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RMS Titanic

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: General history

                The Titanic leaving Belfast for sea trials, April 2, 1912.
                                                Career British Blue Ensign
                                                      Nationality: British
                                                   Owners: White Star Line
                     Builders: Harland and Wolff yards in Belfast, Ireland
                                                Captain: Edward John Smith
                                      Port of registry: Liverpool, England
                                                 Laid down: March 31, 1909
                                                    Launched: May 31, 1911
                                                Christened: Not christened
                                             Maiden voyage: April 10, 1912
     Fate: Hit an iceberg at 11:40 PM on April 14, 1912. Sank on April 15,
           1912, at 2:20 a.m.; wreck discovered in 1985 by Robert Ballard.
                                                   General Characteristics
                                                Gross Tonnage: 46,328  GRT
                                           Displacement: 66,000  Long Tons
                                            Length: 882 ft. 9  in. (269 m)
                                                 Beam: 92 ft. 6 in. (28 m)
                                            Draught: 34 ft. 7 in. (10.5 m)
      Power: 24 double-ended and 5 single-ended Scotch boilers at 215 psi.
   Two four cylinder triple-expansion reciprocating engines each producing
     16,000 hp (12 MW) for outer two propellers. One low-pressure (about 7
         psi absolute) steam turbine producing 18,000 hp (13.5 MW) for the
                                 centre propeller. Total 50,000 hp (37 MW)
           Propulsion: Two bronze triple-blade side propellers. One bronze
                                        quadruple-blade central propeller.
                                    Speed: 23 knots (42.5 km/h) (26.4 mph)
                  Number of Passengers (Maiden Voyage): 1912 - Total 2,223

                                                           First Class:329
                                                          Second Class:285
                                                           Third Class:710
                                                                  Crew:899

   RMS Titanic was an Olympic class passenger liner that collided with an
   iceberg and sank in 1912. The second of a trio of superliners, she and
   her sisters, RMS Olympic and HMHS Britannic, were designed to provide a
   three-ship weekly express service and dominate the transatlantic travel
   business for the White Star Line. Built at the Harland and Wolff
   shipyard in Belfast, Ireland, Titanic was the largest passenger
   steamship in the world at the time of her sinking. During Titanic's
   maiden voyage (from Southampton, England; to Cherbourg, France;
   Queenstown (Cobh), Ireland; then New York), she struck an iceberg at
   11:40 p.m. (ship's time) on Sunday evening April 14, 1912, and sank two
   hours and forty minutes later, after breaking into two pieces, at 2:20
   a.m. Monday morning April 15.

Harland and Wolff shipyard

   Titanic was a White Star Line ocean liner built at the Harland and
   Wolff shipyard in Belfast and was designed to compete with rival
   company Cunard Line's Lusitania and Mauretania, known for being the
   fastest liners on the Atlantic. Titanic, along with her Olympic class
   sisters, Olympic and the soon-to-be-built Britannic (originally to be
   named Gigantic), were intended to be the largest, most luxurious ships
   ever to operate. Titanic was designed by Harland and Wolff chairman
   Lord Pirrie, head of Harland and Wolff's design department Thomas
   Andrews and general manager Alexander Carlisle, with the plans
   regularly sent to White Star Line's managing director J. Bruce Ismay
   for suggestions and approval. Construction of Titanic,' funded by the
   American J.P. Morgan and his International Mercantile Marine Co., began
   on March 31, 1909. Titanic No. 401, was launched two years and two
   months later on May 31, 1911. Titanic's outfitting was completed on
   March 31 the following year.

   Titanic was 882 ft 9 in (269 m) long and 92 ft 6 in (28 m) at its beam,
   it had a Gross Register Tonnage of 46,328 tons, and a height from the
   water line to the boat deck of 60 ft (18 m). It contained two
   reciprocating four- cylinder, triple-expansion, inverted steam engines
   and one low-pressure Parsons turbine. These powered three propellers.
   There were 25 double-ended and 4 single-ended Scotch-type boilers fired
   by 159 coal burning furnaces that made possible a top speed of 23
   knots (43 km/h). Only three of the four 63 foot (19 m) tall funnels
   were functional; the fourth, which served only as a vent, was added to
   make the ship look more impressive. Titanic could carry a total of
   3,547 passengers and crew and, because she carried mail, her name was
   given the prefix RMS (Royal Mail Steamer) as well as SS (Steam Ship).

   Titanic was considered a pinnacle of naval architecture and
   technological achievement, and was thought by The Shipbuilder magazine
   to be "practically unsinkable." She was divided into 16 compartments by
   doors held up, i.e. in the open position, by electro-magnetic latches
   and which could be allowed to fall closed by means of a switch on the
   bridge. However, the watertight bulkheads did not reach the entire
   height of the decks, only going up as far as E-Deck. Titanic could stay
   afloat with any two of her compartments flooded, or with eleven of
   fourteen possible combinations of three compartments flooded, or with
   the first/last four compartments flooded: any more and the ship would
   sink.

Unsurpassed luxury

   For her time, Titanic was unsurpassed in luxury and opulence. She
   offered an onboard swimming pool, a gymnasium, a Turkish bath, a
   library and a squash court. First-class common rooms were adorned with
   elaborate wood paneling, expensive furniture and other elegant
   decorations. In addition, the Café Parisienne offered superb cuisine
   for the first-class passengers with a delightful sunlit veranda fitted
   with trellis decorations.

   Second-class and even third-class accommodation and common rooms were
   likewise considered to be as opulent as those in the first-class
   sections of many other ships of the day. Titanic had three lifts for
   use of first-class passengers and, as an innovation, offered one lift
   for second-class passengers.

   The crown jewels of the ship's interior was undoubtedly her forward
   first-class grand staircase, between the forward and second funnels.
   Extending down to E-Deck and decorated with oak paneling and gilded
   balustrades, it was topped by an ornate wrought-iron and glass dome
   which brought in natural light. On the uppermost landing was a large
   panel containing a clock flanked by the allegorical figures of Honour
   and Glory crowning Time. A similar, but less ornate staircase, complete
   with matching dome, was located between the third and fourth funnels.
   Titanic's grand staircase. Considered to be the most lavish part of the
   ship, the staircase allowed natural light to seep through the glass
   dome. It had elaborate wood panelling and a bronze cherub lamp support
   that only added to the 1st Class passengers' luxurious surroundings
   Enlarge
   Titanic's grand staircase. Considered to be the most lavish part of the
   ship, the staircase allowed natural light to seep through the glass
   dome. It had elaborate wood panelling and a bronze cherub lamp support
   that only added to the 1st Class passengers' luxurious surroundings

Comparisons with the Olympic

   Titanic was almost identical to her older sister, Olympic, but there
   were a few differences, some suggested by Bruce Ismay and based on
   observations he had made of Olympic. The most noticeable were that half
   of Titanic's forward promenade A-Deck (below the lifeboat deck) was
   enclosed, and her B-Deck configuration was completely different from
   Olympic's. Titanic had a specialty restaurant called Café Parisienne, a
   feature that Olympic wouldn't be provided with until 1913. Some of the
   flaws found on Olympic, such as the creaking of the aft expansion
   joint, were corrected on Titanic. Other differences such as Titanic's
   skid lights, that provide natural illumination on A-deck, were round
   while on Olympic they were oval. Titanic's wheelhouse was made narrower
   and longer than Olympic's. These and other modifications made Titanic
   1,004 tonnes larger than Olympic.

