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Birth of a Great Lady
Construction of the RMS Titanic began on March 31, 1909 at the Harland & Wolff shipyard in Belfast, Northern Ireland. She was one of three large transatlantic liners commissioned at the time by the White Star Line and were intended to be the biggest and most luxurious ships ever built. On May 31, 1911, her hull was launched and the outfitting completed on March 31, 1912. Carrying the RMS (Royal Mail Service) title, she began her maiden voyage on April 10, 1912 at Southampton, England, bound for New York under the command of Captain Edward J. Smith.
A Fateful Maiden Voyage
After stops at Cherbourg, France and Queenstown, Ireland to pick up more passengers and mail, she continued towards New York with 2,077 people aboard. The first-class section boasted 324 passengers including some of the most prominent and wealthy people in the world. These names included industrialist Benjamin Guggenheim, U.S. presidential aide Archibald Butt, Macy’s department store owner Isidor Strauss and his wife Ide, journalist William Thomas Stead, silent film actress Dorothy Gibson and many others, including Thomas Andrews one of Harland & Wolff’s Managing Directors (and nephew of Harland & Wolff’s chairman William J. Pirrie) and White Star managing director J. Bruce Ismay. 277 second-class passengers, 708 third-class passengers, 885 crew members and 13 postal clerks and musicians filled cabins on the lower decks.
Tragedy in the Atlantic
At 11:40 PM on the freezing cold, calm and clear night of April 14, lookouts Reginald Lee and Fredrick Fleet spotted an iceberg directly in Titanic’s path. Captain Smith had received several iceberg warnings over the wireless the last few days, and altered her course slightly to the south, thereby stirring Titanic directly in the iceberg’s path, though now it was clear that the course had not been shifted enough, First Officer Murdoch immediately ordered a turn to starboard and then a stop on all engines. However, large ships like Titanic weren’t designed to turn rapidly, and she was not able to clear the iceberg so it scraped along the hull on the starboard side.
After she stopped Captain Smith ordered an inspection below decks, and just before midnight it became apparent the Titanic would sink within two hours or more. Shortly after a distress call was sent out and lifeboats were readied. Many passengers were initially reluctant to leave Titanic, as she was alleged to be unsinkable. This reluctance was compounded by the “women and children first” policy that the crew were enforcing (men were generally allowed aboard lifeboats only as crew or oarsmen.) By the point that most of the lifeboats had left, the trim of Titanic became more pronounced and panic began to ensue. Sadly, Titanic only had 20 lifeboats – more than the British Board of Regulations called for at the time, yet with a total capacity of 1,178 persons – well below the number of people aboard. Due to the location of staircases on A through D decks that led directly to the Boat Deck, first- and second-class passengers found it easy to make it to the lifeboats, while the more isolated third-class passengers and sleeping crew members on the lower decks found access more difficult; this difficulty was added to by crew members waiting for instructions to let people from the lower decks go up to the Boat Deck. Moreover, compounding the tragedy, due to the ensuring confusion, not all of the lifeboats departed with a full complement of passengers. As an example, one of the boats designed to hold 40 people left the ship with only 12 aboard.
At 2:05 AM, all lifeboats save two had been launched and the entire bow was submerged. By 2:10 AM, the stern rose from the water (possibly after the keel broke apart amidships) and the Boat Deck sank up to the waterline. At this point, the large number of people still on the deck were scrambling towards the highest point afloat – the stern section. As the stern rose straight up in the air, the ship broke in two pieces, and the bow sank. This was followed a few seconds later, at 2:20 AM, by the stern, which descended vertically into the sea. In all, 1495 perished, many of dying of hypothermia in the freezing water after failing to reach a lifeboat. Among the victims were 123 first-class passengers, 159 second-class passengers, all the postmen and musicians, 673 crew members, and 527 third class passengers, many of whom were still below in the lower decks.
THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD; I shall not what. He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside the still waters; he restores my soul; he leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death; I will fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff; they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Amen!!!
Psalm 23:1-6
And God shall wipe away all their tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.
Revelations 21:4
The Aftermath
Despite the fact that many of the lifeboats were well below capacity, only one returned to search for survivors, well after most people in the water had succumbed to the freezing temperatures; only five survivors were found with two eventually perishing in the lifeboat. The closest ship to respond to Titanic’s distress signal was the RMS Carpathia, which was 58 miles away at the time and took four hours to reach Titanic at daybreak. The Carpathia picked up the lifeboats with a total of 712 people and took them to New York, while the SS Californian, SS Virginian, and the SS Minia steamed to the site of the sinking to look for any additional survivors. None were found. Instead, they found light flotsam from the ship such as paper, pillows, and linens, plus scores of bodies floating in the frigid waters. Most of these were identified and taken to Nova Scotia for burial. The last survivor of the Titanic disaster was British resident Millvina Dean, who was two months old at the time of the sinking and who passed away in 2010 at the age of 98.
The Discovery
Due to an error in the initial distress report of the latitude and longitude of which the Titanic sank, the remains of the wreck remained lost for over seven decades as legends surrounding her grew in the popular consciousness. In 1985, explorers and oceanographers Jean-Louis Michel and Dr. Robert Ballad the wreck 22 miles from its originally reported location. Until this time, it was not known for certain if she broke in half; her discovery uncovered that fact as well as allowing for sonar studies that showed she did not suffer a large gash on her starboard side from the iceberg as originally believed, but instead suffered damage from the steel plates of the hull buckling, popping rivets, and separating along a narrow line from the effects of the sideswipe. In the decades since her discovery, most of the non-structural artifacts in the debris field and items lying loose on the hull have been removed from the wreck site by salvagers, primarily RMS Titanic Inc. (a subsidiary of Premier Exhibitions Inc.), who were awarded salvor-in-possession of the wreck by a US District Court in 1994 and have kept the rights despite several court challenges since. Calls for Titanic’s preservation have been sounded since shortly after her discovery, but submersible tourism and salvage operations (which have experienced a significant jump since the release of the international blockbuster TITANIC in 1997) continue up to the present. Today the Titanic is being slowly eaten away by underwater bacteria called rustics.
Though that Titanic is not going to last much longer; she shall never be forgotten; she will go on. There are three things that will make sure of that: first, that tragic night; second, the film and third, the song.
The Titanic disaster was a story of heroes: Captain Smith, even though he made mistakes with the Titanic he made it up by sticking to his duty as captain. The wireless operators, Harold Bride and Jack Philips, sent distress calls all night, without breaks. The musicians, I Salonisti, who continued to play as Titanic sank to try and instill a sense of calm. The postmen who tried to save the mail, unconcerned about themselves, unfortunately the water overwhelmed them. Molly Brown, helping people into a lifeboat, having no intention of getting in the boat. Thomas Andrews, assisting and advising passengers to lifeboats. The disaster was also a story of villains: J. Bruce Ismay, for making Titanic an idol then being a coward by climbing into a lifeboat. Sir Cosmo and Lady Duff Gordon, who were in the lifeboat with only 12 people, bribed the officers to row away from Titanic, despite being ordered to return to the ship to get more passengers. Fortunately, all these villains were highly criticized by the press.
The only explanation for this tragedy is that an object was once again used to test God and He had to teach people a lesson through nature’s wrath.
