Cruising on the Titanic

Foreword
The Titanic was one of three 'Olympic Class' liners commissioned by the White Star Line to be built at the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast. These ships were the industrial marvels of their age. Titanic was to be the biggest, fastest and most luxurious ship yet, and was supposed to be unsinkable. "I took passage on the Titanic for I thought it would be a safe steamship and I had heard it could not sink.” (Passenger Margaret Devaney). Titanic had four elevators, a heated swimming pool, a gym, two libraries, and two barber shops, which was very impressive for a ship of that era. This extraordinary ship was nicknamed “Ship of Dreams”. On board there were suites for many different types of passengers which included millionaires, silent movie stars, school teachers and emigrants, in search of a better life in the North America. This ship was very large especially for the time and included separate areas for rich and poor. The Titanic was planned to make a journey from Southampton, England to New York, USA.
Then on the fifth day of its journey, Titanic was progressing across the Atlantic. Captain Edward Smith had plotted a new course upon hearing earlier reports of ice from other liners, there were many more communications that day of ice in Titanic's path. On that very night of Sunday 14 April 1912. The sea was calm, the sky dark and clear, and the temperature was getting colder by the minute. With conditions like this an ice berg is very hard to spot. Then, at 11.40pm the lookout rang the alarm and telephoned the bridge saying "Iceberg, right ahead.” It was already too late to avoid the iceberg and Titanic began to start sinking within less than 40 seconds later, a series of holes appeared on the hull. It also took 3 ho...

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...s very exciting for us because in those days children led a very nursery life, we didn't have our meals with our parents; we had them in the school or nursery. And it was generally very plain food, I suppose, like milk pudding and rather dull things like that, so it was very exciting to have this elaborate food.” In second class, the children were not allowed into the gym or swimming pool. The ship also included a library from which you could borrow books. A ship as large as the Titanic must have been thrilling for the third class children even though there were not many activities for them. Some older children drew pictures or wrote in their diaries for recreation. Sadly the dreams of many were shattered, and the surviving young ones would have to call upon adult-like strength to cope with the death of many of their family members during the crash (“Life on Board”).