Passengers

   On Titanic's maiden voyage, some of the most prominent people in the
   world were on board in first class. These included millionaire John
   Jacob Astor IV and his pregnant wife Madeleine; industrialist Benjamin
   Guggenheim; Macy's department store owner Isidor Straus and his wife
   Ida; Denver millionaire Margaret "Molly" Brown; Sir Cosmo Duff Gordon
   and his wife, couturiere Lady Duff-Gordon; streetcar magnate George
   Dunton Widener, his wife Eleanor and their 27-year-old son, Harry
   Elkins Widener; Pennsylvania Railroad executive John Borland Thayer,
   his wife Marion and their seventeen-year-old son, Jack; journalist
   William Thomas Stead; the Countess of Rothes; United States
   presidential aide Archibald Butt; author and socialite Helen Churchill
   Candee; author Jacques Futrelle, his wife May, and their friends,
   Broadway producers Henry and Rene Harris; pioneer aviation entrepreneur
   Pierre Maréchal Sr.; and silent film actress Dorothy Gibson. Also in
   first class were White Star Line's Managing Director J. Bruce Ismay
   (who survived the sinking) and, from the ship's builders, Thomas
   Andrews, who was on board to observe any problems and assess the
   general performance of the new ship.

   Among the second-class passengers was Lawrence Beesley, a journalist
   who wrote one of the finest first-hand accounts of the voyage and the
   sinking. He left the ship on Lifeboat #13. Also in second class was
   Michel Navratil, a Frenchman kidnapping his two sons, Michel Jr. and
   Edmond and taking them to America.

   Both J.P. Morgan and Milton Hershey had plans to travel on the Titanic
   but cancelled their reservations before the voyage.

Disaster

   The iceberg suspected of having sunk the RMS Titanic.
   Enlarge
   The iceberg suspected of having sunk the RMS Titanic.

   There are several figures regarding the number of passengers lost. The
   United States senate investigation reported 1,522 people perished in
   the accident, while the British investigation has the number at 1,490.
   Regardless, it ranks as one of the worst peacetime maritime disasters
   in history and by far the most famous. Titanic's design used some of
   the most advanced technology available at the time and the ship was
   popularly believed to be "unsinkable." It was a great shock that,
   despite the advanced technology and experienced crew, Titanic sank with
   a great loss of life. The media frenzy about Titanic's famous victims,
   the legends about what happened on board the ship, the resulting
   changes to maritime law, and the discovery of the wreck in 1985 by a
   team led by Robert Ballard and Jean Louis Michel have made Titanic
   persistently famous in the years since.

1:45 PM - Amerika iceberg warning

   On the night of Sunday, April 14, the temperature had dropped to near
   freezing and the ocean was completely calm. Surviving 2nd Officer
   Charles Lightoller later wrote "the sea was like glass". There was no
   moon and the sky was clear. Captain Edward Smith, perhaps in response
   to iceberg warnings received by wireless over the previous few days,
   had altered Titanic's course around 10 miles (18 km) south of the
   normal shipping route. That Sunday at 1:45 p.m., a message from the
   steamer SS Amerika warned that large icebergs lay south of Titanic's
   path but the warning was addressed to the USN Hydrographic office and
   was never relayed to the bridge. Iceberg warnings were received
   throughout the day and were quite normal for the time of year. Later
   that evening at 9:30pm, another report of numerous, large icebergs in
   Titanic's path was received by Jack Phillips and Harold Bride in the
   radio room, this time from the Mesaba, but this report also did not
   reach the bridge. Although there were warnings, there were no
   operational or safety reasons to slow down or alter course. The Titanic
   had three teams of two lookouts high up in the " Crow's nest" who were
   rotated every two hours, and on any other night it is almost certain
   they would have seen the iceberg in time. However, a combination of
   factors came together: with no moon, no wind and the dark side of the
   berg facing the ship, the lookouts were powerless. Had they spotted the
   iceberg 10 seconds later or 10 seconds earlier, or even had the ship
   simply hit it straight on, it is likely that Titanic would not have
   foundered. But as Lightoller stated at the American inquiry,
   "Everything was against us that night."

11:40 PM - "Iceberg, right ahead!"

   At 11:40 p.m. while sailing south of the Grand Banks of Newfoundland,
   lookouts Frederick Fleet and Reginald Lee spotted a large iceberg
   directly ahead of the ship. Fleet sounded the ship's bell three times
   and telephoned the bridge. Sixth Officer Moody answered, "Yes, what do
   you see?", only to hear Fleet exclaiming, "Iceberg, right ahead!", to
   which Moody responded "Thank you" before informing First Officer
   Murdoch of the call. Murdoch (who had now already seen the iceberg)
   ordered an abrupt turn to port (left) and full speed astern, which
   reversed the engines driving the outer propellers (the turbine driving
   the centre propeller was not reversible).

   The ship's starboard (right) side brushed the iceberg, buckling the
   hull in several places and popping out rivets below the waterline,
   creating a total of six leaks in the first five watertight
   compartments. The fifth compartment was breached for only 10-15 feet.
   Murdoch then ordered hard right rudder, which swung Titanic's stern
   away from the iceberg. The watertight doors were shut as water started
   filling the five compartments - one more than Titanic could stay afloat
   with. Captain Smith, alerted by the jolt of the impact, ordered
   "all-stop" once he arrived on the bridge. Following an inspection by
   the ship's senior officers, the ship's carpenter and Thomas Andrews,
   which included a survey of the half-flooded two-deck postal room, it
   was apparent that the Titanic would sink. At 12:30 a.m., 45 minutes
   after the collision, Captain Smith ordered the lifeboats prepared for
   boarding; 15 minutes later, Fourth Officer Joseph Boxhall fired the
   first white distress rocket.

12:45 AM - First lifeboat lowered

   The first lifeboat launched, boat 7, was lowered shortly after 12:45
   a.m. on the starboard side with only 28 people on board out of a
   maximum capacity of 65. The Titanic carried 20 lifeboats with a total
   capacity of 1,178 persons for the ship's total complement of passengers
   and crew of 2,223. Thirty-two lifeboats had been originally specified,
   but management decided the doubled-up boats spoiled the lines of the
   ship. Sixteen lifeboats, indicated by number, were in the davits; and
   four canvas-sided collapsibles, indicated by letter, stowed on the roof
   of the officers' quarters or on the forward Boat Deck to be launched in
   empty davits. With only enough space for a little more than half the
   passengers and crew, Titanic carried more boats than required by the
   British Board of Trade. At the time, the number of lifeboats required
   was determined by a ship's gross tonnage, rather than its human
   capacity. The regulations concerning lifeboat capacity had last been
   updated in 1894, when the largest ships afloat measured approximately
   10,000 gross tons, compared to Titanic's 46,328 tons.

