The Institute of Chartered

Accountants of India

Name – Prathmesh Prabhakar Jogale

Address – 203/B, Mahalaxmi Apt.,
Mumbradevi Colony, Diva-Dativali
Road, Diva (East)
Thane-400612
Contact No. – 9892503298
Registration No. – WRO0679712
ITT Centre & Branch Name –Kalyan-Dom
Branch
Branch Code – WI032
Batch No. - 06/22/89
Project Name – Tale of Titanic
Date of Submission – 20th June 2022
 TALE OF TITANIC

Title -Tale of Titanic

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 TALE OF TITANIC

Index
 Background 05
 Features 08
o Power
o Technology
o Passenger Facilities
o Mail And Cargo
o Lifeboats
 Building And Preparation 17
o Construction, launch and
fitting-out
o Sea Trials
 Dimension And Layout 21
 Maiden Voyage 24
o Crew
o Passengers
o Collecting Passengers
o Atlantic Crossing
o Sinking
 The Accident 34
 Aftermath Of Sinking 35
o Immediate Aftermath
o Insurance, aid for survivors and lawsuits
o Investigations into the disaster
o Role of the SS Californian
o Survivors and victims
 Wreck Of The Titanic 42
 Replica 45
 Conclusion 46

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 TALE OF TITANIC

Source

WWW.wikipedia.com
The Movie ‘Titanic’ (1997) Directed By James
Cameron
WWW.Youtube.com

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 TALE OF TITANIC

Background
The name Titanic derives from the Titans of
Greek mythology. Built in Belfast, Ireland, in
the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the RMS Titanic was the second of the
three Olympic-class ocean liners—the first was
the RMS Olympic and the third was
the HMHS Britannic. Britannic was originally to
be called Gigantic and was to be over 1,000 feet (300 m) long. They
were by far the largest vessels of the British shipping company White
Star Line's fleet, which comprised 29 steamers and tenders in
1912. The three ships had their genesis in a discussion in mid-1907
between the White Star Line's chairman, J. Bruce Ismay, and the
American financier J. P. Morgan, who
controlled the White Star Line's parent
corporation, the International Mercantile
Marine Co. (IMM).
The White Star Line faced an increasing
challenge from its main rivals Cunard, which
had recently
Launched the Lusitania and the Mauretania—
the fastest passenger ships then in service—
and the German lines Hamburg
America and Norddeutscher Lloyd. Ismay
preferred to compete on size rather than speed and proposed to
commission a new class of liners that would
J. Bruce Ismay
be larger than anything that had gone before
Chairman of White Star
as well as being the last word in comfort and
luxury. The company sought an upgrade in their fleet primarily in
response to the Cunard giants but also to replace their oldest pair of
passenger ships still in service, being the RMS Teutonic of 1889
and RMS Majestic of 1890. Teutonic was replaced
by Olympic while Majestic was replaced by Titanic. Majestic would be
brought back into her old spot on White Star Line's New York service
after Titanic's loss.

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 TALE OF TITANIC

Back to Index

RMS Teutonic
The ships were RMS Majestic
constructed by the Belfast
shipbuilders Harland and Wolff, who had a long-established relationship
with the White Star Line dating back to 1867. Harland and Wolff were
given a great deal of latitude in designing ships for the White Star Line;
the usual approach was for the latter to sketch out a general concept
which the former would take away and turn into a ship design. Cost
considerations were relatively low on the agenda and Harland and Wolff
was authorised to spend what it needed on the ships, plus a five percent
profit margin. In the case of the Olympic-class ships, a cost of £3 million
(approximately £310 million in 2019) for the first two ships was agreed
plus "extras to contract" and the usual five percent fee.
Harland and Wolff put their leading designers to work designing
the Olympic-class vessels. The design was overseen by Lord Pirrie, a
director of both Harland and Wolff and the White Star Line; naval
architect Thomas Andrews, the managing director of Harland and Wolff's
design department; Edward Wilding, Andrews' deputy and responsible
for calculating the ship's design, stability and trim; and Alexander
Carlisle, the shipyard's chief draughtsman and general
manager. Carlisle's responsibilities included the decorations, equipment
and all general arrangements, including the implementation of an
efficient lifeboat davit design.
On 29 July 1908, Harland and Wolff presented the drawings to J.
Bruce Ismay and other White Star Line executives. Ismay approved the
design and signed three "letters of agreement" two days later,
authorising the start of construction. At this point the first ship which was
later to become Olympic had no name, but was referred to simply as
"Number 400", as it was Harland and Wolff's four hundredth

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 TALE OF TITANIC
hull. Titanic was based on a revised version of the same design and was
given the number 401.

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 TALE OF TITANIC

Features
Power
Titanic was equipped with three main engines—
two reciprocating four-
cylinder, triple-expansion steam
engines and one centrally placed
low-pressure Parsons turbine—
each driving a propeller. The two
reciprocating engines had a
combined output of
30,000 horsepower (22,000 kW).
The output of the steam turbine was
16,000 horsepower
(12,000 kW). The White Star Line
had used the same combination of
engines on an earlier liner, Propeller
the SS Laurentic, where it had been a
great success. It provided a good combination of performance and
speed; reciprocating engines by themselves were not powerful enough
to propel an Olympic-class liner at the desired speeds, while turbines
were sufficiently powerful but caused uncomfortable vibrations, a
problem that affected the all-turbine Cunard
liners Lusitania and Mauretania. By combining reciprocating engines
with a turbine, fuel usage could be reduced and motive power increased,
while using the same amount of steam.
The two reciprocating engines were each 63 feet (19 m) long and
weighed 720 tons, with their bedplates contributing a further 195
tons. They were powered by steam produced in 29 boilers, 24 of which
were double-ended and five single-ended, which contained a total of 159
furnaces. The boilers were 15 feet 9 inches (4.80 m) in diameter and 20
feet (6.1 m) long, each weighing 91.5 tons and capable of holding 48.5
tons of water.
They were heated by burning coal, 6,611 tons of which could be
carried in Titanic's bunkers, with a further 1,092 tons in Hold 3. The
furnaces required over 600 tons of coal a day to be shovelled into them
by hand, requiring the services of 176 firemen working around the
clock. 100 tons of ash a day had to be disposed of by ejecting it into the
sea. 

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 TALE OF TITANIC

Back to Index
The work was relentless, and although firemen were paid relatively
generously, there was a high suicide rate among those who worked in
that capacity.
Exhaust steam leaving the reciprocating engines was fed into the
turbine, which was situated aft. From there it passed into a surface
condenser, to increase the efficiency of the turbine and so that the
steam could be condensed back into water and reused. The engines
were attached directly to long shafts which drove the propellers. There
were three, one for each engine; the outer (or wing) propellers were the
largest, each carrying three blades of manganese-bronze alloy with a
total diameter of 23.5 feet (7.2 m). The middle propeller was slightly
smaller at 17 feet (5.2 m) in diameter, and could be stopped but not
reversed.
Titanic's electrical plant was capable of producing more power than an
average city power station of the time. Immediately aft of the turbine
engine were four 400 kW steam-driven electric generators, used to
provide electrical power to the ship, plus two 30 kW auxiliary generators
for emergency use. Their location in the stern of the ship meant they
remained operational until the last few minutes before the ship sank.
Titanic lack ed a
searchlight in
accordance with the
ban on the use of
searchlights in the
merchant navy.

Surface condenser
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 TALE OF TITANIC

Technology
Compartments and funnels
The interiors of the Olympic-class ships were
subdivided into 16 primary compartments divided
by 15 bulkheads that extended above the
waterline. Eleven vertically closing watertight
doors could seal off the compartments in the event of an
emergency. The ship's exposed decking was made of pine and teak,
while interior ceilings were covered in painted granulated cork to combat
condensation. Standing above the decks were four funnels, each
painted buff with black tops; only three were functional—the aftmost one
was a dummy, installed for aesthetic purposes and kitchen ventilation.
Two masts, each 155 ft (47 m) high,
supported derricks for working cargo. Compartments
Rudder and steering engines
Titanic's rudder was so large—at 78 feet
8 inches (23.98 m) high and 15 feet
3 inches (4.65 m) long, weighing over 100
tons—that it required steering engines to
move it. Two steam-powered steering engines were installed, though
only one was used at any one time, with the other one kept in reserve.
They were connected to the short tiller through stiff springs, to isolate the
steering engines from any shocks in heavy seas
or during fast changes of direction. As a last steering engines
resort, the tiller could be moved by
ropes connected to two steam capstans. The capstans were also used
to raise and lower the ship's five anchors (one port, one starboard, one
in the centreline and two kedging anchors).
Water, ventilation and heating

