The RMS Titanic, known as the Ship of Dreams, collided with an iceberg and sunk in the early hours of April 15, 1912. The boat, which was the most luxurious of her time, was set to sail from Southampton, England to New York City. Out of the 2,240 passengers on the boat during her maiden voyage, approximately 1,500 survived on the 20 lifeboats available. a controversial topic that is still debated today is whether or not the disaster of the Titanic could have been avoided. There is considerable evidence to suggest that this statement is true, but to what extent is still being decided today.
The crew on the Titanic did not respond effectively to ice warnings and iceberg sightings. Numerous ships that were in the area radioed Captain Smith about
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However, the Titanic continued at 20 knots, which was almost her highest speed. This was because the ship had a very strict time schedule to maintain. Combined with the fact that it was a moonless night, it meant that when an iceberg was spotted, it did not have enough time to avoid the collision. About 15 minutes before the Titanic collided with the iceberg, A Ship named the Californian tried to warn Captain Smith that they were surrounded by Ice. The wireless operator of the Californian, Cyril F. Evans, called up the Titanic and said “We are stopped and surrounded by ice.” Captain Smith replied by saying “shut up, shut up, I am busy; I am working Cape Race” . The US senate found Smith at fault for the tragedy, “for taking the Titanic at such speeds is such treacherous conditions”. Once the iceberg had been spotted, the crew could have responded differently, thus saving the Titanic from her demise. The officer on watch, First Officer William Murdoch, ordered a “Full astern” after the iceberg was seen. At …show more content…
If the ship had been carrying enough lifeboats, everyone could have survived as there were two and a half hours between the moment when the Ship hit the iceberg and when it sunk, therefore allowing enough time for everyone to board the lifeboats. The ship only carried 20 lifeboats in total, which could only accommodate for 33% of the ships total passengers and crew . This was because the designers of the ship didn’t want to “clutter up the deck”. Somehow, this was legal at the time, as the law for the number of lifeboats was based on the gross tonnage, not the passenger capacity of the ship. Arthur Rostron, captain of the rescue vessel Carpathia, is quoted saying “If there had been sufficient boats that night...every soul aboard could have been saved.” As well as this, the limited number of lifeboats were not filled to their capacity. The lifeboats were designed to safely carry 65 people, yet some left with only 40 on board. The senior surviving officer, Charles Lightoller feared that a full life boat would break the mechanism that was lowering them. This was an unnecessary worry, as the lifeboats had previously been tested with 70 men in the boat, and the trial gave only the safest of results. The disaster of high fatalities could have been avoided if the Titanic had had a capable number of lifeboats and
The story behind the titanic is controversial, some people have seen the movie but they do not know the real facts behind it. This essay is going to talk about the main factors behind the Titanic’s failure, the design, the manufacturer, materials, the crew, survivors, Cost of building the ship, the engine, as well as human errors, and the cause from different point of views.
First, it was Captain Smith’s fault. If he wouldn’t have ignored the seven iceberg warnings from his crew and other ships the Titanic wouldn’t have sunk. Also, if he would have called for the ship to slow down this tragedy wouldn’t have happened.
The Titanic claimed to be the ship of its time; one that would never sink. However, what the Titanic claimed to be was not the case because on April 15, 1912 the Titanic hit an iceberg, broke in half, and sunk to the bottom of the ocean. There has been debate ever since that fateful day as to how this happened to the Titanic. Some conspiracy theorist believe the ship never even sank -- regardless of the ships remains at the bottom of the ocean. Other conspiracy theorists believe the Titanic was actually switched with the RMS Olympic because of an insurance scam. Ever since that day, many scientists, engineers, and physicists have tried to analyze the problems of the Titanic; the reasons why it sank.
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...