   First and second-class passengers had easy access to the lifeboats with
   staircases that led right up to the boat deck, but third-class
   passengers found it much harder. Many found the corridors leading from
   the lower sections of the ship difficult to navigate and had trouble
   making their way up to the lifeboats. Some gates separating the
   third-class section of the ship from the other areas, like the one
   leading from the aft well deck to the second-class section, are known
   to have been locked. While the majority of first and second-class women
   and children survived the sinking, more third-class women and children
   were lost than saved. The locked 3rd class gates were the result of
   miscommunication between the boat deck and F-G decks. Lifeboats were
   supposed to be lowered with women and children from the boat deck and
   then subsequently to pick up F-G deck women and children from open
   gangways. Unfortunately, with no boat drill or training for the seamen,
   the boats were simply lowered into the water without stopping.
   Titanic reported its position as 41°46′N 50°14′W. The wreck was found
   at 41°43′N 49°56′W.
   Enlarge
   Titanic reported its position as 41°46′N 50°14′W. The wreck was found
   at 41°43′N 49°56′W.

   Wireless operators Jack Phillips and Harold Bride were busy sending out
   distress signals. The message was "SOS-MGY, sinking, need immediate
   assistance." Several ships responded, including Mount Temple, Frankfurt
   and Titanic's sister ship, Olympic, but none were close enough to make
   it in time. The Olympic was over 500 nautical miles away. The closest
   ship to respond was Cunard Line's RMS Carpathia, and at
   58 nautical miles (107 km) away it would arrive in about four hours,
   still too late to get to Titanic in time. Two land–based locations
   received the distress call from Titanic. One was the wireless station
   at Cape Race, Newfoundland, and the other was a Marconi telegraph
   station on top of the Wanamaker's department store in New York City.
   Shortly after the distress signal was sent, a radio drama ensued as the
   signals were transmitted from ship to ship, through Halifax to New
   York, throughout the country. People began to show up at White Star
   Line offices in New York almost immediately.

   From the bridge, the lights of a ship could be seen off the starboard
   side approximately 10-15 miles away. Since it was not responding to
   wireless, nor to the distress rockets being launched every 15 minutes
   or so, Fourth Officer Boxhall and Quartermaster Rowe attempted
   signaling the ship with a Morse lamp, but the ship never appeared to
   respond. The SS Californian was nearby but had stopped for the night
   because of ice, and its wireless was turned off because the wireless
   operator had gone to bed for the night. The Titanic's wireless set had
   broken down earlier that day and Phillips and Bride had spent most of
   the day fixing it. As a result, they were extremely backlogged in their
   sending of messages. Finally, with the set fixed and a strong signal
   available from the Halifax station, Phillips was getting some work
   done. Just before he went to bed at around 11:00 p.m. Californian's
   radio operator Cyril Evans attempted to warn Titanic that there was a
   large field of ice ahead, but he was cut off by an exhausted Jack
   Phillips, who sent back, "Shut up, shut up! I am busy, I am working
   Cape Race." Two officers, 2nd Officer Stone and Apprentice Gibson on
   the Californian noticed a ship approaching at around 11:00pm, noticed
   her stop and then about an hour later noticed her beginning to send up
   rockets. They informed Captain Stanley Lord. The rockets Titanic sent
   up had the colour of distress rockets for White Star Line, but because
   of a lack of uniformity in Naval regulations at that time, Captain Lord
   was confused, he did not know they were distress rockets.He said "Keep
   watching it" and he went back to sleep. Even though there was much
   discussion about the mysterious ship, which the officers on duty
   thought to be moving away before disappearing, the crew of Californian
   did not wake its wireless operator until morning.

2:00 AM - Waterline reaches forward boat deck

   At first, passengers were reluctant to leave the warm, well lit and
   ostensibly safe Titanic, which showed no outward signs of being in
   imminent danger, and board small, unlit, open lifeboats. This was one
   of the reasons most of the boats were launched partially empty: it was
   perhaps hoped that many people would jump into the water and swim to
   the boats. Also important was an uncertainty regarding the boats'
   structural integrity; it was feared that the boats might break if they
   were fully loaded before being set in the water. Captain Smith ordered
   the lifeboats be lowered half empty in the hope the boats would come
   back to save people in the water, and some boats were given orders to
   do just that. One boat, boat number one, meant to hold 40 people, left
   Titanic with only 12 people on board. It was rumored that Lord and Lady
   Duff Gorden bribed 7 crew members to take them and their 3 companions
   off the ship. Bruce Ismay, managing director of the White Star Line,
   left on Collapsible Boat C and was criticised by both the American and
   British Inquiries for not going down with the ship.

   As the ship's tilt became more apparent, people started to become
   nervous, and some lifeboats began leaving fully loaded. "Women and
   children first" remained the imperative (see origin of phrase) for
   loading the boats. (Despite this slogan, in reality a higher proportion
   of First-Class men survived than Third-class women and children.,
   according to the Lloyd's of London report.)

   Shortly after 2:00 a.m. the waterline reached the bridge and forward
   boat deck, and all the lifeboats, save for the awkwardly located
   Collapsibles A and B, had been lowered. Collapsible D, with 44 of its
   47 seats filled, was the last lifeboat to be lowered from the davits.
   The total number of vacancies was close to 475.

2:10 AM - Stern rises out of water

   Around 2:10 a.m., the stern rose out of the water, exposing the
   propellers, and the forward boat deck was flooding. The last two
   lifeboats floated right off the deck as the ocean reached them:
   collapsible lifeboat B upside down, and collapsible lifeboat A
   half-filled with water. Shortly afterwards the first funnel fell
   forward, crushing part of the bridge and many of those struggling in
   the water. On deck, people scrambled towards the stern or jumped
   overboard in hopes of reaching a lifeboat. As the ship's stern
   continued to slowly rise into the air, everything not secured crashed
   towards the bow. The electrical system finally failed and the lights,
   which had until now burned brightly, went out. Titanic's second funnel
   broke off and fell into the water, and Titanic herself tore apart.

2:20 AM - Titanic sinks

   Stress on the hull caused Titanic to break apart into two large pieces,
   between the third and fourth funnels, and the bow section went
   completely under. The stern section briefly righted itself on the water
   before rising back up vertically. After a few moments, the stern
   section also sank into the ocean about two hours and forty minutes
   after the collision with the iceberg.

   White Star attempted to persuade surviving crewmen not to state that
   the hull broke in half. The company believed that this information
   would cast doubts upon the integrity of their vessels. In fact, the
   stresses inflicted on the hull when it was almost vertical (bow down
   and stern in the air) were well beyond the design limits of the
   structure and no legitimate engineer could have fairly criticised the
   work of the shipbuilders in that regard.

