King - Titanic: The Sinking of the Unsinkable: The Terrible Truth Behind the Tragedy that Shocked the World

Titanic: The Sinking Of the Unsinkable

Chapter 1 The Legacy of Titanic Lives On

Chapter 2 Whos The Fairest Of Them All?

Titanics Birth

First-Class Quarters

Second-Class Quarters

Third-Class Quarters

Chapter 3 First-Class, Second-Class, and Steerage Accommodations

Chapter 4 Meet The Captain, The Crew, And The Passengers Of The Ship

Captain E.J. Smith

Crew Members

Chapter 5 From Southampton to the Night of the Collision

Predictions and Premonitions

Departure From Southampton, April 10, 1912

April 11, Thursday

April 12, Friday

April 13, Saturday

April 14, Sunday

Chapter 6 Iceberg Right Ahead!

Fifth Day Of Voyage

April 14, Sunday

Chapter 7 The Tragic Death of Titanic

April 15, Monday

The Splitting and the Sinking

Steerage Passengers Locked Down?

Chapter 8 Californian And Carpathia To The Rescue

Californian : Too Late

Carpathia : Successful Rescue

Chapter 9 Errors and Factors Contributing to the Sinking of Titanic

Ismay and Smith

Lack of Safety Regulation for a Giant Ship

Not Enough Testing

Inadequate Safety Supplies

Unprepared Crew

Lookouts Did Not Have Binoculars

Unheeded Ice Warnings

Titanic Was Going Too Fast

The Quartermaster Panicked and Steered the Wrong Way

Slow Ahead

No General Alarm

Tardy Attention to Warning

Chapter 10 Some Things You Should Know About Titanic

Did You Know?

Quotable Quotes

Chapter 11 The Search For The Queen Of The Sea

Chapter 1 The Legacy of Titanic Lives On

Scene 1: With soft background music, a man and a woman stand on the bow of a massive ship, with her arms outstretched, and his arms around her. The ship moves forward, the sea calm and peaceful.

Fig. 1. Jack and Rose from the 1997 blockbuster, Titanic

Scene 2: The ship lurches to avoid an iceberg, which is thought to be just a small block, but the biggest part of the iceberg beneath the surface grazes the side of the ship.

Scene 3: The ship starts to sink, then is torn in half in the middle. Passengers roll down to the water, some hold on tightly to railings or to just about anything to keep from falling. The stern side of the ship raises 90-degrees into the air and begins its descent into the frigid waters.

Scene 4: The man and the woman seen earlier are in the water, freezing to death. The man dies, while the woman finds and blows a whistle and is rescued.

Who doesnt know these tragic figures, Jack and Rose? I can almost hear you say, I know that movie! Its The Titanic! These scenes are just some of the memorable parts of the movie that most people connect with the Titanic disaster. Although Jack and Rose are fictional characters, we get a glimpse of what really took place before, during, and after the sinking of the great ship.

Indeed, time flies by so fast. On April 15, 2012, exactly 100 years will have passed since the Titanic s sinking. Families and relatives of the survivors and of the people who died will once again commemorate their loved ones and a movie or two will be made about the Titanic. And perhaps, somewhere, there will be people singing the famous soundtrack of the movie, My Heart Will Go on.

The R.M.S. Titanic, owned by White Star Line, was known during its time as the biggest and grandest luxury liner ever constructed. It was built mainly for the transatlantic passenger and mail service between Southampton and New York.

Titanic did not maintain the record of being the largest ship of all time. Emma Maersk is now the largest and Seawise Giant is the longest ship. But none of these ships, or any ocean vessel for that matter, evoked such awe and interest from people the way Titanic did. Titanic still remained popular among many people even after almost 100 years after it sank. When we talk about the greatest sea tragedies, we think first of the Titanic and of the poor souls who died along with her. Yet, the sinking Titanic was not the world's greatest maritime tragedy.

One of the reasons why Titanic has become so iconic is because of the wealthy and famous first-class passengers who boarded her on April 10, 1912. Many of the people who had no family or friends aboard the ship had gone to the harbor that day to see the famous and the wealthy. Another reason is that the story of Titanic is irresistible and the ship was famous. She had captured the attention of the world when she sank in 1912.

Aside from all these, the sinking of the Titanic made people more aware of the awesome power of nature. An employee of the White Star Line boasted, Not even God himself could sink this ship. How he must have swallowed his words upon the sad news of Titanic s demise! Although Titanic was built with the most advanced technology of its day, it was not immune to the forces of nature.

Chapter 2 Whos The Fairest Of Them All?

Today, other ships hold the record for being the biggest, the longest, the heaviest, the grandest, the most luxurious and so on. We hear of Queen Mary 2, of The Queen Elizabeth, of Emma Maersk and of others that had surpassed our expectations when it comes to ships.

But, Titanic was the first steamship to be built on such a grand scale. Her construction and completion made other builders aware of the possibility of constructing such gigantic sea vessels. She still remains the most popular of all, and she will always be known as the biggest, grandest and most luxurious passenger ship.

How the owners and builders and spectators of Titanic must have stood gazing up at the gigantic edifice once it was completed. Maybe Lord Pirrie was thinking, What a beautiful creation. White Star will be known for its magnificent ships, and people will be amazed. And then perhaps Bruce Ismay was telling himself, At last! A ship not like others before her. She will arrive in New York in all her beauty and splendor, and the world will know her as the grandest, the biggest, and the most opulent ship of all time. From the people who witnessed the creation of the ship to the ones who only have heard of it, they probably mused, Wow!

Fig. 2. The Titanic on its maiden voyage.

Titanic s Birth

The Vision

So what was the idea behind the construction of Titanic ? Aside from historians, only a few people know about the motivation behind the making of this giant ship. The brain behind Titanic was Joseph Bruce Ismay, the Managing Director of the White Star line. The White Star line had been to his familys possession since he was five years old, but as some historians claimed, it was originally little more than a name and a flag. When his father bought the line in a liquidation sale, there were no ships attached. But Ismay had great plans for White Star. He built it up to become a name synonymous with great steamships that provided fast, comfortable and dependable service between England and America.

After his father died, Ismay sold White Star to J.P. Morgan (pictured below are Lord Pirrie and Ismay) although he retained a managerial role. During this time, Morgan was trying to monopolize the North Atlantic shipping, all to no avail. He could not compete with the French line and the Cunard line which were known for speedy liners. But, Ismay had better ideas. He envisioned the creation of ships that were slower, but which had much more to offer.