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 TALE OF TITANIC
The ship was equipped with her own waterworks, capable of heating
and pumping water to all parts of the vessel via a complex network of
pipes and valves. The main water supply was taken aboard
while Titanic was in port, but in an emergency, the ship could also distil
fresh water from seawater, though this was not a straightforward process
as the distillation plant quickly became clogged by salt deposits. A
network of insulated ducts conveyed warm air, driven by electric fans,
around the ship, and First Class cabins were fitted with additional electric
heaters.
Radio communications
Titanic's radiotelegraph equipment (then known as wireless
telegraphy) was leased to the White Star Line by the Marconi
International Marine Communication Company, which also supplied two
of its employees, Jack Phillips and Harold Bride, as operators. The
service maintained a 24-hour schedule, primarily sending and receiving
passenger telegrams, but also handling navigation messages including
weather reports and ice warnings. The radio room was located on the
Boat Deck, in the officers' quarters. A soundproofed "Silent Room", next
to the operating room, housed loud equipment, including the transmitter
and a motor-generator used for producing alternating currents. The
operators' living quarters were adjacent to the working office. The ship
was equipped with a 'state of the art' 5 kilowatt rotary spark-gap
transmitter, operating under the radio callsign MGY, and communication
was conducted in Morse code. This transmitter was one of the first
Marconi installations to use a rotary spark-gap, which gave Titanic a
distinctive musical tone that could
be readily distinguished from other
signals. The transmitter was one of
the most powerful in the world and
guaranteed to broadcast over a
radius of 350 miles (563 km). An
elevated T-antenna that spanned
the length of the ship

Marconi Company
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 TALE OF TITANIC

was used for transmitting and receiving. The normal operating frequency
was 500 kHz (600 m wavelength); however, the equipment could also
operate on the "short" wavelength of 1,000 kHz (300 m wavelength) that
was employed by smaller vessels with shorter antennas.
Passenger facilities
The passenger facilities
aboard Titanic aimed to meet the highest Radio Room
standards of luxury. According to Titanic's general
arrangement plans, the ship could accommodate 833 First Class
Passengers, 614 in Second Class and 1,006 in Third Class, for a total
passenger capacity of 2,453. In addition, her capacity for crew members
exceeded 900, as most documents of her original configuration have
stated that her full carrying capacity for both passengers and crew was
approximately 3,547. Her interior design was a departure from that of
other passenger liners, which had typically been decorated in the rather
heavy style of a manor house or an English country house.
Titanic was laid out in a much lighter style similar to that of
contemporary high-class hotels—the Ritz Hotel was a reference point—
with First Class cabins finished in the Empire style. A variety of other
decorative styles, ranging from the Renaissance to Louis XV, were used
to decorate cabins and public rooms in First and Second Class areas of
the ship. The aim was to convey an impression that the passengers
were in a floating hotel rather than a ship; as one passenger recalled, on
entering the ship's interior a passenger would "at once lose the feeling
that we are on board ship, and
seem instead to be entering the hall
of some great house on shore".
Among the more novel features
available to first-class passengers
was a 7 ft (2.1 m) deep saltwater
swimming pool, a gymnasium,
a squash court, and a Turkish
bath which comprised electric bath,
steam room, cool room, massage
room, and hot room. First-class common rooms were impressive in
scope and lavishly decorated. They included a Lounge in the style of
the Palace of Versailles, an enormous Reception Room, a men's
Smoking Room, and a Reading and Writing Room. There was an À la

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 TALE OF TITANIC
Carte Restaurant in the style of the Ritz Hotel which was run as a
concession by the famous Italian restaurateur Gaspare Gatti. A Café
Parisien decorated in the style of a French sidewalk café, complete with
ivy-covered trellises and wicker furniture, was run as an annex to the
restaurant. For an extra cost, first-class passengers could enjoy the
finest French haute cuisine in the most luxurious of surroundings. There
was also a Verandah Café where tea and light refreshments were
served, that offered grand views of the ocean. At 114 ft (35 m) long by
92 ft (28 m)

First Class Grand Gymnasium

Staircase

1st-Class Lounge

1st-Class Turkish Baths Restaurant

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 TALE OF TITANIC

wide, the
Dining
Saloon on D
Deck,
designed
by Charles
Fitzroy Doll,
was the
largest room afloat and could seat almost 600 passengers at a time.
Third Class (commonly referred to as Steerage) accommodations
aboard Titanic were not as luxurious as First or Second Class, but even
so, were better than on many other ships of the time. They reflected the
improved standards which the White Star Line had adopted for trans-
Atlantic immigrant and lower-class travel. On most other North Atlantic
passenger ships at the time, Third Class accommodations consisted of
little more than open dormitories in the forward end of the vessels, in
which hundreds of people were confined, often without adequate food or
toilet facilities. The White Star Line had long since broken that mould. As
seen aboard Titanic, all White Star Line passenger ships divided their
Third Class accommodations into two sections, always at opposite ends
of the vessel from one another. The established arrangement was that
single men were quartered in the forward areas, while single women,
married couples and families were quartered aft. In addition, while other
ships provided only open berth sleeping arrangements, White Star Line
vessels provided their Third Class passengers with private, small but
comfortable cabins capable of accommodating two, four, six, eight and
ten passengers.
Third Class accommodations also included their own dining rooms,
as well as public gathering areas including adequate open deck space,
which aboard Titanic comprised the Poop Deck at the stern, the forward
and aft well decks, and a large open space on D Deck which could be
used as a social hall. This was supplemented by the addition of a
smoking room for men and a General Room on C Deck which women
could use for reading and writing. Although they were not as glamorous
in design as spaces seen in upper-class accommodations, they were still
far above average for the period.
Leisure facilities were provided for all three classes to pass the time.
As well as making use of the indoor amenities such as the library,
smoking rooms, and gymnasium, it was also customary for passengers
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 TALE OF TITANIC
to socialise on the open deck, promenading or relaxing in hired deck
chairs or wooden benches. A passenger list was published before the
sailing to inform the public which members of the great and good were
on board, and it was not uncommon for ambitious mothers to use the list
to identify rich bachelors to whom they could introduce their
marriageable daughters during the voyage.
One of Titanic's most distinctive features was her First Class
staircase, known as the Grand Staircase or Grand Stairway. Built of
solid English oak with a sweeping curve, the staircase descended
through seven decks of the ship, between the Boat Deck to E deck,
before terminating in a simplified single flight on F Deck. It was capped
with a dome of wrought iron and glass that admitted natural light to the
stairwell. Each landing off the staircase gave access to ornate entrance
halls paneled in the William & Mary style and lit by ormolu and crystal
light fixtures.
Mail And Cargo
Although Titanic was primarily a passenger liner, she also carried a
substantial amount of cargo. Her designation as a Royal Mail
Ship (RMS) indicated that she carried mail under contract with the Royal
Mail (and also for the United States Post Office Department). For the
storage of letters, parcels and specie (bullion, coins and other
valuables), 26,800 cubic feet (760 m3) of space in her holds was
allocated. The Sea Post Office on G Deck was manned by five postal
clerks; three Americans and two Britons, who worked 13 hours a day,
seven days a week sorting up to 60,000 items daily.
The ship's passengers brought with them a huge amount of baggage;
another 19,455 cubic feet (550.9 m3) was taken up by first- and second-
class baggage. In addition, there was a considerable quantity of regular
cargo, ranging from furniture to foodstuffs, and a 1912 Renault Type
CE Coupe de Ville motor car. Despite later myths, the cargo on Titanic's
maiden voyage was fairly mundane; there was no gold, exotic minerals
or diamonds, and one of the more famous items lost in the shipwreck, a
jewelled copy of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, was valued at only
£405 (£42,700 today). According to the claims for compensation filed
with Commissioner Gilchrist, following the conclusion of the Senate
Inquiry, the single most highly valued item of luggage or cargo was a
large neoclassical oil painting entitled La Circassienne au Bain by
French artist Merry-Joseph Blondel. The painting's owner, first-class
passenger Mauritz Håkan Björnström-Steffansson, filed a claim for
$100,000 ($2.4 million equivalent in 2014) in compensation for the loss
of the artwork.

