R.M.S. Titanic - in focus
Background
The RMS Titanic was at it's time, the flagship cruise liner of the world. It was designed to be both the first and last word in terms of comfort and luxury travel at sea. The ship was built between 1909 and 1911 at the Harland and Wolf shipyard in Belfast, Northern Ireland, could carry up to 2,566 people and was one of three olympic-class ocean liners operated by White Star Line Shipping, today part of Carnival Corporation and PLC.
In the early part of the Twentieth Century, the world didn't really consist of many famous actors, sports stars, media personalities, musicians, singers etc (whom we would today refer to as celebrities). The "celebrities" of the time, or VIPs, were however some of the wealthiest people the world has ever seen. There were people who had so much money, that for entertainment they would pay to go on cruise liners such as this, hence the demand for a passenger ship capable of delivering impeccable service. The ship's passengers also consisted of over a thousand emigrants from Britain, Ireland, Scandinavia and other parts of Eastern Europe seeking new lives in North America. A wide range therefore of Edwardian society set sail on that day.
The Titanic was built with 12 decks in all. For the passengers convenience, the ship was fitted with gymnasium, smoking rooms, lounges, swimming pools, libraries, high class restaurants and opulent cabins, as well as a wireless telegraph which was also available for operational use by the crew.
In terms of safety precautions, the Titanic had advanced technology such as remotely controlled water-tight doors and watertight compartments. A flaw however was the shortage of lifeboats. Due to outdated maritime regulations, there were only enough lifeboats to accomodate 1,178 people (20 lifeboats in all). This figure was only a third of it's passengers and crew capacity.
Of the Titanic's near 900 crew members on board her maiden voyage, 8 were bridge officers - Captain Edward Smith; Chief Mate / Chief Officer Lieutenant Henry Wilde; and then ranked from First Officer down to Sixth Officer respectively were Lieutenant William Murdoch; Sub-Lieutenant Charles Herbert Lightoller; Herbert Pitman; Sub-Lieutenant Joseph Boxall; Sub-Lieutenant Harold Lowe and James Moody.
The remainder of the staff were divided into three principal departments:- deck (66); engine (325) and victualling (494). Then the rest of the staff covered a wide range of occupations - bakers, chefs, fishmongers, butchers, stewards, dishwashers, gym instructors, laundrymen, waiters, cleaners, postal clerks and even a printer who produced a daily newspaper titled the
Atlantic Daily Bulletin.
Departure
Titanic began her voyage shortly after noon on 10th April 1912 from Southampton. Within a few hours, she reached Cherbourg in France and collected more passengers. The next port of call was Queenstown (today Cobh), on the south coast of Ireland, which she reached on 11th April at around midday. More passengers and stores boarded and the ship departed for the trip across the Atlantic to New York in the afternoon.
By now the Titanic was carrying 892 crew members and 1,320 passengers, still only about half of her capacity.
14th April and ice warnings
The unusually icy conditions were attributed to a mild winter causing several icebergs to break off the coast of Greenland. It is also now known that in April of 1912, the Moon had moved closer to the Earth than it had in the 1,400 years previously, coinciding with the Earth's annual closest approach to the Sun. The high tides would have caused far more ice sheets to drift in to the shipping routes than normal.
During the course of the day, the ship received six radio messages from other ships warning of drifting ice. The passengers had also started to notice the higher volume of drifting ice.
The first warning came at 09:00 from the RMS Caronia - "bergs, growlers and field ice" were reported. Captain Smith acknowledged the message.
A second message came through at 13:42 with the RMS Baltic relaying the progress of Greek liner Athenia, which had been "passing icebergs and large quantities of field ice." Smith again acknowledged the message but also showed the report to J Bruce Ismay, the chairman of the White Star Line, on board during the maiden voyage. Smith then ordered a new course to be plotted further south.
At 13:45, the German ship SS Amerika reported "passing two large bergs", a short distance south of the Titanic's position. A breakdown in communication occurred as this message never reached Captain Smith or the other bridge officers. The reason for this is unclear, although may have been overlooked as radio operators were busy repairing faulty equipment. The next message from the SS Californian reported "three large bergs" at around 19:30.
It wasn't until 21:40 that another message was received by the radio room, when the Mesaba reported "saw much heavier pack ice and greater number of large icebergs". This message also never reached Captain Smith. Jack Phillips, the chief radio operator was busy at the time transmitting passenger's messages to Cape Race relay station in Newfoundland. Because of the breakdown in radio the day before, the two operators were now faced with a huge backlog of passenger messages to clear. The sixth and final warning came at 22:30, again from the Californian. Phillips however cut it off and replied "Shut up! Shut up! I'm working Cape Race!"
