Titanic's route across the atlantic
The southern route that the Titanic set out on April 10. The "x" marks where the Titanic struck the iceberg and sunk to its watery grave.
Titanic's Final hours
In the Titanic’s last days at sea many different events could have contributed to her sinking. The crew members lack of knowledge about the icy ocean waters before them and the warning messages that never got acknowledged. The twenty life boats that if completely filled would only save about half of the passengers aboard the Titanic.
It is been rumored that the Titanic took the quickest route through the Atlantic Ocean because they were running low on coal and needed to get to New York quickly. This is false. There were two different routes through the Atlantic at this time in 1912 and they were the northern and southern routes. The northern route was the more direct route but was full of ice bergs and ice fields so the ships were taking the southern route to America. The Titanic was on this route as well. After the sinking of the Titanic the southern route was actually mover further south out of the icy regions (Stevenson, 1998).
Before the Titanic struck the iceberg on April 14, they had received eight wireless messages from other ships about the icebergs and ice fields that had been spotted on the southern route. They receive a message not but a few hours before the Titanic struck the iceberg warning the Titanic captain and crew that there were large icebergs and field ice in the area containing the Titanic’s absolute location coordinates. The Titanic did not slow or stop but continued on this at the same pace of 22 knots. The crew was warned and the lookout men, who took shifts in two, were told to keep an eye out for ice (Stevenson, 1998).
When the lookout members saw the iceberg just 500 yards way they contacted the bridge and told the commanding officer about the iceberg. That officer, First Officer Murdoch, ordered the ship be turned hard left and to put the propellers in reverse. This probably made the impact even worse on the Titanic. Instead of having the impact in roughly one area, the iceberg scraped along the right side of her creating 6 long slashes in the iron hull plates. The rivets that were made of a poor-quality iron were made weaker under the pressure of the plates bending, thus they did not hold out and allowed water to enter the ship. The iceberg that the Titanic struck weighed about 500,000 tons; about ten times the weight of the Titanic herself (Stevenson, 1998).
It is hard to imagine what happened on the night of April 15, 1912 among the passengers and crew. With only so many life boats available for the passengers and no plan of actions in an emergency situation such as this people were confused on what to do. Many passengers still claiming that the ship was “unsinkable” thought it foolish to ride about the Atlantic Ocean in a small life boat so some passengers stayed onboard waiting for help that would not come. The first class passengers were the first to be loaded into the lifeboats mainly because they were closer to the lifeboats and were able to get to them quickly. The officers in charge of filling the lifeboats had difficulty controlling the passengers and did not completely fill the boats to their full capacity (Stevenson, 1998). The first lifeboat that left the Titanic was made to fit 65 but it left with only 28 aboard. With all of the chaos from the disaster and the passengers realizing what was happening unfortunately many of the lifeboats were lowered into the ocean with empty seats. Women and children boarded the boats first, if there were no women or children nearby then were men permitted to board (History). At the beginning of loading there was no order of loading so one side of the Titanic was going by the women and children rule while the other might have allowed men to take the seats of potential women and children. Women and children, especially in the first class, were most likely to survive because they were closer to the boats when they were being loaded or following the women and children rule. Men, second and third class, were not given much of a chance of survival. 705 people were fitted into the lifeboats while they were meant to hold 1,178 passengers; that is only half of the 2,228 passengers on board the Titanic (Stevenson, 1998).
“Those hours witnessed acts of craven cowardice and extraordinary bravery. Hundreds of human dramas unfolded between the order to load the lifeboats and the ship’s final plunge: Men saw off wives and children, families were separated in the confusion and selfless individuals gave up their spots to remain with loved ones or allow a more vulnerable passenger to escape.” (History)
Even while the Titanic sank it mattered on a passengers social-economical status. The first class passengers were more likely to get a seat in a life boat than those in the third class, but why? The first class was notified first, and while women and children were being loaded the third class passengers had trouble getting to the top deck. The steerage passengers (immigrants) were not told about the collision. Some were left to sleeping in their beds while the Titanic slowly made her way to her watery grave taking those souls with her. In James Cameron’s movie, Titanic, there are scenes were steerage, immigrant, passengers are actually locked in the bottom of the ship(Cameron, 1997). The movie shows the passengers breaking the locks with axes and other objects but exploration of the actual ship shows that there are gates still closed and locked tight (Stevenson, 1998). It was startling to hear that the stewards intentionally trapped passengers in the lower levels of the ship while they filled with water. It was hard to hear that they were not even given a chance of survival.
This Titanic finally plunged beneath the freezing surface at approximately 2:20 a.m. on April 15. Throughout that morning, Cunard’s Carpathia rounded up all of the lifeboats after it traveled its top speed in hopes of reaching the Titanic in time (History). Another ship, the Californian, was only 19 miles and had stopped for the night due to the fact that it too was surrounded by large amounts of ice. The Californian had been one of the ships to message the Titanic about their situation, but it was neglected. The Titanic crew saw the ship and sent up rockets to signal for help but the Californian did not respond to the rockets. The members of the Californian stated that they tried Morse’s Lamps (Morse’s code) to contact the Titanic but the Titanic did not respond so they stopped trying. One officer aboard the Californian said that the lights of the ship (the Titanic) began to fade so they assumed that they were moving away, however it was the Titanic’s lights sinking below the dark waters (Stevenson, 1998).
Could this misunderstanding be a cause for so many lost lives? Had they been able to contact each other and the Californian make it to the Titanic, so many lives, if not all of them, could have been saved. Wewill not really know for sure if it would have changed anything. It simply brings about a whole new series of "what ifs".