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 TALE OF TITANIC
Titanic was equipped with eight electric cranes, four electric winches
and three steam winches to lift cargo and baggage in and out of the
holds. It is estimated that the ship used some 415 tons of coal whilst in
Southampton, simply generating steam to operate the cargo winches
and provide heat and light.
Lifeboats
Like Olympic, Titanic carried a total of 20 lifeboats: 14 standard
wooden Harland and Wolff lifeboats with a capacity of 65 people each
and four Engelhardt "collapsible" (wooden bottom, collapsible canvas
sides) lifeboats (identified as A to D) with a capacity of 47 people each.
In addition, she had two emergency cutters with a capacity of 40 people
each. Olympic carried at least two collapsible boats on either side of her
number one funnel. All of the lifeboats were stowed securely on the boat
deck and, except for collapsible lifeboats A and B, connected
to davits by ropes. Those on the starboard side were odd-numbered 1–
15 from bow to stern, while those on the port side were even-numbered
2–16 from bow to stern.
Both cutters were kept swung out, hanging from the davits, ready for
immediate use, while collapsible lifeboats C and D were stowed on the
boat deck (connected to davits) immediately inboard of boats 1 and 2
respectively. A and B were stored on the roof of the officers' quarters, on
either side of number 1 funnel. There were no davits to lower them and
their weight would make them difficult to launch by hand. Each boat
carried (among other things) food, water, blankets, and a spare life belt.
Lifeline ropes on the boats' sides enabled them to save additional people
from the water if necessary.
Titanic had 16 sets of davits, each able to handle four lifeboats as
Carlisle had planned. This gave Titanic the ability to carry up to 64
wooden lifeboats which would have been enough for 4,000 people—
considerably more than her actual capacity. However, the White Star
Line decided that only 16 wooden lifeboats and four collapsibles would
be carried, which could accommodate 1,178 people, only one-third
of Titanic's total capacity. At the time, the Board of Trade's regulations
required British vessels over 10,000 tons to only carry 16 lifeboats with a
capacity of 990 occupants.
Therefore, the White Star Line actually provided more lifeboat
accommodation than was legally required. At the time, lifeboats were
intended to ferry survivors from a sinking ship to a rescuing ship—not
keep afloat the whole population or power them to shore. Had
the SS Californian responded to Titanic's distress calls, the lifeboats may
have been adequate to ferry the passengers to safety as planned.

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TALE OF TITANIC

Lifeboat of the Titanic

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 TALE OF TITANIC

Building And Preparation

Construction, launch and fitting-out
The sheer size of Titanic and her sister ships posed a major
engineering challenge for
Harland and Wolff; no
shipbuilder had ever before
attempted to construct
vessels this size. The ships
were constructed on
Queen's Island, now known
as the Titanic Quarter,
in Belfast Harbour. Harland
and Wolff had to demolish
three existing slipways and
build two new ones, the
largest ever constructed up
to that time, to
accommodate both Construction in gantry, 1909–11
ships. Their construction
was facilitated by an enormous gantry built by Sir William Arrol & Co., a
Scottish firm responsible for the building of the Forth Bridge and
London's Tower Bridge. The Arrol Gantry stood 228 feet (69 m) high,
was 270 feet (82 m) wide and 840 feet (260 m) long, and weighed more
than 6,000 tons. It accommodated a number of mobile cranes. A
separate floating crane, capable of lifting 200 tons, was brought in from
Germany.
The construction of Olympic and Titanic took place virtually in
parallel, with Olympic's keel laid down first on 16 December 1908
and Titanic's on 31 March 1909. Both ships took about 26 months to
build and followed much the same construction process. They were
designed essentially as an enormous floating box girder, with
the keel acting as a backbone and the frames of the hull forming the
ribs. At the base of the ships, a double bottom 5 feet 3 inches (1.60 m)
deep supported 300 frames, each between 24 inches (61 cm) and 36
inches (91 cm) apart and measuring up to about 66 feet (20 m) long.
They terminated at the bridge deck (B Deck) and were covered with
steel plates which formed the outer skin of the ships.
The 2,000 hull plates were single pieces of rolled steel plate, mostly
up to 6 feet (1.8 m) wide and 30 feet (9.1 m) long and weighing between

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 TALE OF TITANIC
2.5 and 3 tons. Their thickness varied from 1 inch (2.5 cm) to 1.5 inches
(3.8 cm). 
Back to Index

The plates were laid in a clinkered (overlapping) fashion from the keel to

the bilge. Above that point they were laid in the "in and out" fashion,
where strake plating was applied in bands (the "in strakes") with the
gaps covered by the "out strakes", overlapping on the edges.
Commercial oxy-fuel and electric arc welding methods, ubiquitous
in fabrication today, were still in their infancy; like most other iron and
steel structures of the era, the hull was held together with over three
million iron and steel rivets, which by themselves weighed over 1,200
tons. They were fitted using hydraulic machines or were hammered in by
hand. In the 1990s some material scientists concluded that the steel
plate used for the ship was subject to being especially brittle when cold,
and that this brittleness exacerbated the impact damage and hastened
the sinking. It is believed that, by the standards of the time, the steel
plate's quality was good, not faulty, but that it was inferior to what would
be used for shipbuilding purposes in later decades, owing to advances in
the metallurgy of steelmaking. As for the rivets, considerable emphasis
has also been placed on their quality and strength.
Among the last items to be fitted on Titanic before the ship's launch
were her two side anchors and one centre anchor. The anchors
themselves were a challenge to make, with the centre anchor being the
largest ever forged by hand and weighing nearly 16 tons.
Twenty Clydesdale draught horses were needed to haul the centre
anchor by wagon from the Noah Hingley & Sons Ltd forge shop in
Netherton, near Dudley, United Kingdom to the Dudley railway station
two miles away. From there it was shipped by rail to Fleetwood in
Lancashire before being loaded aboard a ship and sent to Belfast.
The work of constructing the ships was difficult and dangerous. For
the 15,000 men who worked at Harland and Wolff at the time, safety
precautions were rudimentary at best; a lot of the work was carried out
without equipment like hard hats or hand guards on machinery. As a
result, during Titanic's construction, 246 injuries were recorded, 28 of
them "severe", such as arms severed by machines or legs crushed
under falling pieces of steel. Six people died on the ship herself while
she was being constructed and fitted out, and another two died in the
shipyard workshops and sheds. Just before the launch a worker was
killed when a piece of wood fell on him.

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 TALE OF TITANIC
Titanic was launched at 12:15 pm on 31 May 1911 in the presence of
Lord Pirrie, J. Pierpont Morgan, J. Bruce Ismay and 100,000
onlookers. Twenty-two tons of soap and tallow were spread on the
slipway to lubricate the ship's passage into the River Lagan. In keeping
with the White Star Line's
traditional policy, the ship
was not formally named
or christened with
champagne. Th e ship was towed
to a fitting-out berth where, over
the course of the next year, her
engines, funnels and
superstructure were installed
and her interior was fitted out.

Launch, 1911 (unfinished

Although Tit superstructure) anic was virtually
identical to the class's lead
ship Olympic, a few changes were made to distinguish both ships. The
most noticeable exterior difference was that Titanic (and the third vessel
in class, Britannic) had a steel screen with sliding windows installed
along the forward half of the A Deck promenade. This was installed as a
last minute change at the personal request of Bruce Ismay, and was
intended to provide additional shelter to First Class
passengers. Extensive changes were made to B Deck on Titanic as the
promenade space in this deck, which had proven unpopular on Olympic,
was converted into additional First Class cabins, including two opulent
parlour suites with their own private promenade spaces. The À la
Carte restaurant was also enlarged and the Café Parisien, an entirely
new feature which did not exist on Olympic, was added. These changes
made Titanic slightly heavier than her sister, and thus she could claim to
be the largest ship afloat. The work took longer than expected due to
design changes requested by Ismay and a temporary pause in work
occasioned by the need to repair Olympic, which had been in a collision
in September 1911. Had Titanic been finished earlier, she might well
have missed her collision with an iceberg.
Sea Trials
Titanic's sea trials began at 6 am on Tuesday, 2 April 1912, just two
days after her fitting out was finished and eight days before she was due

20
 TALE OF TITANIC
to leave Southampton on
her maiden voyage. The
trials were delayed for a
day due to bad weather,
but by Monday morning it
was clear and fair. Aboard
were 78 stokers, greasers
and firemen, and 41
members of crew. No
domestic staff appear to
have been aboard.
Representatives of various
companies travelled
on Titanic's sea trials,
Thomas Andrews and
Edward Wilding of
Harland and Wolff and
Harold A. Sanderson of IMM. Bruce Ismay and Lord Pirrie were too ill to
attend. Jack Phillips and Harold Bride served as radio operators and
performed fine-tuning of the Marconi equipment. Francis Carruthers, a
surveyor from the Board of Trade, was also present to see that
everything worked and that the ship was fit to carry passengers.
The sea trials consisted of a number of tests of her handling
characteristics, carried out first in Belfast Lough and then in the open
waters of the Irish Sea. Over the course of about 12 hours, Titanic was
driven at different speeds, her turning ability was tested and a "crash
stop" was performed in which the engines were reversed full ahead to
full astern, bringing her to a stop in 850 yd (777 m) or 3 minutes and 15
seconds. The ship covered a distance of about 80 nautical miles (92 mi;
150 km), averaging 18 knots (21 mph; 33 km/h) and reaching a
maximum speed of just under 21 knots (24 mph; 39 km/h).
On returning to Belfast at about 7 pm, the surveyor signed an
"Agreement and Account of Voyages and Crew", valid for 12 months,
which declared the ship seaworthy. An hour later, Titanic departed
Belfast to head to Southampton, a voyage of about 570 nautical miles
(660 mi; 1,060 km). After a journey lasting about 28 hours, she arrived
about midnight on 4 April and was towed to the port's Berth 44, ready for
the arrival of her passengers and the remainder of her crew.

