The Titanic

Siana Chapman (G6)

News

Published Issue 6 2022-2023

Imagine being aboard the Titanic, (or The Unsinkable). Dinners well after midnight. Adults drinking and gambling and gossiping. The slight sway as you walk across the floor of your room. Getting dressed and washing up before bed. Pulling yourself under the covers, wondering what the next day would bring. Unfortunately, 1,517 people on the Titanic did not get the opportunity to see the next day. At 11:40 on April 14, 1912, the terrible tragedy began. And it would only get worse.

Iceberg! 

The Titanic’s captain, Captain Edward John Smith, received 7 iceberg warnings during the day but did not react to them. A catastrophic decision. After 40 years of sailing, he would have done something…right? He simply believed that ice warnings were just warnings that ice had been seen at a certain location, and he did not believe this would affect the ship. And if a problem ever did occur, they would be able to react in time. Even though he  did not seem to care about these warnings, he slightly changed the ship's route further south. However, he continued the ship’s speed at 22 knots. Later that night, the people in the crow's nest didn’t spot the iceberg until it was only 500m ahead of them. The captain tried to swerve away, but the ship was too big and was going too fast, as the speed was kept at 22 knots.

At 11:40 pm on April 14, 1912, the Titanic hit the iceberg, though most passengers did not feel anything. They just went about their nightly routine, not knowing at all about what was about to come. The iceberg scraped against the right side of the hull, slicing it between 5 watertight compartments, which were supposed to keep the ship afloat in case it ever got damaged.  This is the reason the Titanic was called the Unsinkable: There was no way it could sink with all of those watertight compartments! But the Titanic was designed so that if 4 compartments were flooded, it would still stay afloat. No one thought that anything could slice 5 watertight compartments! As waters seeped in, it flooded the Tank Top level first, right after they were hit by the iceberg. The rest of the Titanic flooded in the following order: After the Tank Top followed the Orlop Deck, the G Deck, the F Deck, the E Deck, the D Deck, the C Deck, the B Deck and A Deck, The Grand Staircase, and finally, the Boat deck. The Titanic hit the iceberg in the North Atlantic, suggesting that the iceberg most likely broke off from Greenland in 1910 or 1911, 1 or 2 years before the tragedy. But of course, this iceberg is not still around. It was gone by late 1912 or sometime in 1913. 

The Sinking of the Titanic

The Titanic finished sinking at 2:20 on April 15 1912, about 2 and a half hours after it hit the iceberg. That’s pretty fast for a ship that was called The Unsinkable! As the ship went down, it angled upwards, causing it to break in half. The bow of the boat hit the ocean floor first.

Now you might be wondering: Why did well over half of the passengers on the Titanic die? Why couldn’t they save more? The answer is simple: There weren’t enough lifeboats on the ship. There were 20 lifeboats on board, which had a capacity of 1,178 people. But, the Titanic had around twice as many people, 2,240. The priority was women and children, but first class was also given priority. First class was treated much better on the Titanic than anyone else, so they also got living priority. 62% of first class passengers survived, 41% of second class passengers survived, and only 25% of third class passengers survived.   Captain Edward John Smith, staying true to his job, stayed on the ship until the end and went down with it.

Not-so-fun-fact: More women survived than children, and the youngest one who lost their life that night was only 19 months old.

The petrified survivors on the lifeboats were rescued 2 hours later by the RMS Carpathia, who comforted them with warmth and food. The Carpathia had received a distress call from the Titanic at 12:20 AM, 40 minutes after it hit. The captain of the Carpathia, Arthur Henry Rostron, immediately changed directions in order to save the passengers. It arrived 3 hours later to the terrifying site. 

Now don’t worry, it is very unlikely that a tragedy like this would ever happen today. Since the sinking of the Titanic, many new precautions have been taken on boats to make sure nothing like this happens today. I’m sure many of you have seen the movie “Titanic.” This movie is based on a real event, but there are mainly fictional elements in this, such as the characters, so keep that in mind when comparing this to the movie.

Do you still want to learn more about the Titanic? There are plenty of books and websites available online that you can look into. I hope this article taught you more about the Titanic and answered any questions you had!