   Of a total of 2,223 people, only 706 survived; 1,517 perished.. If the
   lifeboats had been filled to capacity, 1,178 people could have been
   saved. Of the First Class, 199 were saved (60%) and 130 died. Of the
   Second Class, 119 (44%) were saved and 166 were lost. Of the Third
   Class, 174 were saved (25%) and 536 perished. Of the crew, 214 were
   saved (24%) and 685 perished. 1,347 men (80%) died, and 103 women (26%)
   died. 53 children (about 50%) also died. Of particular note, the entire
   complement of the Engineering Department, remaining at their posts to
   keep the ship's electrical systems running, drowned. The entirety of
   the Ship's band were lost. Led by bandleader Wallace Hartley, they
   played music on the boat deck of the Titanic that night to calm the
   passengers. It is rumored that they played the hymn "Nearer, My God, to
   Thee" as their finale. The majority of deaths were caused by victims
   succumbing to hypothermia in the 28 °F (−2 °C) water. Only one lifeboat
   came back to the scene of the sinking to attempt to rescue survivors.
   Another boat helped. Lifeboat 4 was close by and picked up eight
   crewmen, two of whom later died. Close to an hour later, after tying 3
   or 4 lifeboats together on the open sea (a difficult task), Lifeboat
   14, under the command of Fifth Officer Harold Lowe, went back looking
   for survivors and rescued four people, one of whom died afterwards.
   Collapsable B was upended all night and began with 30 people. By the
   time the Carpathia arrived the next morning, 13-14 remained. Included
   on this boat were the highest ranking officer to survive, Charles
   Lightolloer, wireless operator Harold Bride, and the chief baker, James
   Jougin. There were some arguments in some of the other lifeboats about
   going back, but many survivors were afraid of being swamped by people
   trying to climb into the lifeboat or being pulled down by the
   anticipated suction from the sinking ship, though this turned out not
   to be severe. Only 12 survivors were recovered from the water;

   As the ship sank into the depths, the two sections ended their final
   plunges very differently. The streamlined bow planed off approximately
   2,000 feet (600 m) below the surface and slowed somewhat, landing
   relatively gently. The stern fell fairly straight down towards the
   ocean floor, possibly rotating as it sank, with the air trapped inside
   causing implosions. It was already half-crushed when it hit bottom at
   high speed; the shock caused everything still loose to fall off. The
   bow section however, having been opened up by the iceberg and having
   sunk slowly, had little air left in it as it sank and therefore
   remained relatively intact during its descent.

4:10 AM - Carpathia picks up first lifeboat

   Survivors aboard Collapsible D, one of the Titanic's four collapsible
   lifeboats. Note the canvas sides.
   Enlarge
   Survivors aboard Collapsible D, one of the Titanic's four collapsible
   lifeboats. Note the canvas sides.

   Almost two hours after Titanic sank, RMS Carpathia, commanded by
   Captain Arthur Henry Rostron, arrived on scene and picked up its first
   lifeboat at 4:10 AM, even though the Californian was much closer, their
   wireless operator had gone to bed for the night and as a result the
   crew was ignorant of the tragedy unfolding just a few miles away. Over
   the next hours, the remainder of the survivors were rescued. On board
   Carpathia, a short prayer service for the rescued and a memorial for
   the people who lost their lives was held, and at 8:50 a.m. Carpathia
   left for New York, arriving on April 18. Once the loss of life was
   verified, White Star Line chartered the ship MacKay-Bennett to retrieve
   bodies. A total of 328 bodies were eventually recovered. Many of the
   bodies were taken to Halifax, Nova Scotia where the majority of the
   unclaimed were buried in Fairview Cemetery. Among the survivors were
   several dogs brought aboard in the hands of the first class passengers.

Aftermath and consequences

Arrival of Carpathia in New York

   The Carpathia docked at Pier 54 at Little West 12th Street in New York
   with the survivors. It arrived at night and was greeted by thousands of
   people. The Titanic had been headed for Pier 59 at 20th Street. The
   Carpathia dropped off the Titanic lifeboats at Pier 59 before unloading
   the survivors at Pier 54.

   Both piers were part of the Chelsea Piers built to handle luxury liners
   of the day.
   Extract from US Navy memorandum concerning Titanic.
   Enlarge
   Extract from US Navy memorandum concerning Titanic.

   As news of the disaster spread, many people were shocked that Titanic
   could sink with such great loss of life despite all of its
   technological advances. Newspapers were filled with stories and
   descriptions of the disaster and were eager to get the latest
   information. Many charities were set up to help the victims and their
   families, many of whom lost their sole breadwinner, or, in the case of
   third-class survivors, lost everything they owned. The people of
   Southampton were deeply affected by the sinking. According to the
   Hampshire Chronicle on April 20, 1912, almost 1,000 local families were
   directly affected. Almost every street in the Chapel district of the
   town lost more than one resident and over 500 households lost a member.

Investigation, Safety Rules and The Californian

   Before the survivors even arrived in New York, investigations were
   being planned to discover what had happened to Titanic, and what could
   be done to prevent a recurrence. The United States Senate initiated an
   inquiry into the Titanic disaster on April 19, a day after Carpathia
   arrived in New York.
   Carpathia docked at Pier 54 in New York following the rescue
   Enlarge
   Carpathia docked at Pier 54 in New York following the rescue

   The chairman of the inquiry, Senator William Alden Smith, wanted to
   gather accounts from passengers and crew while the events were still
   fresh in their minds. Smith also needed to subpoena the British
   citizens while they were still on American soil. The American inquiry
   lasted until May 25.

   Lord Mersey was appointed to head the British Board of Trade's inquiry
   into the disaster. The British inquiry took place between May 2 and
   July 3. Each inquiry took testimony from both passengers and crew of
   Titanic, crewmembers of Leyland Line's The Californian, Captain Arthur
   Rostron of the Carpathia and other experts.

   The investigations found that many safety rules were simply out of date
   and new laws were recommended. Numerous safety improvements for
   ocean-going vessels were implemented, including improved hull and
   bulkhead design, access throughout the ship for egress of passengers,
   lifeboat requirements, life-vest design, safety drills, better
   passenger notification, radio communications laws, etc. The
   investigators also learned that the Titanic had sufficient lifeboat
   space for all First-Class passengers, but not for the lower classes. In
   fact, most Third-Class, or Steerage, passengers had no idea where the
   lifeboats were, much less any way of getting up to the higher decks
   where the lifeboats were kept. (According to the report published by
   Lloyd's, a higher proportion of First-Class men survived than of
   Third-Class women or children.)

   Both inquiries into the disaster found that the Californian and its
   captain, Stanley Lord, failed to give proper assistance to Titanic.
   Testimony before the inquiry revealed that, at 10:10 pm, the
   Californian observed lights of a ship to the south; it was later agreed
   between Captain Lord and the third officer (who had relieved Lord of
   duty at 10:10) that this was a passenger liner. The Californian warned
   the ship by radio of pack ice on account of which Californian had
   stopped for the night. At 11:50pm, the officer had watched this ship's
   lights flash out, as if the ship had shut down or turned sharply, and
   that the port light was now observed. Morse signals to the ship, upon
   Lord's order, occurred five times between 11:30pm and 1:00am, but were
   not acknowledged. (In testimony, it was stated that Californian's Morse
   lamp had a range of about four miles.)

   Captain Lord had retired at 11:30; however, the second officer, now on
   duty, notified Lord at 1:15 am that the ship had fired a rocket,
   followed by four more. Lord wanted to know if they were "company
   signals," that is, colored flares used for identification. The second
   officer said that he "didn't know," that the rockets were all white.
   Captain Lord instructed the crew to continue Morseing and went back to
   sleep. Three more rockets were observed at 1:50 and the second officer
   noted that the ship looked strange in the water, as if it were listing.
   At 2:15 am, Lord was notified that the ship could no longer be seen.
   Lord asked again if the lights had had any colors in them, and he was
   informed that they were all white.