21
 TALE OF TITANIC

Dimension And Layout

Titanic was 882 feet 9 inches (269.06 m) long with a maximum breadth

of 92 feet 6 inches (28.19 m).
Her total height, measured from the base of the keel to the top of the
bridge, was 104 feet (32 m). She measured 46,328 gross register
tons and with a draught of 34 feet 7 inches (10.54 m), she displaced
52,310 tons. All three of the Olympic-class ships had ten decks
(excluding the top of the officers' quarters), eight of which were for
passenger use. From top to bottom, the decks were:

 The Boat Deck, on which the lifeboats were housed. It was from

here during the early hours of 15 April 1912 that Titanic's
lifeboats were lowered into the North Atlantic. The bridge and
wheelhouse were at the forward end, in front of the captain's
and officers' quarters. The bridge stood 8 feet (2.4 m) above the
deck, extending out to either side so that the ship could be
controlled while docking. The wheelhouse stood within the
bridge. The entrance to the First Class Grand Staircase and
gymnasium were located midships along with the raised roof of
the First Class lounge, while at the rear of the deck were the
roof of the First Class smoke room and the relatively modest
Second Class entrance. The wood-covered deck was divided
into four segregated promenades: for officers, First Class
passengers, engineers, and Second Class passengers
respectively. Lifeboats lined the side of the deck except in the
First Class area, where there was a gap so that the view would
not be spoiled.

22
 TALE OF TITANIC
Back to Index

 A Deck, also called the Promenade Deck, extended along the

entire 546 feet (166 m) length of the superstructure. It was
reserved exclusively for First Class passengers and contained
First Class cabins, the First Class lounge, smoke room, reading
and writing rooms and Palm Court.
 B Deck, the Bridge Deck, was the top weight-bearing deck and
the uppermost level of the hull. More First Class passenger
accommodations were located here with six palatial staterooms
(cabins) featuring their own private promenades. On Titanic,
the À La Carte Restaurant and the Café Parisien provided
luxury dining facilities to First Class passengers. Both were run
by subcontracted chefs and their staff; all were lost in the
disaster. The Second Class smoking room and entrance hall
were both located on this deck. The raised forecastle of the ship
was forward of the Bridge Deck, accommodating Number 1
hatch (the main hatch through to the cargo holds), numerous
pieces of machinery and the anchor housings. Aft of the Bridge
Deck was the raised Poop Deck, 106 feet (32 m) long, used as
a promenade by Third Class passengers. It was where many
of Titanic's passengers and crew made their last stand as the
ship sank. The forecastle and Poop Deck were separated from
the Bridge Deck by well decks.
 C Deck, the Shelter Deck, was the highest deck to run
uninterrupted from stem to stern. It included both well decks;
the aft one served as part of the Third Class promenade. Crew
cabins were housed below the forecastle and Third Class public
rooms were housed below the Poop Deck. In between were the
majority of First Class cabins and the Second Class library.
 D Deck, the Saloon Deck, was dominated by three large public
rooms—the First Class Reception Room, the First Class Dining
Saloon and the Second Class Dining Saloon. An open space
was provided for Third Class passengers. First, Second and
Third Class passengers had cabins on this deck, with berths for
firemen located in the bow. It was the highest level reached by
the ship's watertight bulkheads (though only by eight of the
fifteen bulkheads).
 E Deck, the Upper Deck, was predominantly used for
passenger accommodation for all three classes plus berths for
cooks, seamen, stewards and trimmers. Along its length ran a
long passageway nicknamed Scotland Road, in reference to a

23
 TALE OF TITANIC
famous street in Liverpool. Scotland Road was used by Third
Class passengers and crew members.
 F Deck, the Middle Deck, was the last complete deck and
mainly accommodated Second and Third Class passengers
and several departments of the crew. The Third Class dining
saloon was located here, as were the swimming pool, Turkish
bath and kennels.
 G Deck, the Lower Deck, was the lowest complete deck that
carried passengers, and had the lowest portholes, just above
the waterline. The squash court was located here along with the
travelling post office where letters and parcels were sorted
ready for delivery when the ship docked. Food was also stored
here. The deck was interrupted at several points
by orlop (partial) decks over the boiler, engine and turbine
rooms.
 The Orlop Decks and the Tank Top below that were on the
lowest level of the ship, below the waterline. The orlop decks
were used as cargo spaces, while the Tank Top—the inner
bottom of the ship's hull—provided the platform on which the
ship's boilers, engines, turbines and electrical generators were
housed. This area of the ship was occupied by the engine and
boiler rooms, areas which passengers would have been
prohibited from seeing. They
were connected with
higher levels of the ship
by flights of stairs; twin spiral
stairways near the bow
provided access up to D
Deck.

24
 TALE OF TITANIC

Maiden Voyage
Both Olympic and Titanic registered Liverpool as their home port. The
offices of the White Star
Line, as well as Cunard,
were in Liverpool, and
up until the introduction of
the Olympic, most British
ocean liners for both
Cunard and White Star,
such
as Lusitania a nd Mauretania
, sailed out of Liverpool
followed by a port of call
in Queenstown, Ireland. Since the company's founding in 1845, a vast
majority of their operations had taken place out of Liverpool. However, in
1907 White Star Line established another service out of the port of
Southampton on England's south coast, which became known as White
Star's "Express Service". Southampton had many advantages over
Liverpool, the first being its proximity to London.

Titanic at Southampton docks, prior to

departure

25
 TALE OF TITANIC
In addition,
Southampton, being on
the south coast,
allowed ships to easily
cross the English
Channel and make a port
of call on the northern
coast of France,
usually
at Cherbourg. This
allowed British ships to
pick up clientele
from continental Europe before recrossing the channel and picking up
passengers at Queenstown. The Southampton-Cherbourg-New York
run would become so popular that most British ocean liners began using
the port after World War I. Out of respect for Liverpool, ships continued
to be registered there until the early 1960s. Queen Elizabeth 2 was one
of the first ships registered in Southampton when introduced into service
by Cunard in 1969.
Titanic's maiden voyage was intended to be the first of many trans-
Atlantic crossings between Southampton and New York via Cherbourg
and Queenstown on westbound runs, returning via Plymouth in England
while eastbound. Indeed, her entire schedule of voyages through to
December
Back to Index

Titanic in Cork harbour, 11 April 1912

1912 still exists. When the route was established, four ships were
assigned to the service. In addition to Teutonic and Majestic,
the RMS Oceanic and the brand new RMS Adriatic sailed the route.

26
 TALE OF TITANIC
When the Olympic entered service in June 1911, she replaced Teutonic,
which after completing her last run on the service in late April was
transferred to the Dominion Line's Canadian service. The following
August, Adriatic was transferred to White Star Line's main Liverpool-New
York service, and in November, Majestic was withdrawn from service
impending the arrival of Titanic in the coming months, and was
mothballed as a reserve ship.
White Star Line's initial plans for Olympic and Titanic on the
Southampton run followed the same routine as their predecessors had
done before them. Each would sail once every three weeks from
Southampton and New York, usually leaving at noon each Wednesday
from Southampton and each Saturday from New York, thus enabling the
White Star Line to offer weekly sailings
in each direction. Special trains were
scheduled from London and Paris to
convey passengers to Southampton
and Cherbourg respectively. The deep-
water dock at Southampton, then
known as the "White Star Dock", had
been specially constructed to
accommodate the new Olympic-class
liners, and had opened in 1911.
Crew
Titanic had around 885 crew
members on board for her maiden
voyage. Like other vessels of her time,
she did not have a permanent crew,
and the vast majority of crew members
were casual workers who only came aboard the ship a few hours before
she sailed from Southampton. The process of signing up recruits had
begun on 23 March and some had been sent to Belfast, where they
served as a skeleton crew during Titanic's sea trials and passage to
England at the start of April.
Captain Edward John Smith, the most senior of the White Star Line's
captains, was transferred from Olympic to take command
of Titanic. Henry Tingle Wilde also came across from Olympic to take the
post of chief mate. Titanic's previously designated chief mate and first
officer, William McMaster Murdoch and Charles Lightoller, were bumped
down to the ranks of first and second officer respectively. The original
second officer, David Blair, was dropped altogether. The third
officer was Herbert Pitman MBE, the only deck officer who was not a

