Titanic

    Titanic was the largest ship in the world, built by a workforce of

17,000. The ultimate in turn-of-the-century design and technology. First-class

suites ran to more than $ 55,000 in todays dollars, and when she sailed on

her maiden voyage from Southampton, England on route to NY , she held


among her 2,227 passengers. The cream of industrial society, including


colonel John Jacob Astor. Macys founder; U.S. congressman Isidor Straus


and Thomas Andrews, the ships builder. The ship was built of easily


sealed-off compartments. If, for some unimaginable reason, the hull were


punctured, only the compartment actually ruptured would flood. In an worst


case example - builders figured that the Titanic would take from one to three


days to sink, time for nearby ships to help, because there was only 16


lifeboats. Unfortunately, things didnt   work out that way.


        On April 14th, 1912 at about 7:30, at the first ominous hint of disaster


has came. Into the earphones of the wireless operator on duty came a


message from the steamer California: Three large bergs five miles southward


from us. But the Titanic continued to rush through the deepening darkness.


The temperature was one degree above freezing. When lookouts Frederick


Fleet and Reginald Lee had come on duty at 10 P.M., the sky was cloudless


and the air clear. At around 11:30 P.M., just half an hour before they were to


be rewired, a slight haze had appeared, directly ahead. And about two points


on either side. Suddenly - his training causing his reflexes to function


instinctively. Fleet gave the warning bell and immediately reached across the


crowns nest to the bridges telephone. In its compartment on the starboard


side. He rang  ms bell urgently. Fleet replaced the telephone and gripped the


crowns nest rail.


        At 11:40 P.M., April 14 , 1912 ; The lookouts spotted the iceberg  a


quarter-mile ahead. Had they not alerted the bridge, the ship would not have


attempted a turn. At 11:40P.M. ; the ship sideswipes the ice. Because of the


steels ductility, it would have absorbed massive amounts of energy. The ice


crashed right through the plating as it grinded along the side, Strinking at an


angle like s 300-foot zipper.


        ON midnight, April 14-15; fist six  compartments were filling; water


was beginning to slosh over. 12:40.; water filled 2,000 bathtubs 1:20 A.M.;


The bow dipped; water flooded through anchor - chain holes. At 2:10 A.M.;


The Titanic titled to 45 degrees or more and stress reaches nearby 15 tons per


square inch. The keel bends; The bottom plating buckles. At 2:15 A.M.; The


stern  grew heavier and until it  reached some 16,000 tons of in - water


weight . At 2:20 A.M.; The bow rips went loose. The stern rose sharply , held


and almost vertical position and then, as it filled, faded downward again. At


least one life boat passenger said, look - its  coming back!. At 2:30 A.M.;


The bow stroke the bottom , 12,612 feet down, angling downward and


flowing into  the mud. Shortly after 2:30 A.M. ships time  a green florae was


sighed suddenly, for ahead. In a few  seconds it disappeared. At 3 A.M.,


Roston ordered rockets fired at fifteen-minute intervals to let survivors know


help was approaching. The companys night  signals were  also displayed. By


3:35 carpathia was almost to the position where Titanic, if afloat, would be


seen. But there was only  a rast emptiness. Carpathia inched forward. The


lifeboat was alongside.


        Some 2,340 passengers and crew were on board the Titanic when the


white star liner left Southampton for its maiden voyage to NY five days ago.


And  some 1,595 people perished in the accident. Only 745 were saved.


Many more could have been rescued but there were enough lifeboats for only


half the passengers and crew. Two boats full of people who had escaped from


the ship were sucked beneath the ocean. Most of the passengers were


apparently not aware of the accident when it happened. At first, passengers


were so unconcerned that they remained in their staterooms to dress for


dinner. By 1:30 A.M. panic has begun among some of the passengers.


        In the tomb that was once a ship, all that remain are China teacups and


brass latches, porcelain toilets, and perhaps teeth - nearby all else has been


devoured: wooden decks, the rich Victorian woodwork, human beings and


their clothing - all except for shoes protected from scavengers by their tannin.


Some 150 items retrieved by the French sub Nautili went on display at


Londons National Maritime Museum in Oct. 1994. protected too is the


ships steel.

        The first memorials to Titanics victims were the church services in


commemoration of the dead and Thanksgiving for the living. As the days


passed the enormity of the loss of life became evident, and relief


programmers were established. The event becomes dim in the minds of new


but the monuments stand, and assurance that - as long as tides flow, as long


as people sail - the memory of Titanics courageous and gallant men and


women will never fade. It is through the appalling tragedy that befell her


during her owe voyage that the world best knows of her today. Perhaps


Historys most famous ship, she is remembered through memories and motion


pictures; through songs and scraps of yellowing newspapers; through


reminiscences of her survivors as recurring anniversary observances as,


fortunately she of remembered through pictures. For during the brief of her


existence, the new hobby and profession of photography ensured a record of


her beauty, her people and their loss. In the disasters aftermath, reaction set


in, reaction which was to change the way people thought about the sea and

the ships that sailed on it.


        The sinking of the Titanic remains the most famous of all maritime


disasters. At least in parts because of the mystery surroundings its cause over


an answer - from scientific expeditions in manned submersibles to court cases


and investigative reporting. It  took many years and a certain serendipity  to


obtain the pieces of the Titanics hull that underwent metallurgical tests at a


candian government laboratory in Nova Scotia late last year. New theories


about ships demise continue to spring up. James G/ Vlary, who specializes in


maritime subjects, believes he too has uncovered some startling new


information about the Titanics last moments. In his book Superstitions of


The sea , clary claims there is : substantial and documental proof 1 that the


engines on the Titanic were restarted and ran for as long as 30 minutes after it


hit the iceberg and stopped. in doing so,[Clary concludes]


, she undoubtedly hastened hull to greatly reduce the precious time she had


left before foundering 2.


        She was not the worlds fastest ship. Nor was she the first of a new


class. She was not the largest liner ever built3., nor the most costly. The


documentation of her conception, design and construction has not withstood


the  passage of time well. Two world wars. indifference, corporate rivalries,


accident. Reglect and even late 20th century political activity have conspired


to deprive historians of much that might be known about her.


        The story of Titanic began in 1867. The final chapter is yet to be


written. As we  see boilers, positions and cylinder beds strewn across the


ocean floor of the great engines. Perhaps we might sense the vibrations that


drove the vessel onward. Then, in a sudden burst of reality we might hear

distantly. once again, there rings of the bell :iceberg right ahead.... In the


photographs to come you shall surely see the actual places where the bravest


of the brave newed our their mighty deeds of heroism and  self-sacrifice


which shall never fade. Then we shall truly be able to evasion the pride and


splendor, the glorious drama, the terrible tragedy, the legend which has


become - and ever shall be - Titanic.