Article Title: "Titanic"

Author: Barry Coates

Society Membership Level: Field Investigation Team

Copyright: Barry Coates

Year Published: 2005

Miscellaneous: Sources: Ocean Planet; Titanic Online; Mysteries Megasite; www.titanic-titanic.com

In 1898 author Morgan Robertson published a novel called Futility in which a British ocean liner strikes an iceberg on its maiden voyage. The fictional voyage took place in April, in the North Atlantic and the ship was called Titan.

Last known photograph of Titanic © Jeremy Nightingale: April 11: Thursday 1:30pm: Anchored off of Roche's Point, Queenstown, Ireland. Francis Browne, a Jesuit seminarian, disembarks and takes the last known photograph of the Titanic for the next 73 years.

At a dinner party in 1907 J Bruce Ismay (Company President of the white star line) proposed the construction of two luxury class ocean liners. In March 1908 the decision was made to proceed with their construction. The gantries where constructed first they had an over all length of 840ft a width of 150ft and a height of 100ft. there was also a new dry dock made to accommodate the two liners the day dock is called the Thompson Graving Dock.

The Olympics keel was laid on the 16th of December 1908 with the ship number of 400. On March the 31st 1909 the Titanic's keel was laid with the ship number of 401 With an over all length of 882ft and a width (beam) of 92ft and a gross tonnage of 45,000, when finished she would be able to accommodate 2,436 passengers and a crew of 860. The Titanic was launched on Wednesday the 31st of May 1911 at 12.15 p.m. it took 62 seconds for the Titanic to enter the water; she was then taken to be fitted out.

The Olympics hull is badly damaged in a collision with HMS Hawke on September 20th 1911 so workers are taken from the Titanic fitting out to help with repairs to the Olympic so the maiden voyage is delayed.

Wednesday April 10th 1912 at 12 noon the Titanic leaves for her maiden voyage, (this would be Capt. Edward J. Smith last voyage before retireing) with 922 passengers, more would join the ship at Cherbourg and Queenstown bring the final total of passengers to 1,316 which was a little more than half the 2436 she could carry.

As the Titanic left its berth, the powerful suction created by the ship's propellers caused the liner New York, which was docked nearby, to break away from its moorings and was drawn dangerously close (about 4 feet) to the Titanic before a tugboat towed the New York away. The near accident delayed the departure for one hour. After crossing the English Channel, the Titanic stopped at Cherbourg, France, to disembark and board additional passengers, and stopped again the next day at Queenstown (known today as Cobh), Ireland, before continuing towards New York.

On the night of Sunday, April 14, the temperature had dropped to near freezing and the ocean was completely calm. There was no moon out and the sky was clear. At 11:40 pm while sailing south of the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, lookouts Fredrick Fleet and Reginald Lee spotted a large iceberg directly ahead of the ship. Fleet sounded the ship's bell three times and telephoned the bridge exclaiming, "Iceberg, right ahead!" First Officer Murdoch ordered an abrupt turn to port (left) and full speed astern, which stopped and then reversed the ship's engines. A collision turned out to be inevitable, and the iceberg brushed the ship's starboard (right) side, buckling the hull in several places and popping out rivets below the waterline over a length of 300 ft (90 m). The watertight doors were shut as water started filling the first five watertight compartments, one more than the Titanic could stay afloat with. The weight of five watertight compartments filling with water weighed the ship down past the top of the watertight bulkheads, allowing water to flow into the other compartments. Captain Smith, alerted by the jolt of the impact, arrived on the bridge and ordered a full stop. Following an inspection by the ship's officers it was apparent that the Titanic would sink, and shortly after midnight on April 15, lifeboats were ordered to be readied and a distress signal sent out.

The iceberg buckled Titanic's hull allowing water to flow into the ship. copy right to Wikipedia

The Titanic reported its location at 41° 46' N, 50° 14' W. The wreck was found at 41° 43' N, 49° 56' W.

Wireless operators Jack Phillips and Harold Bride were busy sending out distress signals. Several ships responded, including the Mount Temple, the Frankfurt and Titanic's sister ship, the Olympic, but none were close enough to make it in time. The closest ship to respond was Cunard Line's RMS Carpathia, and at 58 miles (93 km) away it would arrive in about four hours, still too late to get to Titanic in time. The only land-based location that received the distress call from the Titanic was the wireless station at Cape Race, Newfoundland.

