This Week In American History: On April 15, 1912 the luxury ocean liner Titanic sunk 400 miles south of Newfoundland, Canada into the North Atlantic Ocean. The ship hit an iceberg two and a half hours before sinking. Of the 2,200 passengers and crew members carried by the Titanic, 1,500 passed away when it sank.
The Titanic’s Maiden Voyage
On April 10, the RMS Titanic, one of the largest and most luxurious ocean liners ever built, departed Southampton, England, on its maiden voyage across the Atlantic Ocean. The Titanic was designed by the Irish shipbuilder William Pirrie. It was built in Belfast, Ireland and was thought to be the world’s fastest ship. It spanned 883 feet from stern to bow and its hull was divided into 16 compartments. Because four of these compartments could be flooded without causing a critical loss of buoyancy, the Titanic was considered unsinkable. On its first journey across the highly competitive Atlantic ferry route, the ship carried some 2,200 passengers and crew.
The Sinking of the Titanic
After stopping at Cherbourg, France, and Queenstown, Ireland, to pick up some final passengers, the massive vessel set out at full speed for New York City. However, just before midnight on April 14, the RMS Titanic failed to divert its course from an iceberg and ruptured at least five of its hull compartments. These compartments filled with water and pulled down the bow of the ship. Because the Titanic‘s compartments were not capped at the top, water from the ruptured compartments filled each succeeding compartment, causing the bow to sink and the stern to be raised up to an almost vertical position above the water. The Titanic broke in half, and, at about 2:20 a.m. on April 15, the stern and bow sank to the ocean floor.
Due a shortage of lifeboats and the lack of satisfactory emergency procedures, more than 1,500 people went down in the sinking ship or froze to death in the icy North Atlantic waters. Most of survivors were women and children.
Rescue of the Titanic Survivors
One hour and 20 minutes after the Titanic went down, the Cunard liner Carpathia arrived. The survivors in the lifeboats were brought aboard while others were pulled out of the water. It was later discovered that the Leyland liner Californian had been less than 20 miles away at the time of the accident. It had failed to hear the Titanic‘s distress signals because its radio operator was off duty.
Aftermath of the Sinking of the Titanic
Details of the tragedy led to outrage on both sides of the Atlantic. In the disaster’s aftermath, the first International Convention for Safety of Life at Sea was held in 1913. Rules were adopted requiring every ship have lifeboat space for each person on board, and that lifeboat drills be held. An International Ice Patrol was established to monitor icebergs in the North Atlantic shipping lanes. It was also required that ships maintain a 24-hour radio watch.
09/01/85 Exploration of the Titanic
On September 1, 1985, a joint U.S.-French expedition located the wreck of the Titanic lying on the ocean floor at a depth of about 13,000 feet. The ship was explored by manned and unmanned submersibles. The exploration shed new light on the details of its sinking.
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Info Source: History.com
Photo Source: Unsplash