27
 TALE OF TITANIC
member of the Royal Naval Reserve. Pitman was the second to last
surviving officer.
Titanic's crew were divided into three principal departments: Deck,
with 66 crew; Engine, with 325; and Victualling, with 494. The vast
majority of the crew were thus not seamen but were either engineers,
firemen, or stokers, responsible for looking after the engines, or
stewards and galley staff, responsible for the passengers. Of these, over
97% were male; just 23 of the crew were female, mainly
stewardesses. The rest represented a great variety of professions—
bakers, chefs, butchers, fishmongers, dishwashers, stewards,
gymnasium instructors, laundrymen, waiters, bed-makers, cleaners, and
even a printer, who produced a daily newspaper for passengers called
the Atlantic Daily Bulletin with the latest news received by the ship's
wireless operators.
Most of the crew signed on in Southampton on 6 April; in all, 699 of
the crew came from there, and 40% were natives of the town. A few
specialist staff were self-employed or were subcontractors. These
included the five postal clerks, who worked for the Royal Mail and the
United States Post Office Department,
the staff of the First Class A La Edward Smith, captain
Carte Restaurant and the Café of Titanic, in 1911
Parisien, the radio operators (who
were employed by Marconi) and the eight musicians, who were
employed by an agency and travelled as second-class
passengers. Crew pay varied greatly, from Captain Smith's £105 a
month (equivalent to £11,100 today) to the £3 10s (£370 today) that
stewardesses earned. The lower-paid victualling staff could, however,
supplement their wages substantially through tips from passengers.
Passengers
Titanic's passengers numbered approximately 1,317 people: 324 in
First Class, 284 in Second Class, and 709 in Third Class. Of these, 869
(66%) were male and 447 (34%) female. There were 107 children
aboard, the largest number of whom were in Third Class. The ship was
considerably under capacity on her maiden voyage, as she could
accommodate 2,453 passengers—833 First Class, 614 Second Class,
and 1,006 Third Class.
Usually, a high prestige vessel like Titanic could expect to be fully
booked on its maiden voyage. However, a national coal strike in the UK
had caused considerable disruption to shipping schedules in the spring
of 1912, causing many crossings to be cancelled. Many would-be
passengers chose to postpone their travel plans until the strike was over.

28
 TALE OF TITANIC
The strike had finished a few days
before Titanic sailed; however, that was too
late to have much of an effect. Titanic was
able to sail on the scheduled date only
because coal was transferred from other
vessels which were tied up at
Southampton, such as SS City of New
York and RMS Oceanic, as well as
coal Olympic had brought back from a
previous voyage to New York, which had
been stored at the White Star Dock.
Some of the most prominent people of
the day booked a passage aboard Titanic,
travelling in First Class. Among them (with those who perished marked
with a dagger†) were the American millionaire John Jacob Astor IV† and
his wife Madeleine Force Astor (with John Jacob Astor VI in utero),
industrialist Benjamin Guggenheim†, painter and sculptor Francis Davis
Millet†, Macy's owner Isidor Straus† and his
wife Ida†, Denver millionairess Margaret "Molly" Brown,  Sir Cosmo Duff
[j]

Gordon and his wife, couturière Lucy (Lady Duff-Gordon), Lieut.

Col. Arthur Peuchen, writer and historian Archibald Gracie, cricketer and
businessman John B. Thayer† with his wife Marian and
son Jack, George Dunton Widener† with his wife Eleanor and
son Harry†, Noël Leslie, Countess of
Rothes, Mr.† and Mrs. Charles M. Hays, John Jacob Astor IV in
Mr. and Mrs. Henry S. Harper, Mr.† and
1909. He was the
Mrs. Walter D. Douglas, Mr.† and
Mrs. George D. Wick, Mr.† and Mrs. Henry wealthiest person
B. Harris, Mr.† and Mrs. Arthur L. Ryerson, aboard Titanic; he did
Mr.† and Mrs.† Hudson J. C. Allison, Mr. not survive
and Mrs. Dickinson Bishop, noted
architect Edward Austin Kent†, brewery heir Harry Molson†, tennis
players Karl Behr and Dick Williams, author and socialite Helen Churchill
Candee, future lawyer and suffragette Elsie Bowerman and her mother
Edith, journalist and social reformer William Thomas Stead†, journalist
and fashion buyer Edith Rosenbaum, Philadelphia and New York
socialite Edith Corse Evans†, wealthy divorcée Charlotte Drake
Cardeza, French sculptor Paul Chevré [fr], author Jacques Futrelle† with
his wife May, silent film actress Dorothy Gibson with her mother Pauline,
President of the Swiss Bankverein Col. Alfons Simonius-Blumer, James
A. Hughes's daughter Eloise, banker Robert Williams Daniel, the
chairman of the Holland America Line Johan Reuchlin [de], Arthur

29
 TALE OF TITANIC
Wellington Ross's son John H. Ross, Washington Roebling's nephew
Washington A. Roebling II, Andrew Saks's daughter Leila Saks Meyer
with her husband Edgar Joseph Meyer† (son of Marc Eugene
Meyer), William A. Clark's nephew Walter M. Clark with his wife Virginia,
great-great-grandson of soap manufacturer Andrew Pears Thomas C.
Pears with wife, John S. Pillsbury's honeymooning grandson John P.
Snyder and wife Nelle, Dorothy Parker's New York manufacturer uncle
Martin Rothschild with his wife, Elizabeth, among others.
Titanic's owner J. P. Morgan was scheduled to travel on the maiden
voyage but cancelled at the last minute. Also aboard the ship were the
White Star Line's managing director J. Bruce Ismay and Titanic's
designer Thomas Andrews†, who was on board to observe any
problems and assess the general performance of the new ship.
The exact number of people aboard is not known, as not all of those
who had booked tickets made it to the ship; about 50 people cancelled
for various reasons, and not all of those who boarded stayed aboard for
the entire journey. Fares varied depending on class and season. Third
Class fares from London, Southampton, or Queenstown cost £7
5s (equivalent to £800 today) while the cheapest First Class fares cost
£23 (£2,400 today). The most expensive First Class suites were to have
cost up to £870 in high season (£92,000 today).

Collecting Passengers
Titanic's maiden voyage began on Wednesday, 10 April 1912.
Following the embarkation of the crew, the passengers began arriving at
9:30 am, when the London and South Western Railway's boat train
from London Waterloo station reached Southampton Terminus railway
station on the quayside, alongside Titanic's berth. The large number of
Third Class passengers meant they were the first to board, with First and
Second Class passengers following up to an hour before departure.
Stewards showed them to their cabins, and First Class passengers were
personally greeted by Captain Smith. Third Class passengers were
inspected for ailments and physical impairments that might lead to their
being refused entry to the United States – a prospect the White Star Line
wished to avoid, as it would have to carry anyone who failed the
examination back across the Atlantic. In all, 920 passengers
boarded Titanic at Southampton – 179 First Class, 247 Second Class,
and 494 Third Class. Additional passengers were to be picked up
at Cherbourg and Queenstown.

30
 TALE OF TITANIC
The maiden voyage began at noon, as scheduled. An accident was
narrowly averted only a few minutes later, as Titanic passed the moored
liners SS City of New York of the American Line and Oceanic of the
White Star Line, the latter of which would have been her running mate
on the service from Southampton. Her huge displacement caused both
of the smaller ships to be lifted by a bulge of water and then dropped
into a trough. New York's mooring cables could not take the sudden
strain and snapped, swinging her around stern-first towards Titanic. A
nearby tugboat, Vulcan, came to the rescue by taking New York under
tow, and Captain Smith ordered Titanic's engines to be put "full
astern". The two ships avoided a collision by a distance of about 4 feet
(1.2 m). The incident delayed Titanic's departure for about an hour, while
the drifting New York was brought under control.
After making it safely through the complex tides and channels
of Southampton Water and the Solent, Titanic disembarked the
Southampton pilot at the Nab Lightship and headed out into the English
Channel. She headed for the French port of Cherbourg, a journey of 77
nautical miles (89 mi; 143 km). The weather was windy, very fine but
cold and overcast. Because Cherbourg lacked docking facilities for a
ship the size of Titanic, tenders had to be used to transfer passengers
from shore to ship. The White Star Line operated two at Cherbourg,
the SS Traffic and the SS Nomadic. Both had been designed specifically
as tenders for the Olympic-class liners and were launched shortly
after Titanic. (Nomadic is today the only White Star Line ship still afloat.)
Four hours after Titanic left Southampton, she arrived at Cherbourg and
was met by the tenders. There, 274 additional passengers were taken
aboard – 142 First Class, 30 Second Class, and 102 Third Class.
Twenty-four passengers left aboard the tenders to be conveyed to shore,
having booked only a cross-Channel passage. The process was
completed within only 90 minutes and at 8 pm Titanic weighed
anchor and left for Queenstown with the weather continuing cold and
windy.
At 11:30 am on Thursday 11 April, Titanic arrived at Cork Harbour on
the south coast of Ireland. It was a partly cloudy but relatively warm day,
with a brisk wind. Again, the dock facilities were not suitable for a ship
of Titanic's size, and tenders were used to bring passengers aboard. In
all, 123 passengers boarded Titanic at Queenstown – three First Class,
seven Second Class and 113 Third Class. In addition to the 24 cross-
Channel passengers who had disembarked at Cherbourg, another seven
passengers had booked an overnight passage from Southampton to
Queenstown. Among the seven was Father Francis Browne,
a Jesuit trainee who was a keen photographer and took many

