CC#1 April 14th.....1912. The world's grandest ocean liner sailed through the Atlantic at 22knots, even though her crew was aware there were icebergs in the area. All aboard believed she was unsinkable and had no clue as to what would happen within only hours. She was the lengendary, RMS TITANIC. In the early 1900s the only way to get from one overseas continent to the other was by ship. The TITANIC and her 2 sisters, RMS Olympic and HMHS Britannic, were dreamed up one evening at the home of Lord Pirrie; Chairman of Harland & Wolff Shipyards. Pirrie and
CC#2 Bruce Ismay; president of the White Star Line, decided to build 3 huge luxury ships to get ahead of the Cunard Line. In Summer of 1909 Olympic and TITANIC were being constructed. The TITANIC was launched on May 31st 1911 and was beginning her maiden voyage on April 10th, even though there was a coal fire deep within her. There was an hour delay, for she nearly collided with the liner New York which was docked near by. Many believed this meant she was to massive to handle, and others thought that disaster may lay ahead.
CC#3 TITANIC made a quick stop at Cherbourg France, and Queenstown Ireland before heading out to the wide Atlantic. During April 11th to 13th, TITANIC's 2200 passengers enjoyed the many luxuries; such as the swimming pool, Turkish steam bath, squash court, grand staircase, Ala Carte Restaurant, gentlemen's smoking room, women's reading and writing room, and most of all....the food!! The air became noticeably cooler on the 14th. Jack Phillips and Harold Bride the wireless operators were hard at work sending out messages requested by the passengers. A total
CC#4 of 6 ice warnings came in during the day, but only 1 made it to the bridge. Jack rudely cut off a warning from the SS Californian. the Californisn's wireless operator retired for the night and didn't hear the TITANIC's distress calls. Many believe that if he had, the Californian could have saved most if not all of the TITANIC's passengers, for she was only 10 miles away. At 11:40PM Frederick Fleet high in the crow's nest spotted the iceberg. After ringing the warning bell 3 times he picked up the phone connected to the bridge. 6th Officer Moody replied
CC#5 asking, "what did you see?" FLEET: "Iceberg, right ahead!" MOODY: "Thank you." 1st Officer Murdoch gave the order "Hard-a-Starboard" and began switching all the telegraphs which sent messages to the engine rooms to FULL ASTERN. The sudden change in the motion of the water made the rudder unaffective. If Murdoch had changed the telegraphs to ALL AHEAD FULL, the rudder would have worked properly and TITANIC wouldn't have been injured. The ship hit the 'berg damaging the first 6 of her 16 watertight compartments.
CC#6 At 12:00AM Captain Smith ordered the lifeboats uncovered and the 1st and 2nd class passengers onto the boatdeck. 3rd class wouldn't be allowed up until all the lifeboats were gone. At 12:15AM passengers began rowing away from the TITANIC, and white distress rockets were fired every 15 minutes. The Californian saw all 8 of TITANIC's rockets but its captain Stanly Lord did nothing. At 2:18AM, April 15th TITANIC's stern was high in the air. Suddenly her lights blinked once, then went out forever. The bow slipped under and the stern fell back, for TITANIC had
CC#7 broken in 2. The stern re-righted itself and stayed up for a minute or so before sinking beneath the surface at exactly 2:20AM. Meanwhile the Carpathia had been steaming to the rescue at 18knots. That's 2 knots above her top speed! She arrived at 4:00AM and headed for New York at 8:00AM with only 705 survivors. 73 years later, Dr. Robert Ballard discovered the TITANIC at the bottom of the ocean in a mini-sub named Alvin. He returned a year later to photograph the wreck. Sadly, TITANIC is being ate by microscopic worms. Every
CC#8 piece of her woodwork is gone, including the once, grand staircase. One day the TITANIC will no longer be around.....She'll just be a memory. Her story has facinated us for all of the 20th century. Will we still be eager for more in the 21st? What do you think?