Essay/Term paper: Titanic

Essay, term paper, research paper:  History Essays

Titanic


Titanic was the largest ship in the world, built by a workforce of 17,000.
The ultimate in turn-of-the-century design and technology. First-class suites
ran to more than $ 55,000 in todays dollars, and when she sailed on her maiden
voyage from Southampton, England on route to NY , she held among her 2,227
passengers. The cream of industrial society, including colonel John Jacob Astor.
Macys founder; U.S. congressman Isidor Straus and Thomas Andrews, the ships
builder. The ship was built of easily sealed-off compartments. If, for some
unimaginable reason, the hull were punctured, only the compartment actually
ruptured would flood. In an worst case example - builders figured that the
Titanic would take from one to three days to sink, time for nearby ships to help,
because there was only 16 lifeboats. Unfortunately, things didn't work out that
way.

On April 14th, 1912 at about 7:30, at the first ominous hint of disaster
has came. Into the earphones of the wireless operator on duty came amessage from
the steamer California: Three large bergs five miles southward from us. But the
Titanic continued to rush through the deepening darkness. The temperature was
one degree above freezing. When lookouts Frederick Fleet and Reginald Lee had
come on duty at 10 P.M., the sky was cloudless and the air clear. At around
11:30 P.M., just half an hour before they were to be rewired, a slight haze had
appeared, directly ahead. And about two points on either side. Suddenly - his
training causing his reflexes to function instinctively. Fleet gave the warning
bell and immediately reached across the crowns nest to the bridges telephone. In
its compartment on the starboard side. He rang  ms bell urgently. Fleet replaced
the telephone and gripped the crowns nest rail.

At 11:40 P.M., April 14 , 1912 ; The lookouts spotted the iceberg  a
quarter-mile ahead. Had they not alerted the bridge, the ship would not have
attempted a turn. At 11:40P.M. ; the ship sideswipes the ice. Because of the
steels ductility,it would have absorbed massive amounts of energy. The ice
crashed right through the plating as it grinded along the side, Strinking at an
angle like s 300-foot zipper.

ON midnight, April 14-15; fist six  compartments were filling; water was
beginning to slosh over. 12:40.; water filled 2,000 bathtubs 1:20 A.M.; The bow
dipped; water flooded through anchor - chain holes. At 2:10 A.M.; The Titanic
titled to 45 degrees or more and stress reaches nearby 15 tons per square inch.
The keel bends; The bottom plating buckles. At 2:15 A.M.; The stern  grew
heavier and until it  reached some 16,000 tons of in - water weight . At 2:20
A.M.; The bow rips went loose. The stern rose sharply , held and almost vertical
position and then, as it filled, faded downward again. At least one life boat
passenger said, look - its  coming back!. At 2:30 A.M.; The bow stroke the
bottom , 12,612 feet down, angling downward and flowing into  the mud. Shortly
after 2:30 A.M. ships time  a green florae was sighed suddenly, forahead. In a
few  seconds it disappeared. At 3 A.M., Roston ordered rockets fired at fifteen-
minute intervals to let survivors know help was approaching. The companys night 
signals were  also displayed. By 3:35 carpathia was almost to the position where
Titanic, if afloat, would be seen. But there was only  a rast emptiness.
Carpathia inched forward. The lifeboat was alongside.

Some 2,340 passengers and crew were on board the Titanic when the white
star liner left Southampton for its maiden voyage to NY five days ago. And  some
1,595 people perished in the accident. Only 745 were saved. Many more could have
been rescued but there were enough lifeboats for only half the passengers and
crew. Two boats full of people who had escaped from the ship were sucked beneath
the ocean. Most of the passengers were apparently not aware of the accident when
it happened. At first, passengers were so unconcerned that they remained in
their staterooms to dress for dinner. By 1:30 A.M. panic has begun among some of
the passengers.

In the tomb that was once a ship, all that remain are China teacups and
brass latches, porcelain toilets, and perhaps teeth - nearby all else has been
devoured: wooden decks, the rich Victorian woodwork, human beings and their
clothing - all except for shoes protected from scavengers by their tannin. Some
150 items retrieved by the French sub Nautili went on display at Londons
National Maritime Museum in Oct. 1994. protected too is the ships steel.

The first memorials to Titanics victims were the church services in
commemoration of the dead and Thanksgiving for the living. As the days passed
the enormity of the loss of life became evident, and relief programmers were
established. The event becomes dim in the minds of new but the monuments stand,
and assurance that - as long as tides flow, as long as people sail - the memory
of Titanics courageous and gallant men and women will never fade. It is through
the appalling tragedy that befell her during her owe voyage that the worldbest
knows of her today. Perhaps Historys most famous ship, she is remembered through
memories and motion pictures; through songs and scraps of yellowing newspapers;
through reminiscences of her survivors as recurring anniversary observances as,
fortunately she of remembered through pictures. For during the brief of her
existence, the new hobby and profession of photography ensured a record of her
beauty, her people and their loss. In the disasters aftermath, reaction set in,
reaction which was to change the way people thought about the sea and the ships
that sailed on it.

The sinking of the Titanic remains the most famous of all maritime
disasters. At least in parts because of the mystery surroundings its cause over
an answer - from scientific expeditions in manned submersibles to court cases
and investigative reporting. It  took many years and a certain serendipity  to
obtain the pieces of the Titanics hull that underwent metallurgical tests at a
candian government laboratory in Nova Scotia latelast year. New theories about
ships demise continue to spring up. James G/ Vlary, who specializes in maritime
subjects, believes he too has uncovered some startling new information about the
Titanics last moments. In his book Superstitions of The sea , clary claims there
is : substantial and documental proof 1 that the engines on the Titanic were
restarted and ran for as long as 30 minutes after it hit the iceberg and stopped.
in doing so,[Clary concludes] , she undoubtedly hastened hull to greatly reduce
the precious time she had left before foundering 2.

She was not the worlds fastest ship. Nor was she the first of a new class.
She was not the largest liner ever built3., nor the most costly. The
documentation of her conception, design and construction has not withstood the 
passage of time well. Two world wars. indifference, corporate rivalries,
accident. Reglect and even late 20th century political activity have conspired
to deprive historians of much that might be known about her.

The story of Titanic began in 1867. The final chapter is yet to be written.
As we  see boilers, positions and cylinder beds strewn across the ocean floor of
the great engines. Perhaps we might sense the vibrations that drove the vessel
onward. Then, in a sudden burst of reality we might hear distantly. once again,
there rings of the bell :iceberg right ahead.... In the photographs to come you
shall surely see the actual places where the bravest of the brave newed our
their mighty deeds of heroism and  self-sacrifice which shall never fade. Then
we shall truly be able to evasion the pride and splendor, the glorious drama,
the terrible tragedy, the legend which has become - and ever shall be - Titanic.