31
 TALE OF TITANIC
photographs aboard Titanic, including the last known photograph of the
ship. A decidedly unofficial departure was that of a crew member, stoker
John Coffey, a Queenstown native who sneaked off the ship by hiding
under mail bags being transported to shore. Titanic weighed anchor for
the last time at 1:30 pm and departed on her westward journey across
the Atlantic.
Atlantic Crossing
Titanic was planned to arrive at New York Pier 59 on the morning of
17 April. After leaving Queenstown, Titanic followed the Irish coast as far
as Fastnet Rock, a distance of some 55 nautical miles (63 mi; 102 km).
From there she travelled 1,620 nautical miles (1,860 mi; 3,000 km) along
a Great Circle route across the North Atlantic to reach a spot in the
ocean known as "the corner" south-east of Newfoundland, where
westbound steamers carried out a change of course. Titanic sailed only
a few hours past the corner on a rhumb line leg of 1,023 nautical miles
(1,177 mi; 1,895 km) to Nantucket Shoals Light when she made her fatal
contact with an iceberg. The final leg of the journey would have been
193 nautical miles (222 mi; 357 km) to Ambrose Light and finally to New
York Harbor.
From 11 April to local apparent noon the next day, Titanic covered
484 nautical miles (557 mi; 896 km); the following day, 519 nautical
miles (597 mi; 961 km); and by noon on the final day of her voyage, 546
nautical miles (628 mi; 1,011 km). From then until the time of her sinking,
she travelled another 258 nautical miles (297 mi; 478 km), averaging
about 21 knots (24 mph; 39 km/h).
The weather cleared as she left Ireland under cloudy skies with a
headwind. Temperatures remained fairly mild on Saturday 13 April, but
the following day Titanic crossed a cold weather front with strong winds
and waves of up to 8 feet (2.4 m). These died down as the day
progressed until, by the evening of Sunday 14 April, it became clear,
calm and very cold.
The first three days of the voyage from Queenstown had passed
without apparent incident. A fire had begun in one of Titanic's coal
bunkers approximately 10 days prior to the ship's departure, and
continued to burn for several days into its voyage, but passengers were
unaware of this situation. Fires occurred frequently on board steamships
at the time, due to spontaneous combustion of the coal. The fires had to
be extinguished with fire hoses by moving the coal on top to another
bunker and by removing the burning coal and feeding it into the
furnace. The fire was finally extinguished on 14 April. There has been

32
 TALE OF TITANIC
some speculation and discussion as to whether this fire and attempts to
extinguish it may have made the ship more vulnerable to its fate.
Titanic received a series of warnings from other ships of drifting ice in
the area of the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, but Captain Edward
Smith ignored
them.  O ne of the
ships to
warn Tit anic was
the Atlantic
Line's M esaba. N
everthel ess, the
ship

continued to steam at full speed, which was standard practice at the

time. Although the ship was not trying to set a speed
record, timekeeping was a priority, and under prevailing maritime
practices, ships were often operated at close to full speed, with ice
warnings seen as advisories and reliance placed upon lookouts and the
watch on the bridge. It was generally believed that ice posed little danger
to large vessels. Close calls with ice were not uncommon, and even
head-on collisions had not been disastrous. In 1907 SS Kronprinz
Wilhelm, a German liner, had rammed an iceberg but still had been able
to complete her voyage, and Captain Smith himself had declared in 1907
that he "could not imagine any condition which would cause a ship to
founder. Modern shipbuilding has gone beyond that.
Sinking
At 11:40 pm (ship's time) on 14 April, lookout Frederick Fleet spotted
an iceberg immediately ahead of Titanic and alerted the bridge. First
Officer William Murdoch ordered the ship to be steered around the
obstacle and the engines to be reversed, but it was too late; the
starboard side of Titanic struck the iceberg, creating a series of holes
below the waterline. The hull was not punctured by the iceberg, but
rather dented such that the hull's seams buckled and separated,
allowing water to rush in. Five of the ship's watertight compartments
were breached. It soon became clear that the ship was doomed, as she
could not survive more than four compartments being
flooded. Titanic began sinking bow-first, with water spilling from
compartment to compartment as her angle in the water became steeper.

33
 TALE OF TITANIC

The iceberg thought to have been hit by Titanic

Those aboard Titanic were ill-prepared for such an emergency. In

accordance with accepted practices of the time, as ships were seen as
largely unsinkable and lifeboats were intended to transfer passengers to
nearby rescue vessels, Titanic only had enough lifeboats to carry about
half of those on board; if the ship had carried her full complement of
about 3,339 passengers and crew, only about a third could have been
accommodated in the lifeboats. The crew had not been trained
adequately in carrying out an evacuation. The officers did not know how
many they could safely put aboard the lifeboats and launched many of
them barely half-full. Third-class passengers were largely left to fend for
themselves, causing many of them to become trapped below decks as
the ship filled with water. The "women and children first" protocol was
generally followed when loading the lifeboats, and most of the male
passengers and crew were left aboard. In 2022, Claes-Gõran
Wetterholm, an author and expert on the Titanic, argued it was "not true"
that women and children survived thanks to the gallantry of men; of the
last survivors escaping on the final lifeboats leaving the starboard side of
the ship, he said, the majority were men.
Between 2:10 and 2:15 am, a little over two and a half hours
after Titanic struck the iceberg, her rate of sinking suddenly increased as
the boat deck dipped underwater, and the sea poured in through open
hatches and grates. As her unsupported stern rose out of the water,
exposing the propellers, the ship broke in two main pieces between the
second and third funnels, due to the immense forces on the keel. With
the bow underwater, and air trapped in the stern, the stern remained
afloat and buoyant for a few minutes longer, rising to a nearly vertical
angle with hundreds of people still clinging to it, before foundering at
2:20 am. It was long generally believed the ship sank in one piece; but
the discovery of the wreck many years later revealed that the ship had
broken fully in two. All remaining passengers and crew were immersed
in lethally cold water with a temperature of −2 °C (28 °F). Sudden
immersion into freezing water typically causes death within minutes,
either from cardiac arrest, uncontrollable breathing of water, or cold
incapacitation (not, as commonly believed, from hypothermia), and
almost all of those in the water died of cardiac arrest or other bodily
reactions to freezing water, within 15–30 minutes. Only five of them were

34
 TALE OF TITANIC
helped into the lifeboats, though the lifeboats had room for almost 500
more people.
Distress signals were sent by wireless, rockets, and lamp, but none of
the ships that responded were near enough to reach Titanic before she
sank. A radio operator on board the SS Birma, for instance, estimated
that it would be 6 am before the liner could arrive at the scene.
Meanwhile, the SS Californian, which was the last to have been in
contact before the collision, saw Titanic's flares but failed to
assist. Around 4 am, RMS Carpathia arrived on the scene in response
to Titanic's earlier distress calls.
About 710 people survived the disaster and were conveyed
by Carpathia to New York, Titanic's original destination, while at least
1,500 people died. Carpathia's captain described the place as an ice
field that had included 20 large bergs measuring up to 200 feet (61 m)
high and numerous smaller bergs, as well as ice floes and debris
from Titanic; passengers described being in the middle of a vast white
plain of ice, studded with icebergs. This area is now known as Iceberg
Alley.

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 TALE OF TITANIC

The Accident
Titanic had departed from Southampton on 10 April 1912, and then
stopped at Cherbourg, France. Her next stop was in Queenstown
(now Cobh), Ireland, before heading west towards New York. [9] On 14
April, four days into the crossing and about 375 miles (600 km) south
of Newfoundland, she hit an iceberg at 11:40 pm ship's time. The
collision caused the hull plates to buckle inwards along
her starboard (right) side and laid five of her sixteen
watertight compartments open to the sea; she had been designed to
survive the flooding of up to four compartments. Some passengers and
crew members were evacuated in lifeboats. A disproportionate number
of men were left aboard because of a "women and children first" protocol
for loading lifeboats, which was generally observed. [10]
At 2:20 am, the ship broke apart and foundered, with well over one
thousand people still aboard. Just under two hours after Titanic sank, the
Cunard liner RMS Carpathia arrived on the scene, and took on board an
estimated 710 survivors.
The disaster was met with worldwide shock and outrage, both at the
huge loss of life and at the regulatory and procedural failures that had
led to it. Public inquiries in Britain and the United States led to major
improvements in maritime safety. One of the most important results of
the inquiries was the establishment in 1914 of the International
Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS), which still governs
maritime safety today. In addition, there was an effort to learn from the
many missteps in wireless communications that had increased the
number of fatalities, and as a result, several new wireless regulations
were put in place around the world.[11]
The wreck of Titanic was discovered in 1985 by a Franco-American
expedition sponsored by the United States Navy.[12][13] The ship was split
in two and is gradually disintegrating at a depth of 12,415 feet (2,069.2
fathoms; 3,784 m). Thousands of artefacts have been recovered and
displayed at museums around the world. Titanic has become one of the
most famous ships in history, depicted in numerous works of popular
culture, including books, folk songs, films, exhibits, and
memorials. Titanic is the second-largest ocean liner wreck in the world,
only being surpassed by her sister ship HMHS Britannic; however, she is
the largest sunk while in service as a liner, as Britannic was in use as
a hospital ship at the time of her sinking.