The first lifeboat launched, boat 7, was lowered shortly after 12:40 AM on the starboard side with only 28 people on board out of a maximum capacity of 65. The Titanic carried 20 lifeboats with a total capacity of 1,178 persons. Sixteen lifeboats, indicated by number, were in the davits; and four canvas-sided collapsibles, indicated by letter, stowed on the roof of the officers' quarters or on the forward Boat Deck to be launched in empty davits.

Around 2:10 AM, the stern rose out of the water exposing the propellers and the forward boat deck was flooding. Events began to happen rapidly as the last two lifeboats floated right off the deck, collapsible lifeboat B upside down, and collapsible lifeboat A half-filled with water. Shortly afterwards the front funnel collapsed, crushing part of the bridge and many of those struggling in the water. On deck, people were scrambling towards the stern or jumping overboard in hopes of reaching a lifeboat. The ship's stern slowly rose into the air, and everything not secured crashed towards the bow. While the stern rose, the electrical system finally failed and the lights went out. Shortly after the stress on the hull caused Titanic to break apart between the third and fourth funnels, and the bow section went completely under. The stern section briefly righted itself on the water before rising back up vertically. After a few moments, at 2:20 AM, the stern section also sank into the ocean.

The Real Titanic for more info on the sequence:

Of a total of 2,223 people, only 706 survived; 1,517 perished.The majority of deaths were caused by victims succumbing to hypothermia in the 28 �F (-2 �C) water. Out of the 18 lifeboats launched only two rescued people out of the water after the ship sank. Lifeboat 4 was close by and picked up five people, two of whom later died. Close to an hour later Lifeboat 14 went back and rescued four people, one of whom died afterwards. Other people managed to climb onto the two collapsible lifeboats that floated off the deck. There were some arguments in some of the other lifeboats about going back, but many survivors were afraid of being swamped by people trying to climb into the lifeboat or getting pulled down by the suction from the sinking Titanic, though it turned out that there had been very little suction.

As the ship fell into the depths, the two sections ended their final plunges very differently. The streamlined bow planed off approximately 2,000 feet (600 m) below the surface and slowed somewhat, landing relatively gently. The stern, however, fell fairly straight down towards the ocean floor, possibly rotating as it sank, with the air trapped inside causing implosions. The bow section, having been opened up by the iceberg, had no air left in it when it sank.

Almost two hours after Titanic sank, the RMS Carpathia arrived on scene and picked up its first lifeboat. Over the next several hours, the remainder of the survivors were rescued. On board the Carpathia, a short prayer service for the rescued and a memorial for the people who lost their lives was held, and at 8:50 AM, Carpathia left for New York, arriving on April 18. Once the loss of life was verified, White Star Line chartered the ship MacKay-Bennett to retrieve bodies. A total of 328 bodies were eventually recovered. Many of the bodies were taken to Halifax, Nova Scotia where the majority of the unclaimed were buried in Fairview Cemetery.

Use of SOS
The SOS signal was first proposed at the International Conference on Wireless Communication at Sea in Berlin in 1906. It was ratified by the international community in 1908 and had been in widespread use since then. The SOS signal was, however, rarely used by British wireless operators, who preferred the older CQD code. First Wireless Operator Jack Phillips began transmitting CQD until Second Wireless Operator Harold Bride suggested half jokingly, "Send SOS; it's the new call, and this may be your last chance to send it." Phillips, who perished in the disaster, then began to intersperse SOS with the traditional CQD call.

Mummy's Curse
Another source of a Titanic "curse" is the Princess of Amen-Ra who lived in 1050 B.C. According to legend after her discovery in the 1890s in Egypt, owner after owner of the mummy ran into serious misfortune including bankruptcy, serious injuries and several deaths. The mummy was donated to the British Museum where it continued to cause mysterious problems for visitors and staff. The mummy was eventually purchased by journalist William Thomas Stead who dismissed the claims; though he did arrange for the mummy to be hidden under the body of his car for fear that it would not be taken aboard the ship because of its reputation. He reportedly revealed to other passengers the presence of the mummy the night before the accident. The mummy itself was placed in the first-class cargo hold. However, eyewitness accounts report that, once the Captain gave the order to abandon ship, the mummy appeared on deck. This is another urban legend as the British Museum never received the mummy, only the lid of its sarcophagus which is on the display at the museum. Additionally, except during war and special exhibits abroad, the coffin lid has not left the Egyptian room.

This is only a very short history of the Titanic, and there are a lot more theories of what happened to the Titanic and how and why it sank.