Several members of the crew were aware of heavy ice in the ship's location, but even so the speed it was travelling was not reduced. It was the policy of North Atlantic liners to prioritise timekeeping over all else, to rigidly stick to schedules to give them the best chance of reaching destinations at an advertised time.
May seem reckless, but at the time it was standard maritime practice. Harold Lowe is quoted as saying "the custom was to go ahead and depend solely on the lookouts in the Crows Nest and the watch on the bridge to pick up the ice in time to avoid hitting it." It was believed that the ice carried little risk, there had been several close calls with other ships and even collisions had not been disastrous. Captain Smith was quoted five years previously as saying "I cannot imagine any situation where a ship would founder. Modern shipbuilding has gone beyond that."
"Iceberg! Right Ahead!"
At 23:59, on 14th April 1912, Frederick Fleet in the Crows Nest, rang the lookout bell three times and telephoned sixth officer James Moody on the bridge. The above words were relayed to first officer Murdoch. He in turn immediately ordered quartermaster Robert Hitchens to change course. Murdoch is believed to have given the order "Hard a'starboard!". This would have moved the tiller to starboard (right) in an attempt to turn the ship to port (left). "Full a'stern!" was also rang on the telegraphs.
Murdoch told Smith that he was attempting to "hard a'port around". It's believed he wanted to first swing the bows, then swing the stern, to avoid both ends of the ship colliding with the iceberg. This was an unfeasible manouvre however, as too many procedures would have been involved in a very short space of time. The engines, turbines and rudders would all have to be factored in to the move. Had Murdoch simply ordered the ship to turn whilst maintaining forward speed, Titanic may have missed the iceberg with feet to spare.
Going Down
As it became clear that the Titanic was a lost cause, lifeboats were ordered to be uncovered by Captain Smith at around 00:05 on 15th April. Smith was then faced with the horrifying truth that not all of the passengers could be saved. With 20 lifeboats on board, each able to carry 68 people, it meant that even with each filled to capacity, almost half of the people on board would go down with the ship.
A number of factors then contributed to the disastrous evacuation:-
- Captain Smith became "frozen" with indecision. This resulted in orders not being made clear and officers unsure of how to proceed.
- A full lifeboat drill should have had occurred on the morning of the day of departure, but for reasons unclear, this was cancelled and only a short practice involving two boats was carried out.
- Many passengers for a long time refused to believe it was serious. Others simply refused to go outside to the decks when ordered, preferring the warmth of the cabins. Some passengers are known to have said "we're safer on board than in those little boats."
- Confusion over the order of priority in to lifeboats and worries about overcrowding resulted in boats being lowered with empty seats.
- The lack of experienced seamen on hand to supervise the evacuations resulted in passengers having accidents and suffering injuries on the way to the lifeboats.
- The deafening roar of the engines made verbal communication on deck impossible. Crew members had to rely on hand signals.
The last moments
The last audible radio message of the Titanic was heard at 01:45 - "Engine room full to boilers", transmitted as the electrical systems began to fail. It was then only a matter of time before she went down and several moments of human emotion are described as RMS Titanic drew it's final breath:-
Eyewitnesses reported seeing Captain Smith on the bridge as the ship went under water. The postal clerks continued trying futilely to save the mail bags rescued from the post room without a thought for their own safety. People crowded around on deck and in trapped cabins saying final prayers, asking "God and Mary, save us". The ship's orchestra continued playing on deck right to the end - the hymn "Nearer, My God To Thee" is widely associated with Titanic's final moments.
After the ship had submerged, those in the lifeboats could hear what Lawrence Beesley described as "every possible emotion of human fear, despair, agony, fierce resentment & blind anger mingled – I am certain of those – with notes of infinite surprise, as though each one were saying, 'How is it possible that this awful thing is happening to me? That I should be caught in this death trap?" Jack Thayer compared it to the sound of "locusts on a summer night", while George Rheims, who jumped moments before Titanic sank, described it as "a dismal moaning sound which I won't ever forget; it came from those poor people who were floating around, calling for help. It was horrifying, mysterious, supernatural."
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It's no surprise that this event in history has become one of the most fabled and commonly talked about moments over the past 100 years.
R.I.P. crew and passengers of R.M.S. Titanic
R.M.S. Titanic, 31st March 1909 - 15th April 1912.
It was certainly emotional for me writing this. I think it's an important event which needed a full in depth post. I hope I've done it justice in this excellent thread, which is now one of my favourite places to be on here. I've left it for others, if they wish, to talk about the rescue of survivors, the impact of the disaster on safety / maritime regulations and future shipping travel.
The Wikipedia links are below for anyone who'd like further reading.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinking_of_the_RMS_Titanic
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Titanic
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crew_of_the_RMS_Titanic
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passengers_...MS_Titanic