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The Titanic was the largest ever to be built at the time of her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York. There were 2229 passengers on board, a mixture of the world's wealthiest people dining in elegance in the first class section of Titanic, and immigrants packed into steerage.

Titanic was nicknamed unsinkable, and everybody thought she was the safest ship ever to be built. She was thought to be so safe that the original 32 lifeboats were not needed (it was thought that they made the deck look messy) so 12 were removed leaving only 20 boats. This was only enough boats to save half of the estimated 2229 people on board

On April 14th / 15th 1912 Titanic had received several ice warnings during that Sunday afternoon. Speed was maintained but lookouts Murdoch, Boxhall, and Moody watched over the sea.

At 11:40 pm Titanic collided with an iceberg. The collision was fatal and the icy water soon poured through the ship. The life boats were filled by order of class (meaning the rich people first), Women and children were loaded on the life boats first, then the men. It became obvious that many would not find safety in the lifeboats as there was not enough to save more than half the passengers aboard. Each passenger was issued a life jacket but life expectancy would be short, especially when exposed to water four degrees below freezing.

Titanic disappeared below the Atlantic ocean and hundreds of people perished at sea. A few hours later in to the morning the liner Carpathia rescued 713 survivors. In total 1516 lives were lost to the Titanic. This number could have been radically reduced if more lifeboats were fitted and style was not put before safety.

- egnet.co.uk

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