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 TALE OF TITANIC
Back to Index

Aftermath Of Sinking

Immediate aftermath

RMS Carpathia took three days to reach New York after leaving the

scene of the disaster. Her journey was slowed by pack ice, fog,
thunderstorms and rough seas.[187] She was, however, able to pass news
to the outside world by wireless about what had happened. The initial
reports were confusing, leading the American press to report
erroneously on 15 April that Titanic was being towed to port by
the SS Virginian.[188] Later that day, confirmation came through
that Titanic had been lost and that most of her passengers and crew had
died.[189] The news attracted crowds of people to the White Star Line's
offices in London, New York, Montreal, [190] Southampton,[191] Liverpool
and Belfast.[192] It hit hardest in Southampton, whose people suffered the

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 TALE OF TITANIC
greatest losses from the sinking.[193] Four out of every five crew members
came from this town.[194][o]
Carpathia docked at 9:30 pm on 18 April at New York's Pier 54 and
was greeted by some 40,000 people waiting at the quayside in heavy
rain.[197] Immediate relief in the form of clothing and transportation to
shelters was provided by the Women's Relief Committee, the Travelers
Aid Society of New York, and the Council of Jewish Women, among
other organisations.[198] Many of Titanic's surviving passengers did not
linger in New York but headed onwards immediately to relatives' homes.
Some of the wealthier survivors chartered private trains to take them
home, and the Pennsylvania Railroad laid on a special train free of
charge to take survivors to Philadelphia.
Back to Index

Carpathia was hurriedly restocked with food and provisions before

resuming her journey to Fiume, Austria-Hungary. Her crew were given a
bonus of a month's wages by Cunard as a reward for their actions, and
some of Titanic's passengers joined to give them an additional bonus of
nearly £900 (£95,000 today), divided among the crew members. [200]
The ship's arrival in New York led to a frenzy of press interest, with
newspapers competing to be the first to report the survivors' stories.
Some reporters bribed their way aboard the pilot boat New York, which
guided Carpathia into harbour, and one even managed to get
onto Carpathia before she docked.[201] Crowds gathered outside
newspaper offices to see the latest reports being posted in the windows
or on billboards.[202] It took another four days for a complete list of
casualties to be compiled and released, adding to the agony of relatives
waiting for news of those who had been aboard Titanic.
Insurance, aid for survivors and lawsuits
In January 1912, the hulls and equipment of Titanic and Olympic had
been insured through Lloyd's of London and London Marine Insurance.
The total coverage was £1,000,000 (£102,000,000 today) per ship. The
policy was to be "free from all average" under £150,000, meaning that
the insurers would only pay for damage in excess of that sum. The
premium, negotiated by brokers Willis Faber & Company (now Willis
Group), was 15 s (75 p) per £100, or £7,500 (£790,000 today) for the
term of one year. Lloyd's paid the White Star Line the full sum owed to
them within 30 days.[204]

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 TALE OF TITANIC
Many charities were set up to help the survivors and their families,
many of whom lost their sole wage earner, or, in the case of many Third
Class survivors, everything they owned. In New York City, for example, a
joint committee of the American Red Cross and Charity Organization
Society formed to disburse financial aid to survivors and dependents of
those who died.[205] On 29 April, opera stars Enrico Caruso and Mary
Garden and members of the Metropolitan Opera raised $12,000
($300,000 in 2014)[206] in benefits for victims of the disaster by giving
special concerts in which versions of "Autumn" and "Nearer My God To
Thee" were part of the programme.[207] In Britain, relief funds were
organised for the families of Titanic's lost crew members, raising nearly
£450,000 (£47,000,000 today). One such fund was still in operation as
late as the 1960s.[208]
In the United States and Britain, more than 60 survivors combined to
sue the White Star Line for damages connected to loss of life and
baggage.[209] The claims totalled $16,804,112 (appr. $419 million in 2018
USD), which was far in excess of what White Star argued it was
responsible for as a limited liability company under American law.
[210]
 Because the bulk of the litigants were
in the United States, White Star petitioned
the United States Supreme Court in 1914,
which ruled in its favour that it qualified as
an LLC and found that the causes of the
ship's sinking were largely unforeseeable,
rather than due to negligence.[211] This
sharply limited the scope of damages
survivors and family members were
entitled to, prompting them to reduce their
claims to some $2.5 million. White Star
only settled for $664,000 (appr.
$16.56 million in 2018), about 27% of the original total sought by
survivors. The settlement was agreed to by 44 of the claimants in
December 1915, with $500,000 set aside for the American claimants,
$50,000 for the British, and $114,000 to go towards interest and legal
expenses.
Investigations into the disaster
Even before the survivors arrived in New York, investigations were
being planned to discover what had happened, and what could be done
to prevent a recurrence. Inquiries were held in both the United States
and the United Kingdom, the former more robustly critical of traditions

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 TALE OF TITANIC
and practices, and scathing of the failures involved, and the latter
broadly more technical and expert-orientated. [213]
The US Senate's inquiry into the
disaster was initiated on 19 April, a day Senate Inquiry

after Carpathia arrived in New York.

[214]
 The chairman, 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 all surviving British
passengers and crew while they were still on American soil, which
prevented them from returning to the UK before the American inquiry
was completed on 25 May.[215] The British press condemned Smith as an
opportunist, insensitively forcing an inquiry as a means of gaining
political prestige and seizing "his moment to stand on the world stage".
Smith, however, already had a reputation as a campaigner for safety on
US railroads, and wanted to investigate any possible malpractices by
railroad tycoon J. P. Morgan, Titanic's ultimate owner.[216]
The British Board of Trade's inquiry into the disaster was headed
by Lord Mersey, and took place between 2 May and 3 July. Being run by
the Board of Trade, who had previously approved the ship, it was seen
by some[Like whom?] as having little interest in its own or White Star's
conduct being found negligent.[217]
Each inquiry took testimony from both passengers and crew
of Titanic, crew members of Leyland Line's Californian, Captain Arthur
Rostron of Carpathia and other experts.[218] The British inquiry also took
far greater expert testimony, making it the longest and most detailed
court of inquiry in British history up to that time. [219] The two inquiries
reached broadly similar conclusions: the regulations on the number of
lifeboats that ships had to carry were out of date and inadequate,
[220]
 Captain Smith had failed to take proper heed of ice warnings, [221] the
lifeboats had not been properly filled or crewed, and the collision was the
direct result of steaming into a dangerous area at too high a speed. [220]
Neither inquiry's findings listed negligence by IMM or the White Star
Line as a factor. The American inquiry concluded that since those
involved had followed standard practice, the disaster was an act of God.
[222]
 The British inquiry concluded that Smith had followed long-standing
practice that had not previously been shown to be unsafe, [223] noting that
British ships alone had carried 3.5 million passengers over the previous
decade with the loss of just 10 lives,[224] and concluded that Smith had
done "only that which other skilled men would have done in the same
position". Lord Mersey did, however, find fault with the "extremely high
speed (twenty-two knots) which was maintained" following numerous ice

40
 TALE OF TITANIC
warnings,[225] noting that without hindsight, "what was a mistake in the
case of the Titanic would without doubt be negligence in any similar
case in the future".[223]
The recommendations
included strong
suggestions for major
changes in maritime
regulations to implement
new safety measures, such
as ensuring that more
lifeboats were provided,
that lifeboat drills were
properly carried out and
that wireless equipment on
passenger ships was
manned around the clock.
[226]
 An International Ice Patrol was set up to monitor the presence of
icebergs in the North Atlantic, and maritime safety regulations were
harmonised internationally through the International Convention for the
Safety of Life at Sea; both measures are still in force today.[227]
On 18 June 1912, Guglielmo Marconi gave evidence to the Court of
Inquiry regarding the telegraphy. Its final report recommended that all
liners carry the system and that sufficient operators maintain a constant
service.
Role of the SS Californian
One of the most controversial issues examined by the inquiries was
the role played by SS Californian, which had been only a few miles
from Titanic but had not picked up her distress calls or responded to her
signal rockets. Californian had warned Titanic by radio of the pack ice
(that was the reason Californian had stopped for the night) but was
rebuked by Titanic's senior wireless operator, Jack Phillips.[229]
Testimony before the British inquiry revealed that at
10:10 pm, Californian observed the lights of a ship to the south; it was
later agreed between Captain Stanley Lord and Third Officer C.V.
Groves (who had relieved Lord of duty at 11:10 pm) that this was a
passenger liner.[229] At 11:50 pm, the officer had watched that ship's
lights flash out, as if she had shut down or turned sharply, and that the
port light was now visible.
[229] The SS Californian, which had tried to
 Morse light signals to
the ship, upon Lord's order, warn Titanic of the danger from pack-ice
were made between