   The Californian eventually responded. At 5:30 am, the first officer
   awakened the radio operator, informed him that rockets had been seen
   during the night, and asked that he try to communicate with any ships.
   The ‘‘Frankfurt’’ notified the operator of Titanic's loss, Captain Lord
   was notified, and the ship set out for assistance.

   The inquiries found that Californian was much closer to Titanic than
   the 19½ miles (36 km) that Captain Lord had believed and that Lord
   should have awakened the wireless operator after the rockets were first
   reported to him, and thus could have acted to prevent a loss of life.
   As a result of Californian's off-duty wireless officer, 29 nations
   ratified the Radio Act of 1912, which streamlined radio communications,
   especially in the event of emergencies.

International Ice Patrol

   The disaster also led to the convening of the first International
   Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea in London, England, on
   November 12, 1913. On January 30, 1914, a treaty was signed by the
   conference and resulted in the formation and international funding of
   the International Ice Patrol, an agency of the United States Coast
   Guard that to the present day monitors and reports on the location of
   North Atlantic Ocean icebergs that could pose a threat to transatlantic
   sea lane traffic. It was also agreed in the new regulations that all
   passenger vessels would have sufficient lifeboats for everyone on
   board, that appropriate safety drills would be conducted, and that
   radio communications would be operated 24 hours a day along with a
   secondary power supply, so as not to miss distress calls. In addition,
   it was agreed that the firing of red rockets from a ship must be
   interpreted as a distress signal. This treaty was scheduled to go into
   effect July 1, 1915, but was upstaged by World War I.

Ship design changes

   The sinking of Titanic also changed the way passenger ships were
   designed, and many existing ships such as Olympic were refitted for
   increased safety. Besides increasing the number of lifeboats on board,
   improvements included increasing the height of the watertight
   bulkheads. The bulkheads on Titanic extended 10 feet (3 m) above the
   waterline, and after Titanic sank the bulkheads on other ships were
   extended higher to make compartments fully watertight. While Titanic
   had a double bottom it did not have a double hull; after her sinking
   new ships were designed with double hulls and the double bottoms of
   other ships (including Olympic's) were extended up the sides of their
   hulls above their waterlines to give them double hulls.

Legends, myths, and controversy

Lifeboats

   No single aspect regarding the huge loss of life from the Titanic
   disaster has provoked more outrage than the fact that the ship did not
   carry enough lifeboats for all its passengers and crew. This is
   partially due to the fact that an outdated trade law required a minimum
   of 16 lifeboats for ships of the Titanic's size—meaning that the ship
   was legally required to carry only enough lifeboats for less than half
   of its capacity. Actually, White Star Line exceeded the regulations by
   including four more collapsible lifeboats—making room for slightly more
   than half the capacity.

   A plan was submitted for Titanic to have each of the 16 lifeboats
   complemented with another three lifeboats, for a total of 64 (four
   boats at each pair of davits instead of only one). However, J. Bruce
   Ismay, the President of White Star on the British end, said it would
   detract from the leisure space for passengers. The priority, it seems,
   was to give First Class passengers as much deck space as possible to
   stroll and enjoy the outside air.

   In addition, at the time, the belief in the shipbuilding industry was
   that lifeboats would be used to ferry passengers to another ship and
   disembark them, returning to a stricken liner for more passengers.

   The lack of lifeboats was not the only cause of the tragic loss of
   lives. After the collision with the iceberg, one hour was spent to
   evaluate the damages, recognize what was going to happen, inform first
   class passengers, and lower the first lifeboat. Afterward, the crew
   worked quite efficiently, taking a total of 80 minutes to lower all 16
   lifeboats. Since the crew was divided in two teams, one on each side of
   the ship, an average of 10 minutes of work was necessary for a team to
   fill a lifeboat with passengers and lower it. Only 10 minutes after the
   last lifeboat was lowered, the stern rose out of water, suggesting that
   it would not have been possible to lower any more lifeboats, if any
   were remaining.

   Yet another factor in the high death toll that related to the lifeboats
   was the reluctance of the passengers to board the lifeboats. They were,
   after all, on a ship deemed to be unsinkable. Because of this, some
   lifeboats were launched with far less than capacity, the most notable
   being Lifeboat 1, with a capacity of 40, launched with only twelve
   people aboard, with only two women and no children.

Use of SOS

   The sinking of Titanic was not the first time the internationally
   recognized Morse code distress signal " SOS" was used. The SOS signal
   was first proposed at the International Conference on Wireless
   Communication at Sea in Berlin in 1906. It was ratified by the
   international community in 1908 and had been in widespread use since
   then. The SOS signal was, however, rarely used by British wireless
   operators, who preferred the older CQD code. First Wireless Operator
   Jack Phillips began transmitting CQD until Second Wireless Operator
   Harold Bride suggested, half-jokingly, "Send SOS; it's the new call,
   and this may be your last chance to send it." Phillips, who perished in
   the disaster, then began to intersperse SOS with the traditional CQD
   call.

Titanic's rudder and turning ability

   The memorial to the Titanic's engineers in Southampton.
   Enlarge
   The memorial to the Titanic's engineers in Southampton.

   Although Titanic's rudder was not legally too small for a ship its
   size, the rudder's design was hardly state-of-the-art. According to
   researchers with the Titanic Historical Society: "Titanic's long, thin
   rudder was a copy of a 19th-century steel sailing ship. Compared with
   the rudder design of the Cunard's Mauretania or Lusitania, Titanic's
   was a fraction of the size. Apparently no account was made for advances
   in scale, and little thought given to how a ship 882½ feet (269 m) in
   length might turn in an emergency, or avoid a collision with an
   iceberg. This was Titanic's Achilles' heel.

   Perhaps more fatal to the Titanic was its triple-screw engine
   configuration, which had reciprocating steam engines driving its wing
   propellers, and a steam turbine driving its centre propeller. The
   reciprocating engines were reversible, while the turbine was not. When
   First Officer Murdoch gave the order to reverse engines to avoid the
   iceberg, he inadvertently handicapped the turning ability of the ship.
   Since the centre turbine could not reverse during the "full speed
   astern" maneuver, it simply stopped turning. Furthermore, the centre
   propeller was positioned forward of the ship's rudder, diminishing the
   turning effectiveness of the rudder.

   Had Murdoch reversed the port engine, and reduced speed while
   maintaining the forward motion of the other two propellers (as
   recommended in the training procedures for this type of ship), experts
   theorize that the Titanic may have been able to navigate around the
   berg without a collision. However, given the closing distance between
   the ship and the berg at the time the bridge was notified, this may not
   have been possible.

   Additionally, Titanic experts have hypothesized that if Titanic had not
   altered its course at all and had run head on into the iceberg, the
   damage would only have affected the first or, at most, the first two
   compartments. However, other experts have argued that this might also
   have doomed the ship, since a direct head-on collision with an iceberg
   would have stopped the ship as abruptly and as violently, possibly
   compromising its structural integrity and possibly causing the large,
   heavy boilers to dislodge and possibly crush through the ship's bottom
   hull.

