The
luxurious and unsinkable 'Titanic' hits an iceberg, eventually sinking, killing
1517 people.
The RMS Titanic was the largest passenger steamship in the world at the time of its launching. It was a White Star Line ocean liner built at the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast, Ireland and, along with its sister ships Olympic and the soon to be built Britannic, was intended to compete with rival company Cunard Line's Lusitania and Mauretania. For its time, the ship was unsurpassed in its luxury and opulence. The ship offered an onboard swimming pool, gymnasium, a Turkish bath, library and squash court. Its ornate interior design, elaborate wood panelling, expensive furniture and other elegant decorations placed it in a class of its own. Further, it was considered the pinnacle of naval architecture and technological achievement, and reported by The Shipbuilder magazine to be "practically unsinkable.
The Titanic departed on its maiden voyage from Southampton, England, bound for New York City, New York, on Wednesday, 10 April 1912, with Captain Edward J. Smith in command. On 14 April 1912, the temperatures had dropped to near freezing. Captain Smith, in response to iceberg warnings received via wireless over the previous days, had altered Titanic's course about 20 km south of the normal shipping route. At 1:45pm, a message from the steamer Amerika warned that large icebergs lay in Titanic's path, but this warning, and others, were never relayed to the bridge. The ship hit an iceberg shortly after 11:40pm on the 14th, buckling the hull in several places and popping out rivets below the waterline over a length of 90 metres. The watertight doors closed as water started filling the first five watertight compartments, one more than Titanic could stay afloat with. The huge volume of water weighed the ship down past the top of the watertight bulkheads, allowing water to flow into the other compartments.
Some first- and second-class passengers were able to access the lifeboats quickly, but third-class passengers, many of whom were immigrants hoping to find a better life in America, were unable to navigate their way to the lifeboats through the complex of corridors. While all first- and second-class children save one survived the sinking, more third-class women and children were lost than saved. In all, 1517 people were lost in the disaster, whilst 706 survived. Most of the deaths were caused by victims succumbing to hypothermia in the -2°C water.
The RMS Titanic was the largest passenger steamship in the world at the time of its launching. It was a White Star Line ocean liner built at the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast, Ireland and, along with its sister ships Olympic and the soon to be built Britannic, was intended to compete with rival company Cunard Line's Lusitania and Mauretania. For its time, the ship was unsurpassed in its luxury and opulence. The ship offered an onboard swimming pool, gymnasium, a Turkish bath, library and squash court. Its ornate interior design, elaborate wood panelling, expensive furniture and other elegant decorations placed it in a class of its own. Further, it was considered the pinnacle of naval architecture and technological achievement, and reported by The Shipbuilder magazine to be "practically unsinkable.
The Titanic departed on its maiden voyage from Southampton, England, bound for New York City, New York, on Wednesday, 10 April 1912, with Captain Edward J. Smith in command. On 14 April 1912, the temperatures had dropped to near freezing. Captain Smith, in response to iceberg warnings received via wireless over the previous days, had altered Titanic's course about 20 km south of the normal shipping route. At 1:45pm, a message from the steamer Amerika warned that large icebergs lay in Titanic's path, but this warning, and others, were never relayed to the bridge. The ship hit an iceberg shortly after 11:40pm on the 14th, buckling the hull in several places and popping out rivets below the waterline over a length of 90 metres. The watertight doors closed as water started filling the first five watertight compartments, one more than Titanic could stay afloat with. The huge volume of water weighed the ship down past the top of the watertight bulkheads, allowing water to flow into the other compartments.
Some first- and second-class passengers were able to access the lifeboats quickly, but third-class passengers, many of whom were immigrants hoping to find a better life in America, were unable to navigate their way to the lifeboats through the complex of corridors. While all first- and second-class children save one survived the sinking, more third-class women and children were lost than saved. In all, 1517 people were lost in the disaster, whilst 706 survived. Most of the deaths were caused by victims succumbing to hypothermia in the -2°C water.
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