It is been rumored that the Titanic took the quickest route through the Atlantic Ocean because they were running low on coal and needed to get to New York quickly. This is false. There were two different routes through the Atlantic at this time in 1912 and they were the northern and southern routes. The northern route was the more direct route but was full of ice bergs and ice fields so the ships were taking the southern route to America. The Titanic was on this route as well. After the sinking of the Titanic the southern route was actually mover further south out of the icy regions (Stevenson, 1998).
Before the Titanic struck the iceberg on April 14, they had received eight wireless messages from other ships about the icebergs and ice fields that had been spotted on the southern route. They receive a message not but a few hours before the Titanic struck the iceberg warning the Titanic captain and crew that there were large icebergs and field ice in the area containing the Titanic’s absolute location coordinates. The Titanic did not slow or stop but continued on this at the same pace of 22 knots. The crew was warned and the lookout men, who took shifts in two, were told to keep an eye out for ice (Stevenson, 1998).
When the lookout members saw the iceberg just 500 yards way they contacted the bridge and told the commanding officer about the iceberg. That officer, First Officer Murdoch, ordered the ship be turned hard left and to put the propellers in reverse. This probably made the impact even worse on the Titanic. Instead of having the impact in roughly one area, the iceberg scraped along the right side of her creating 6 long slashes in the iron hull plates. The rivets that were made of a poor-quality iron were made weaker under the pressure of the plates bending, thus they did not hold out and allowed water to enter the ship. The iceberg that the Titanic struck weighed about 500,000 tons; about ten times the weight of the Titanic herself (Stevenson, 1998).
It is hard to imagine what happened on the night of April 15, 1912 among the passengers and crew. With only so many life boats available for the passengers and no plan of actions in an emergency situation such as this people were confused on what to do. Many passengers still claiming that the ship was “unsinkable” thought it foolish to ride about the Atlantic Ocean in a small life boat so some passengers stayed onboard waiting for help that would not come. The first class passengers were the first to be loaded into the lifeboats mainly because they were closer to the lifeboats and were able to get to them quickly. The officers in charge of filling the lifeboats had difficulty controlling the passengers and did not completely fill the boats to their full capacity (Stevenson, 1998). The first lifeboat that left the Titanic was made to fit 65 but it left with only 28 aboard. With all of the chaos from the disaster and the passengers realizing what was happening unfortunately many of the lifeboats were lowered into the ocean with empty seats. Women and children boarded the boats first, if there were no women or children nearby then were men permitted to board (History). At the beginning of loading there was no order of loading so one side of the Titanic was going by the women and children rule while the other might have allowed men to take the seats of potential women and children. Women and children, especially in the first class, were most likely to survive because they were closer to the boats when they were being loaded or following the women and children rule. Men, second and third class, were not given much of a chance of survival. 705 people were fitted into the lifeboats while they were meant to hold 1,178 passengers; that is only half of the 2,228 passengers on board the Titanic (Stevenson, 1998).
“Those hours witnessed acts of craven cowardice and extraordinary bravery. Hundreds of human dramas unfolded between the order to load the lifeboats and the ship’s final plunge: Men saw off wives and children, families were separated in the confusion and selfless individuals gave up their spots to remain with loved ones or allow a more vulnerable passenger to escape.” (History)
Even while the Titanic sank it mattered on a passengers social-economical status. The first class passengers were more likely to get a seat in a life boat than those in the third class, but why? The first class was notified first, and while women and children were being loaded the third class passengers had trouble getting to the top deck. The steerage passengers (immigrants) were not told about the collision. Some were left to sleeping in their beds while the Titanic slowly made her way to her watery grave taking those souls with her. In James Cameron’s movie, Titanic, there are scenes were steerage, immigrant, passengers are actually locked in the bottom of the ship(Cameron, 1997). The movie shows the passengers breaking the locks with axes and other objects but exploration of the actual ship shows that there are gates still closed and locked tight (Stevenson, 1998). It was startling to hear that the stewards intentionally trapped passengers in the lower levels of the ship while they filled with water. It was hard to hear that they were not even given a chance of survival.
This Titanic finally plunged beneath the freezing surface at approximately 2:20 a.m. on April 15. Throughout that morning, Cunard’s Carpathia rounded up all of the lifeboats after it traveled its top speed in hopes of reaching the Titanic in time (History). Another ship, the Californian, was only 19 miles and had stopped for the night due to the fact that it too was surrounded by large amounts of ice. The Californian had been one of the ships to message the Titanic about their situation, but it was neglected. The Titanic crew saw the ship and sent up rockets to signal for help but the Californian did not respond to the rockets. The members of the Californian stated that they tried Morse’s Lamps (Morse’s code) to contact the Titanic but the Titanic did not respond so they stopped trying. One officer aboard the Californian said that the lights of the ship (the Titanic) began to fade so they assumed that they were moving away, however it was the Titanic’s lights sinking below the dark waters (Stevenson, 1998).
Could this misunderstanding be a cause for so many lost lives? Had they been able to contact each other and the Californian make it to the Titanic, so many lives, if not all of them, could have been saved. Wewill not really know for sure if it would have changed anything. It simply brings about a whole new series of "what ifs".
Top left to right: A picture taken from the Carpathia of a Titanic lifeboat to be rescued (Wels, pg 99). The painting titled "Meet Me in New York" portrays the farewells that were shared between couples and families aboard the Titanic (Wels, pg 89). The final picture is of a boy rescued from the Titanic. He is covered in the canvus sack that was used to raise him onto the Carpathia (McMillan & Lehrer, pg 124).