Titanic's band

   One of the most famous stories of Titanic is of the band. On 15 April,
   Titanic's eight-member band, led by Wallace Hartley, had assembled in
   the first-class lounge in an effort to keep passengers calm and upbeat.
   Later they would move on to the forward half of the boat deck. The band
   continued playing music even when it became apparent the ship was going
   to sink.
   A memorial in Southampton to the Titanic's musicians
   Enlarge
   A memorial in Southampton to the Titanic's musicians

   None of the band members survived the sinking, and there has been much
   speculation about what their last song was. Some witnesses said the
   final song played was the hymn " Nearer, my God, to Thee." However,
   there are three versions of this song in existence and no one really
   knows which version, if any, was played. Hartley reportedly said to a
   friend if he was on a sinking ship "Nearer, My God, to Thee" would be
   one of the songs he would play. Walter Lord's book A Night to Remember
   popularised wireless operator Harold Bride’s account that he heard the
   song "Autumn" before the ship sank. It is considered Bride either meant
   the hymn called "Autumn" or "Songe d'Automne," a popular ragtime song
   of the time. Others claimed they heard "Roll out the Barrel."

   Hartley's body was one of those recovered and identified. Considered a
   hero, his funeral in England was attended by thousands.

David Sarnoff

   An often-quoted story that has been blurred between fact and fiction
   states that the first person to receive news of the sinking was David
   Sarnoff, who would later found media giant RCA. Sarnoff was not the
   first to hear the news (though Sarnoff willingly promoted this notion),
   but he and others did man the Marconi wireless station atop the
   Wanamaker Department Store in New York City, and for three days relayed
   news of the disaster and names of survivors to people waiting outside.

Faults in construction

   Though this topic is seldom discussed, there is some speculation on
   whether or not Titanic was constructed by methods considered
   sufficiently robust by the standards of the day. Rumored faults in the
   construction included problems with safety doors and missing or
   detached bolts in the ship's hull plating. Some people say that this
   was a major contributing factor to the sinking and that the iceberg, in
   part with the missing bolts and screws, eventually led to the demise of
   Titanic. Many believe that if the watertight bulkheads had completely
   sealed the ship's compartments (they only went 10 ft above the
   waterline), the ship would have stayed afloat.

   However, it should be noted that Titanic's hull was held together by
   rivets, which are intended to be a permanent way of attaching metal
   items together, whereas bolts can be removed and would require periodic
   tightening unless the nut and bolt are welded after being screwed
   together. Welding technology in 1912 was in its infancy, so this was
   not done. While issues with Titanic's rivets have been identified from
   samples salvaged from the wreck site, many ships of the era would have
   been constructed with similar methods and did not sink after being
   involved in collisions. There was a claim that the rivets of the
   Titanic had not been properly tempered, leaving them brittle and
   sensitive to fracture in the infamous collision.

   While sealing off the watertight bulkheads with watertight decks would
   have increased the survivability of a vessel such as Titanic, they
   would have by no means ensured the survival of a ship with as much
   underwater damage as Titanic sustained in her collision with the
   iceberg: it was a big iceberg. Even if the compartments themselves had
   remained completely watertight, the weight of water would still have
   pulled the bow of the ship down to the point where decks above the
   watertight deck would have been below the waterline. The ship would
   then have flooded via the portholes and sunk anyway. It should also be
   noted that watertight decks would have hampered access to the lower
   sections of the ship and would have required watertight hatches, all of
   which would have had to be properly sealed to maintain the barrier
   between the incoming water and the rest of the ship. As the increased
   survivability such watertight decks would have offered is questionable,
   they are generally considered to this day to be impractical in merchant
   vessels (though some military vessels, which are exposed to much
   greater risk of flooding by virtue of being targets for enemy mines and
   torpedoes, do feature such decks).

   It should also be noted that Olympic, built to almost identical
   specifications by the same builders as Titanic, was involved with
   several collisions during the course of her operational lifetime, one
   of which occurred before the Titanic sank; and Olympic's hull was
   modified to protect her from flooding in a fashion similar to her
   ill-fated sister's. None of these collisions threatened to sink the
   ship, suggesting that the Olympic-class liners were built to be
   sufficiently tough and did not suffer from slipshod construction.

Parochial headline

   There is a persistent urban legend in Scotland that the Aberdeen Press
   and Journal, a paper notorious for its parochial coverage, reported the
   sinking of the Titanic with the headline "Aberdeen Man Drowned" (or
   something similar). This is untrue.

Alternative theories and curses

   As with many famous events, many alternative theories about the sinking
   of Titanic have appeared over the years. Theories that it was not an
   iceberg that sank the ship or that a curse caused the disaster have
   been popular reading in newspapers and books. Most of these theories
   have been debunked by Titanic experts, citing inaccurate or incomplete
   facts on which the theories are based.

   In 2003 Captain L. M. Collins, a former member of the Ice Pilotage
   Service published The Sinking of the Titanic: The Mystery Solved
   proposing, based upon his own experience of ice navigation, and witness
   statements given at the two post-disaster enquiries, that what the
   Titanic hit was not an iceberg but low-lying pack ice. He based his
   conclusion upon three main pieces of evidence.

   Another theory is that the Titanic was sacrificed because, once
   construction had been completed, she was expected to be a potential
   perpetual financial loss. Supporters of this theory cite the claim that
   everyone concerned, the company and the officers aboard, had received
   iceberg warnings and yet the Titanic maintained a northern course
   instead of sailing to the south of the warning limit.

   There is even a curse legend. While the ship was being built in the
   Belfast shipyard, several Catholic workers reportedly walked off the
   job in protest when they noticed horrible blasphemies against
   Catholicism and the Virgin Mary spray-painted by Protestant workers on
   parts of the ship. One of the workers stated, "This ship will not
   finish its first voyage". The graffiti were noted by coal-fillers when
   the ship stopped at Cobh, Ireland.

   A similar legend states that Titanic was given hull number 390904
   (which, when seen in a mirror or written using mirror writing, looks
   like "no pope"). This is a myth.

   One popular myth states that the Titanic was carrying a cursed Egyptian
   mummy. The mummy, nicknamed Shipwrecker, after changing hands several
   times, and causing many terrible things to each of its owners, exacts
   its final revenge by sinking the famous ship. This myth is untrue.

   Another myth says that the bottle of champagne used in christening the
   Titanic did not break on the first try, which in sealore is said to be
   bad luck for a ship. In fact, Titanic was not christened, as White Star
   Line's custom was to launch ships without a christening.

Rediscovery

   Titanic's bow as seen from the Russian MIR I submersible.
   Enlarge
   Titanic's bow as seen from the Russian MIR I submersible.

   The idea of finding the wreck of Titanic and even raising the ship from
   the ocean floor had been perpetuated since shortly after the ship sank.
   No attempts even to locate the ship were successful until September 1,
   1985, when a joint American-French expedition, led by Jean-Louis Michel
   of Ifremer and Dr. Robert Ballard of the Woods Hole Oceanographic
   Institution, sailing on the Research Vessel Knorr, discovered the wreck
   using the video camera sled Argo. It was found at a depth of 12,500
   feet (3800 m), south-east of Newfoundland at 41°43′55″N, 49°56′45″W, 13
   nautical miles (24 km) from where Titanic was originally thought to
   rest.

