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 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.
According to the story “From Exploring the Titanic”, Captain Smith did not seem all that worried about the iceberg and brushed away most of the iceberg warnings. This caused the rest of the crew to also ignore the iceberg warnings, showing the poor communication between the crew. The article “Titanic Past and Present” also states that Smith didn’t make sure the navigation crew was aware of the ice warning and did not post the warning to the chart room. This shows that Smith was very relaxed about the iceberg and did not see it as a threat, and so by the time they realized it was a real danger, it was too late and was responsible for the sinking of the ship. In summary, because of the captain’s laid-back attitude towards the iceberg, the crew did not see it as a threat, so they did not pay attention when they were approaching the ice field, and only turned in time to avoid hitting it head-on, but it still scraped the side of the
The maiden voyage began on April 10, 1912. The ocean liner was called the “unsinkable” ship. The trip was to start in Southampton, England and finish in New York. There isn’t an exact number of total passengers, but according to some sources 2,453 passengers walked on board, for what they thought was going to be one of the best experiences of their lives. A different source states that there were only 2,200 passengers. In both, however, it does state that there were 885 crew members as well. During the five days before the sinking, guests enjoyed socializing, eating gourmet meals, working out at the gymnasium, swimming in the pool, or simply hanging out in their rooms. The first class staterooms cons...
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.
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.
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.
An article about Ismay and the Titanic says, "The Titanic designer Thomas Andrews was pushing for 48 lifeboats enough to carry everyone on board. But Ismay said no to the 48 lifeboats and only put 20 on board." The article also says, “ Because of his choice it puts some obligation to stay aboard the ship and take whatever comes.” If there would of been 48 lifeboats then so much more lives could of been saved. But Ismay for whatever reason only put on 20. The 1500 other people that died on the Titanic could of survived if Ismay would have put 48
We have all heard about the Titanic. Either we have watched the romance movie or done our research in a different way. No matter where we get our information from we know the biggest parts of the tragedy. The ship Titanic crashed into an iceberg on a cold April night on the Atlantic Ocean while sailing its first trip. But haven’t you ever wanted to know more details about? Maybe how the people who were on it and survived? How could the situation be prevented? Couldn’t they have saved more people? Well in the book “A Night to Remember” it has details on the Titanic you have probably never thought of knowing. While reading the first chapter some parts really caught my attention. One was when people felt the jolt from the collision with the ice berg people didn’t suspect what tragedy was to come. A girl named Marguerite Frolicher, who was accompanying her father on a business trip, woke up with a jump since she was half asleep she was thinking about ‘little white lake ferries’ landing sloppily which made her laugh and thought to herself “Isn’t it funny…we’re landing!”. They really did...
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.
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.”
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.
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
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 its first voyage, the Titanic went from Southampton, England, to New York City, carrying over 2,200, both passengers and crew. The Titanic had received a number of warning signals from other ships, about the iceberg, but for many reasons, not all the warnings made it to the ship. The lookouts did not have access to binoculars, meaning they saw the iceberg when it was right in front of the Titanic. Four days into her journey, at 11:40 p.m., Officer Murdoch ordered for a sharp left turn and ordered the engine room to put all the engines in r...
In 1842 a tragedy occurred when a ship struck an iceberg and more than thirty passengers piled onto a rescue boat that was meant to hold a maximum of seven people. As a storm became evident and water rushed into the lifeboat, it was clear that in order for anyone to survive the load would need to be lightened. The commanding captain suggested that some people would need to be thrown overboard in order for anyone to survive. There was a great argument on the boat between the captain and the passengers who opposed his decision. Some suggested that the weakest should be drowned, as miles of rowing the lifeboat would take toll on even the strongest. This reasoning would also make it absurd to draw names of who should be thrown over. Others suggested that if they all stayed onboard no one would be responsible for the deaths, although the captain argued he would be guilty if those who he could have saved perished in the process. Alternatively the captain decided that the weakest would be sacrificed in order to save the few left on the lifeboat. Days later the survivors were rescued and the captain was put on trial for his virtues.