On the day of April 12,1912, Titanic was thought to be the dream ship that could never be destroyed. Like today’s society, the passengers were enjoying the time of their lives and thought nothing could ever happen to them because everybody thinks it’s the “unsinkable” ship, or at least that’s what everyone knew it to be. White Star Line’s Titanic was called the “Ship of dreams”. As they loaded up, many passengers of different classes and sectors of society thought that, that was the ticket to their dreams. But as time pass by from enjoying too much, little do they know that the ship is sinking. Panic came through everyone’s head. That leaves me to the question, who is most to blame for the sinking of the Titanic
Damage beyond the hull was also witnessed that allowed for the influx of water. Whenever the forepeak tank was damaged, “six watertight compartments flooded with water, causing the ship to sink faster than it should have,” (Bassett). The Titanic, being the largest ship at this time, should have stayed afloat for two to three days after striking the iceberg. Within three hours, the Titanic sank, which never should have
The tragic history of the Titanic, the sinking of the “unsinkable” giant of a ship shocked the entire world and contributed to important shifts in the mass consciousness of the people who lived at that period and assessed the achievements of new technologies and their role. However, one would have been hardly able to predict in 1912 that this tragedy, no matter how significant and meaningful, would leave such a deep imprint on the history of human civilization. The continuing interest in the fate of the great vessel has taken the form of various narrations and given rise to numerous myths enveloping the true history and, in this way, often obscuring the facts related to the tragedy. In recent years, this interest has been emphasized by the dramatic discovery of the wreck and examination of its remains. The recovery of artifacts from the Titanic and the exploration of the site where it had sank stimulated new speculations on different issues of the failure to rescue the Titanic and the role of different factors contributing to the disaster. These issues have been traditionally in the focus of discussions that caused controversies and ambiguous interpretations of various facts. They also often overshadowed other parts of the disaster story that were confirmed by statistical data and revealed the impact of social realities. The social stratification of passengers that reflected the social realities of the period and its class interests determined the chances of survival, with most of those perished in the Titanic disaster having been lower class individuals.
Dr. Roger McCarthy, disaster analysis expert, Exponent, Inc. noted, "The Titanic is one of the most classic illustrations of that: had just one thing been different, the disaster wouldn't have happened" (McIver 1). Meaning, the Titanic could have easily been prevented. Although the Titanic was a very nice and fancy boat, The Titanic was proved on April 14, 1912, that is was sinkable. The Titanic set sail from Southampton, England and was sailing for New York. At 11:35 at night, a member of the crew noticed the iceberg (Vander 1). This crew member was the captain Edward J. Smith. By the time he could do anything about it, the ship had already hit the iceberg (Landau 7).There were 2,208 people on board that night (Johnson 2). Due
The Titanic set voyage on April 1912 to New York. The Titanic and its sister ships, Olympia and Britannic were said to be virtually unsinkable by a magazine article, not the White Star Line. The Titanic was the second ship to set sail on its maiden voyage out of the three sister ships. The Titanic had been built a lot differently than most of the ships back then. For example, a normal ship was built with three funnels but the Titanic had four. The fourth funnel did not serve the same purpose like the other three; its use was for steam to be released from the kitchen. Another example was that the Titanic was the biggest ship at the time. The ship had received ice warnings at least six different times from ships but Captain Smith had ignored
If there had been no compartments, the incoming water would have spread out, and the Titanic would have likely remained afloat for another six hours.
The Titanic was built to be unsinkable, with 16 watertight compartments to help keep it afloat. Many people called the R.M.S. Titanic “unsinkable”, because of how large it was. To many the Titanic, being the biggest ship, also meant it was the best. Publishers Weekly; 3/19/2012, Vol. 259 Issue 12, p30-32, 3p. The ship was advertised as “unsinkable as reasonably possible,” because of it’s numerous safety features. These features included automatic watertight doors, watertight bulkheads and compartments throughout the ship, the most powerful marconi at sea and the Titanic was so large, that it was thought that anything large enough to damage it would be seen in time. They were wrong. Courier Mail, The (Brisbane). 04/03/2012, p38-38. 1.
On April 15, 1912, the RMS Titanic sank in the North Atlantic Ocean at 2:20 a.m. after striking an iceberg, with the loss of more than 1, 500 passengers and crew. Thomas Andrews knew the ship’s flaws when he designed her nevertheless, Captain Smith knew of the collision between the ship and the iceberg. However, left all faith in the “Unsinkable Titanic.”
The Titanic, one of the biggest well known tragedies in history. The horrific accident was a catastrophe that impacted the world. Devastating news that this colossal ship everyone thought was indestructible had sunk from a collision with an iceberg. But the question is, could the terrible tragedy have been stopped? Why did the Titanic give so easily following the hit?
On April 15, 1912, the “unsinkable” better known as the Titanic sinks into the icy waters of the North Atlantic taking with it 1,517 doomed souls.. The Titanic was built by the United Kingdom’s White Star Line to be the most luxurious cruise ship in the whole entire world. Legend says, only the world’s wealthiest people, enjoyed the elegance and comforts of the first class. The Titanic was said to be the fastest ship in the world and was seen as unsinkable.
Little to there knowledge it wasn't the weight of the ship they had to worry about. It was traveling across the Atlantic Ocean in the dark with many icebergs. The builders of the ship took extra precautions in securing the safety and welfare of its passengers. It exceeded the legal requirement for safety boats, which were sixteen. The Titanic, carrying twenty lifeboats, still didn't have enough for all 2,227 passengers.