   The most notable discovery the team made was that the ship had split
   apart, the stern section lying 1,970 feet (600 m) from the bow section
   and facing opposite directions. There had been conflicting witness
   accounts of whether the ship broke apart or not, and both the American
   and British inquiries found that the ship sank intact. Up until the
   discovery of the wreck, it was generally assumed the ship did not break
   apart. In 2005, a theory was presented that a portion of Titanic's
   bottom broke off right before the ship broke in two. The theory was
   conceived after an expedition sponsored by The History Channel examined
   the two hull pieces.

   The bow section had embedded itself 60 feet (18 m) into the silt on the
   ocean floor. Besides parts of the hull having buckled, the bow was
   mostly intact, as the water inside had equalized with the increasing
   water pressure. The stern section was in much worse condition. As the
   stern section sank, water pushed out the air inside tearing apart the
   hull and decks. The speed at which the stern hit the ocean floor caused
   even more damage. Surrounding the wreck is a large debris field with
   pieces of the ship (including a large amount of coal), furniture,
   dinnerware and personal items scattered over one square mile (2.6 km²).
   Softer materials, like wood and carpet, were devoured by undersea
   organisms. Human remains suffered a similar fate.

   Later exploration of the vessel's lower decks, as chronicled in the
   book Ghosts of the Titanic by Dr. Charles Pellegrino, showed that much
   of the wood from the Titanic's staterooms was still intact. A new
   theory has been put forth that much of the wood from the upper decks
   was not devoured by undersea organisms but rather broke free of its
   moorings and floated away. This is supported by some eyewitness
   testimony from the survivors. Also, while filming James Cameron's
   Titanic, the Grand Staircase set broke free of supports when it was
   flooded for sinking sequences of the film. This has led historian Don
   Lynch and historical artist Ken Marschall to believe that the Grand
   Staircase in fact exited the sinking ship in this way (as mentioned in
   DVD commentary of the film).

   Although the British inquiry had determined mathematically that the
   damage to the ship could not have comprised more than twelve square
   feet, the popular notion was that the iceberg had cut a 300 foot (90 m)
   long gash into Titanic's hull. Since the part of the ship that the
   iceberg had damaged was buried, scientists used sonar to examine the
   area and discovered the iceberg had caused the hull to buckle, allowing
   water to enter Titanic between its steel plates. During subsequent
   dives, scientists retrieved small pieces of Titanic's hull. A detailed
   analysis of the pieces revealed the ship's steel plating was of a
   variety that loses its elasticity and becomes brittle in cold or icy
   water, leaving it vulnerable to dent-induced ruptures. Furthermore, the
   rivets holding the hull together were much more fragile than once
   thought. It is unknown if stronger steel or rivets could have saved the
   ship.

   The samples of steel rescued from the wrecked hull were found to have
   very high content of phosphorus and sulphur (four times and two times
   as high as common for modern steels), with a manganese-sulphur ratio of
   6.8:1 (compare with over 200:1 ratio for modern steels). High content
   of phosphorus initiates fractures, sulphur forms grains of iron
   sulphide that facilitate propagation of cracks, and lack of manganese
   makes the steel less ductile. The recovered samples were found to be
   undergoing ductile-brittle transition in temperatures of 32 °C (for
   longitudinal samples) and 56 °C (for transversal samples—compare with
   transition temperature of −27 °C common for modern steels—modern steel
   would become as brittle between −60 and −70 °C). The anisotropy was
   likely caused by hot rolling influencing the orientation of the
   sulphide stringer inclusions. The steel was probably produced in the
   acid-lined, open-hearth furnaces in Glasgow, which would explain the
   high content of phosphorus and sulphur, even for the times.

   Dr. Ballard and his team did not bring up any artifacts from the site,
   considering it to be tantamount to grave robbing. Under international
   maritime law, however, the recovery of artifacts is necessary to
   establish salvage rights to a shipwreck. In the years after the find,
   Titanic has been the object of a number of court cases concerning
   ownership of artifacts and the wreck site itself.
   The iceberg buckled Titanic's hull allowing water to flow into the
   ship.
   Enlarge
   The iceberg buckled Titanic's hull allowing water to flow into the
   ship.

Ownership and litigation

   On June 7, 1994, RMS Titanic Inc. was awarded ownership and salvaging
   rights of the wreck by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District
   of Virginia. (See Admiralty law) RMS Titanic Inc., a subsidiary of
   Premier Exhibitions Inc., and its predecessors have conducted seven
   expeditions to the wreck between 1987 and 2004 and salvaged over 5,500
   objects. The biggest single recovered artifact was a 17-ton section of
   the hull, recovered in 1998. Many of these artifacts are part of
   travelling museum exhibitions.

   Beginning in 1987, a joint American-French expedition, which included
   the predecessor of RMS Titanic Inc., began salvage operations and,
   during 32 dives, recovered approximately 1,800 artifacts which were
   taken to France for conservation and restoration. In 1993, a French
   administrator in the Office of Maritime Affairs of the Ministry of
   Equipment, Transportation, and Tourism awarded RMS Titanic Inc's
   predecessor title to the artifacts recovered in 1987.

   In a motion filed on February 12, 2004, RMS Titanic Inc. requested that
   the District Court enter an order awarding it "title to all the
   artifacts (including portions of the hull) which are the subject of
   this action pursuant to the law of finds" or, in the alternative, a
   salvage award in the amount of $225 million. RMS Titanic Inc. excluded
   from its motion any claim for an award of title to the 1987 artifacts.
   But it did request that the district court declare that, based on the
   French administrative action, "the artifacts raised during the 1987
   expedition are independently owned by RMST." Following a hearing, the
   district court entered an order dated July 2, 2004, in which it refused
   to grant comity and recognize the 1993 decision of the French
   administrator, and rejected RMS Titanic Inc's claim that it should be
   awarded title to the artifacts recovered since 1993 under the maritime
   law of finds.

   RMS Titanic Inc. appealed to the United States court of appeals. In its
   decision of January 31, 2006 the court recognized "explicitly the
   appropriateness of applying maritime salvage law to historic wrecks
   such as that of Titanic" and denied the application the maritime law of
   finds. The court also ruled that the district court lacked jurisdiction
   over the "1987 artifacts", and therefore vacated that part of the
   court's July 2, 2004 order. In other words, according to this decision,
   RMS Titanic Inc. has ownership title to the artifacts awarded in the
   French decision (valued $16.5 million earlier) and continues to be
   salvor-in-possession of the Titanic wreck. The Court of Appeals
   remanded the case to the District Court to determine the salvage award
   ($225 million requested by RMS Titanic Inc.).

Current condition of the wreck

   Many scientists, including Robert Ballard, are concerned that visits by
   tourists in submersibles and the recovery of artifacts are hastening
   the decay of the wreck. Underwater microbes have been eating away at
   Titanic's iron since the ship sank, but because of the extra damage
   visitors have caused, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
   estimates that "the hull and structure of the ship may collapse to the
   ocean floor within the next 50 years." Several scientists and
   conservationists have also complained about the removal of the crow's
   nest on the mast by a French expedition.

