvina Dean and she was nine weeks old when the Titanic went down. She was also the youngest survivor aboard.
The sinking of the Titanic is still among the great and tragic accidents to occur at sea. Not only was it the largest and most luxurious liner of it’s time, but it was also the most ill-fated cruise ship as it sailed off on it’s first and last voyage. Along with its sinking, more than half of its passengers would be buried at sea. Because of it, ships have been made safer. Although there have been repeated requests to salvage the Titanic, it will remain resting on the ocean floor, rusting quietly in the deep icy waters.
Titanic is the most iconic ship in history, and it’s tragic events are known worldwide. More than 1,500 passengers and crew members lost their lives in this disaster. The sinking of the Titanic is one of the most captivating disasters experienced in the past 100 years. The tale of the magnificent ship that sank after hitting an iceberg is one story known to most everyone. People were tempting fate by saying, “ The Titanic is so unsinkable, not even God could sink it.” The construction of the Titanic was very expensive and time-consuming, but in the end, it took less than 3 hours to sink.
The White Star Line was determined that absolutely no expense would be spared in the construction of the Titanic. It took 3 years for the building of the Titanic to be completed and the end result cost $7.5 million for the ship to be finished. There were over 3000 men that were employed in the building of the Titanic over this 3 year time span. The price of a single first class ticket for the voyage on the Titanic cost $4,700. That’s the equivalent of about $50,000 today. Since the Titanic was advertised as “unsinkable”, there were only 20 lifeboats on the Titanic, when it was built to hold 64 total life boats. They didn’t want to waste valuable space. That’s not even enough for half of the 2,230 passengers on the Titanic. The Titanic features an onboard heated swimming pool (the first of it’s kind), and a Turkish bath, and two separate libraries- one for first-class passengers and one for second class.
April 14th, 1912, the Titanic hit the iceberg at 11:40, less than three hours later the Titanic lay at the bottom of the Atlantic ocean. The surviving passengers said that all they felt was a slight tremor upon impact, and many thought nothing of it. According to Lady Patten (granddaughter of the 2nd officer Charles Lightoller), the crew spotted the iceberg with plenty of time to dodge it. However, the helmsman at the wheel panicked and turned right instead of left dooming the vessel. (You had to steer the opposite way you wished to turn.) The iceberg was recorded at 100 feet tall. As the lifeboats began to fill up with women and children, it became obvious that many would not find safety in a lifeboat. Each passenger was issued a life jacket, but life expectancy would be short when exposed to water four degrees below freezing. The first few lifeboats that departed were less than half full. The lifeboats had a carrying capacity of 40 people. Had all the lifeboats been filled to capacity, 1,178 people could have been saved.
John Thayer witnessed the sinking from a lifeboat. “We could see groups of almost fifteen hundred people still aboard, clinging in clusters or bunches, like swarming bees; only to fall in masses, pairs, or singly, as the great after part of the ship, two hundred and fifty feet of it, rose into the sky, till it reached a sixty-five or seventy degree angle.” That morning, a few hours later, the liner Carpathia rescued 705 survivors. About 60% of the first-class passengers survived, about 42% of the second-class passengers survived, and about 25% of the third-class passengers aboard survived. But about a month after the sinking, one of the lifeboats from the Titanic was found in the ocean with three bodies in it.The last survivor of the sinking of the Titanic, passed away on May 31, 2009. Her name was Milvina Dean and she was nine weeks old when the Titanic went down. She was also the youngest survivor aboard.
The sinking of the Titanic is still among the great and tragic accidents to occur at sea. Not only was it the largest and most luxurious liner of it’s time, but it was also the most ill-fated cruise ship as it sailed off on it’s first and last voyage. Along with its sinking, more than half of its passengers would be buried at sea. Because of it, ships have been made safer. Although there have been repeated requests to salvage the Titanic, it will remain resting on the ocean floor, rusting quietly in the deep icy waters.