The Sinking

BACKGROUND:

Four days into her maiden trip from Southampton to New York City, the RMS Titanic perished in the North Atlantic Ocean early on April 15, 1912. Titanic, which was the largest ocean liner at the time, collided with an iceberg on Sunday, April 14, 1912, at about 23:40 P.M, killing an estimated 2,224 passengers. More than 1,500 people perished when the ship sank at 02:20 on Monday, April 15, making it one of the deadliest maritime disasters in peacetime history.

WARNING:

• The North Atlantic experienced the worst ice conditions during April in the previous 50 years (which was the reason why the lookouts were unaware that they were about to run into a line of drifting ice several miles wide and many miles long).

• The first warning was at 9:00 A.M on April 14th from the RMS Caronia stating "bergs, growlers, and field ice". At this time, it was normal to face extreme conditions due to it being under 30 degrees (F).

• At 1:42 - 1:45 P.M, RMS Baltic & RMS Amerika tried to warn the Titanic that she (the Titanic) had passed two LARGE icebergs, however, it never got to it.

• SS Californian tried to send messages to the ship's operator, Jack Phillips, continuously but no warnings would reach far enough to inform him.

• Although the crew members were well-aware of the high amounts of ice in the vicinity, the helmsman (the person who was steering the ship) did not slow down, proceeding at a speed of 22 knots (25 mph), just 3 knots under its maximum speed.

COLLISION:

• As Titanic approached the iceberg, it was late at night and most passengers had gone to bed, air temperatures had fallen to near freezing, & the ocean was quiet (spoiler: a sign of packs of ice!).

• Fredrick Fleet discovered an iceberg on the Titanic's course at 11:39. He informed Sixth Officer James Moody by three times ringing the lookout bell and making a call to the bridge. Is anyone there, Fleet questioned. "Yes," Moody responded. "What do you see?" "Iceberg, right ahead!" Fleet shouted. This was the first urgent warning.

• One of the crew members suggested that the helmsman was attempting a "port about" maneuver, swinging the ship's bow around the obstruction before swinging the stern to prevent a collision at both ends.

• In the event, Titanic's heading changed just in time to avoid a head-on collision, but the change in direction caused the ship to strike the iceberg with a glancing blow. For around seven seconds, an underwater ice spur scraped against the ship's starboard side, and ice fragments that were displaced from the iceberg's top levels dropped onto her foredecks. The Titanic's engines were shut off around five minutes after the impact, leaving the ship's bow pointing north and gently cruising south in the Labrador Current.

EFFECTS OF THE COLLISION:

• Assumed to have resulted from the collision with the iceberg, the Titanic's hull had a massive hole that measured at least 300 feet (91 meters) in length and 10 feet (3 meters) above the level of the keel.

• The gap was about 36 feet at the longest and seems to have been along the line of the hull plate, suggesting that iron rivets along the seams of the plates snapped or snapped open, creating narrow gaps through which water flowed.

• Water broke through all the barriers and eventually took over most rooms leading people to evacuation.

LIFEBOATS:

• The Titanic carried a total of 20 lifeboats, however, it was originally planned to hold 64 but that decision was out because the architects thought it would clutter and obscure First Class passengers' views. (This was the biggest mistake in the entire event).

• After an hour or so of hitting the iceberg, lifeboats were ordered to get lowered. The first one had the capacity to hold 65 people, yet only carried 28. Less people were put on because the captain thought there would be enough time to go back, drop off the people boarded on the lifeboat, then come back to make another trip.

• The amount of time it would take to lower one lifeboat was 1 time but the crew took only 80 minutes to release all 16, indicating they were in a rush to get everyone safe.

• A total of 472 lifeboat spaces went unused, considering women and children were the number 1 priority to get off the ship.

• Eventually, RMS Carpathia picked up passengers on lifeboats.