   Ballard's book Return to Titanic, published by the National Geographic
   Society, includes photographs showing the deterioration of the
   promenade deck and alleged damage caused by submersibles landing on the
   ship; however, Ballard was the first person to crash a camera sled into
   the wreck, and also the first person to repeatedly land on its deck in
   a submersible. The mast has almost completely deteriorated and repeated
   accusations were made in print by Ballard that it had been stripped of
   its bell and brass light by salvagers, despite his own original
   discovery images clearly showing that the bell was never actually on
   the mast- it was recovered from the sea floor. Even the memorial plaque
   left by Ballard on his second trip to the wreck was alleged to have
   been removed; Ballard replaced the plaque in 2004. Recent expeditions,
   notably by James Cameron, have been diving on the wreck to learn more
   about the site and explore previously unexplored parts of the ship
   before Titanic decays completely.

Comparable maritime disasters

   Titanic was at the time one of the worst maritime disasters in history,
   a comparable loss of life having never happened before on the heavily
   travelled North Atlantic route. It remains the worst civilian maritime
   disaster in British history. The biggest civilian maritime disaster in
   the Atlantic Ocean up to that time had been the wreck of SS Norge off
   Rockall in 1904 with the loss of 635 lives. However, Titanic's death
   toll had been exceeded by the explosion and sinking of the steamboat
   Sultana on the Mississippi River in 1865, where an estimated 1,700
   died. Two years after the Titanic disaster, a Canadian liner, Empress
   of Ireland sank in the Saint Lawrence River with 1,012 lives lost after
   colliding with Norwegian coal freighter Storstad. The ratio has been
   repeated with the sinking of RMS Lusitania and the sinking of RMS
   Leinster. Both were sunk by German U-boats in World War I.

   Also similar to Titanic was Hans Hedtoft. In January 1959 Hans Hedtoft,
   a Danish liner sailing from Greenland, struck an iceberg and sank. Hans
   Hedtoft was also on its maiden voyage and was boasted to be
   "unsinkable" because of its strong design. In 1987, MV Doña Paz, sank
   in the Philippines after colliding with the oil tanker Vector and
   catching fire and claimed between 1,500 and 4,000 lives. In 2002, a
   Senegalese government-owned ferry MV Joola capsized off the coast of
   Gambia resulted in the deaths of at least 1,863 people.

   The worst maritime disasters happened during World War II. RMS
   Lancastria sank during the evacuation from Dunkirk in June 1940 with
   the loss of 4,000+ lives. This remains Britain's worst maritime
   disaster. However, the most deadly maritime disasters in WWII involved
   German ships. The sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff with an estimated
   death toll over 9,000 remains the worst disaster in shipping history in
   terms of loss of life in a single vessel (sunk on 30 January 1945
   having been the target of four Soviet torpedoes). The SS Cap Arcona
   (which, ironically, stood in for Titanic in the 1943 film version of
   the tragedy) was sunk by the Royal Air Force on May 3, 1945, with an
   estimated death toll of more than 7,700. The Goya was sunk with an
   estimated 7,000 dead, again by Soviet submarine on 16 April 1945.

   Titanic was not the only White Star Line ship to sink with loss of
   life. RMS Tayleur, which has been compared to the sinking of Titanic,
   sank after running aground in Ireland. Tayleur was also technically
   innovative when it sank on its maiden voyage in 1854. Of its 558
   passengers and crew, 276 were lost. The White Star Line had also
   previously lost the RMS Atlantic on rocks near Nova Scotia in 1873 with
   546 fatalities, and SS Naronic in 1893, probably in an iceberg
   collision near the Titanic's position, with the loss of all 74 aboard.
   Three years before Titanic, on January 24, 1909, another palatial and
   "unsinkable" White Star Line passenger liner, the RMS Republic sank 50
   miles off the coast of Nantucket killing six persons. Titanic's sister
   ship Britannic sank in the Mediterranean sea while serving as a British
   hospital ship during World War I. Conflicting accounts say it was
   either a torpedo attack or an unlucky encounter with an ocean mine (the
   sinking was proved to have been caused by a mine). 34 people died when
   one of the lifeboats was launched before the ship had come to a total
   stop and the boat was sucked into a still revolving propeller.

Popular culture

   The sinking of Titanic has been the basis for many novels describing
   fictionalised events on board the ship. Many reference books about the
   disaster have also been written since Titanic sank, the first of these
   appearing within months of the sinking. Several films and TV movies
   were produced, and a search for Titanic items on sites like Ebay show
   thousands of items that have been created that are for sale.

Last survivors

   On May 6, 2006, the last American survivor and the last survivor to
   have memories of Titanic's sinking, Lillian Gertrud Asplund, died at
   her home in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts. Asplund, who was just 5 years
   old at the time, lost her father and three brothers (including her
   fraternal twin) in the tragedy. Her mother Selma Asplund and brother
   Felix, then three, survived. Selma Asplund had died on the anniversary
   of the sinking in 1964.

   At the time of Lillian Asplund's death, survivors Barbara West Dainton
   of Truro, England, ten months old at the time of the sinking, and
   Millvina Dean of Southampton, England, who was two months old, were
   still living, but were too young to have memories of the catastrophe.
   Therefore, with the death of Lillian Gertrude Asplund, firsthand
   passenger experience of the Titanic's sinking has passed out of living
   memory.

The last ten survivors

     * Beatrice Irene Sandström 9 August 1910 – 3 September 1995), died
       aged 85
     * Eva Miriam Hart ( 31 January 1905 – 14 February 1996), died aged 91
     * Edith Eileen Haisman (née Brown) ( 27 October 1896 – 20 January
       1997), died aged 100
     * Louise Laroche ( 2 July 1911 – 28 January 1998), died aged 88
     * Eleanor Ileen Shuman (née Johnson) ( 23 August 1910 – 9 March
       1998), died aged 87
     * Michel Marcel Navratil ( 12 June 1908 – 30 January 2001), died aged
       92 (last male survivor)
     * Winnifred Vera van Tongerloo (née Quick) ( 23 January 1904 – 6 July
       2002), died aged 98
     * Lillian Gertrud Asplund ( 21 October 1906 – 6 May 2006), died aged
       99 (last survivor who could remember the sinking)
     * Barbara Joyce Dainton (née West) (born 24 May 1911), currently the
       oldest living survivor
     * Elizabeth Gladys Dean (born 2 February 1912), youngest passenger
       and survivor

   Robertha Josephine "Bertha" Marshall (née Watt) and Ellen Natalia
   "Helen" Callaghan (née Shine), at the time of their deaths, the twelfth
   and eleventh remaining survivors, died in close proximity: Marshall
   died on 4 March 1993 and Callaghan on 5 March 1993 at ages 93 and 101
   respectively. Callaghan was the last remaining Titanic survivor from
   Ireland.

100th Anniversary

   On the 15th April 2012 the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the
   Titanic will be commemorated around the world. By that date the Titanic
   Quarter in Belfast will have been completed. The area will be
   regenerated and a signature memorial project unveiled to celebrate the
   Titanic and its links with Belfast, the city that built the great ship.

Deckplans of Titanic

                                   A Deck
                                   Enlarge
                                   A Deck

   full sized deckplans from Encyclopedia Titanica.

   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Titanic"
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   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
   of authors and sources) and is available under the GNU Free
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