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 TALE OF TITANIC
11:30 pm and 1:00 am, but were not acknowledged. [230] If Titanic was as
far from the Californian as Lord claimed, then he knew, or should have
known, that Morse signals would not be visible. A reasonable and
prudent course of action would have been to awaken the wireless
operator and to instruct him to attempt to contact Titanic by that method.
Had Lord done so, it is possible he could have reached Titanic in time to
save additional lives.[83]
Captain Lord had gone to the chartroom at 11:00 pm to spend the
night;[231] however, Second Officer Herbert Stone, now on duty, notified
Lord at 1:10 am that the ship had fired five rockets. Lord wanted to know
if they were company signals, that is, coloured flares used for
identification. Stone said that he did not know and that the rockets were
all white. Captain Lord instructed the crew to continue to signal the other
vessel with the Morse lamp, and went back to sleep. Three more rockets
were observed at 1:50 am and Stone noted that the ship looked strange
in the water, as if she 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
colours in them, and he was informed that they were all white. [232]
Californian eventually responded. At around 5:30 am, Chief Officer
George Stewart awakened wireless operator Cyril Furmstone Evans,
informed him that rockets had been seen during the night, and asked
that he try to communicate with any ship. He got news of Titanic's loss,
Captain Lord was notified, and the ship set out to render assistance. She
arrived well after Carpathia had already picked up all the survivors.[233]
The inquiries found that the ship seen by Californian was in
fact Titanic and that it would have been possible for Californian to come
to her rescue; therefore, Captain Lord had acted improperly in failing to
do so.
Survivors and victims
The number of casualties of the sinking is unclear, due to a number
of factors. These include confusion over the passenger list, which
included some names of people who cancelled their trip at the last
minute, and the fact that several passengers travelled under aliases for
various reasons and were therefore double-counted on the casualty lists.
[236]
 The death toll has been put at between 1,490 and 1,635 people.
[237]
 The tables below use figures from the British Board of Trade report
on the disaster.[114] While the use of the Marconi wireless system did not
achieve the result of bringing a rescue ship to Titanic before it sank, the
use of wireless did bring Carpathia in time to rescue some of the
survivors who otherwise would have perished due to exposure. [7]

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 TALE OF TITANIC
The water temperature was well below normal in the area
where Titanic sank. It also contributed to the rapid death of many
passengers during the sinking. Water temperature readings taken
around the time of the accident were reported to be −2 °C (28 °F).
Typical water temperatures were normally around 7 °C (45 °F) during
mid-April.[238] The coldness of the water was a critical factor, often
causing death within minutes for many of those in the water.
Fewer than a third of those aboard Titanic survived the disaster.
Some survivors died shortly afterwards; injuries and the effects of
exposure caused the deaths of several of those brought
aboard Carpathia.[239] The figures show stark differences in the survival
rates of the different classes aboard Titanic. Although only 3% of first-
class women were lost, 54% of those in third-class died. Similarly, five of
six first-class and all second-class children survived, but 52 of the 79 in
third-class perished. The differences by gender were even bigger: nearly
all female crew members, first- and second-class passengers were
saved. Men from the First Class died at a higher rate than women from
the Third Class.[240] In total, 50% of the children survived, 20% of the
men and 75% of the women.
The last living survivor, Millvina Dean from England, who at only nine
weeks old was the youngest passenger on board, died aged 97 on 31
May 2009.[241] Two special survivors were the stewardess Violet
Jessop and the stoker Arthur John Priest,[242] who survived the sinkings
of both Titanic and HMHS Britannic and were
aboard RMS Olympic when she was rammed in 1911.

Age/sex Class/Crew Number Number Number Percentage Percentage

Board Saved Lost Saved Lost
1st Class 6 5 1 83% 17%
Children
2nd Class 24 24 0 100% 0%
3rd Class 79 27 52 34% 66%
1st Class 144 140 4 97% 3%
Women
2nd Class 93 80 13 86% 14%
3rd Class 165 76 89 46% 54%
Crew 23 20 3 87% 13%
1 Class
st
175 57 118 33% 67%
Men
2nd Class 168 14 154 8% 92%
3rd Class 462 75 387 16% 84%
Crew 885 192 693 22% 78%
Total 885 710 1514 32% 68%

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 TALE OF TITANIC

Wreck of the Titanic

Jean-Louis Michel Robert Ballard

Titanic was long thought to have sunk in one piece and, over the years,
many schemes were put forward for raising the wreck. None came to
fruition.[257] The fundamental problem was the sheer difficulty of finding
and reaching a wreck that lies over 12,000 feet (3,700 m) below the
surface, in a location where the water pressure is over 6,500 pounds per
square inch (450 bar).[258] A number of expeditions were mounted to
find Titanic but it was not until 1 September 1985 that a Franco-
American expedition led by Jean-Louis Michel and Robert
Ballard succeeded. [259][260][261]

The team discovered that Titanic had in fact split apart, probably near

or at the surface, before sinking to the seabed. The separated bow and
stern sections lie about a third of a mile (0.6 km) apart in Titanic
Canyon off the coast of Newfoundland. They are located 13.2 miles
(21.2 km) from the inaccurate coordinates given by Titanic's radio
operators on the night of her sinking, [262] and approximately 715 miles
(1,151 km) from Halifax and 1,250 miles (2,012 km) from New York.
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 TALE OF TITANIC
Both sections struck the sea bed at considerable speed, causing the
bow to crumple and the stern to collapse entirely. The bow is by far the
more intact section and still contains some surprisingly intact interiors. In
contrast, the stern is completely wrecked; its decks have pancaked down
on top of each other and much of the hull plating was torn off and lies
scattered across the sea floor. The much greater level of damage to the
stern is probably due to structural damage incurred during the sinking.
Thus weakened, the remainder of the stern was flattened by the impact
with the sea bed.[263]

Back to Index
The two sections are surrounded by a debris field measuring
approximately 5 by 3 miles (8.0 km × 4.8 km).[264] It contains hundreds of
thousands of items, such as pieces of the ship, furniture, dinnerware and
personal items, which fell from the ship as she sank or were ejected
when the bow and stern impacted on the sea floor. [265] The debris field
was also the last resting place of a number of Titanic's victims. Most of
the bodies and clothes were consumed by sea creatures and bacteria,
leaving pairs of shoes and boots—which have proved to be inedible—as
the only sign that bodies once lay there.[266]
Since its initial discovery, the wreck of Titanic has been revisited on
numerous occasions by explorers, scientists, filmmakers, tourists and
salvagers, who have recovered thousands of items from the debris field
for conservation and public display. The ship's condition has deteriorated
significantly over the years, particularly from accidental damage by
submersibles but mostly because of an accelerating rate of growth of
iron-eating bacteria on the hull. [267] In 2006, it was estimated that within
50 years the hull and structure of Titanic would eventually collapse
entirely, leaving only the more durable interior fittings of the ship
intermingled with a pile of rust on the sea floor. [268]

The ship's bell recovered from the wreck

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 TALE OF TITANIC

Many artefacts from Titanic have been recovered from the sea bed

by RMS Titanic Inc., which exhibits them in touring exhibitions around
the world and in a permanent exhibition at the Luxor Las Vegas hotel
and casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.[269] A number of other museums
exhibit artefacts either donated by survivors or retrieved from the floating
bodies of victims of the disaster.[270]
On 16 April 2012, the day after the 100th anniversary of the sinking,
photos[271] were released showing possible human remains resting on
the ocean floor. The photos, taken by Robert Ballard during an
expedition led by NOAA in 2004, show a boot and a coat close
to Titanic's stern which experts called "compelling evidence" that it is the
spot where somebody came to rest, and that human remains could be
buried in the sediment beneath them. [272] The wreck of the Titanic falls
under the scope of the 2001 UNESCO Convention on the Protection of
the Underwater Cultural Heritage. This means that all states party to the
convention will prohibit the pillaging, commercial exploitation, sale and
dispersion of the wreck and its artefacts. Because of the location of the
wreck in international waters and the lack of any exclusive jurisdiction
over the wreckage area, the convention provides a state co-operation
system, by which states inform each other of any potential activity
concerning ancient shipwreck sites, like the Titanic, and co-operate to
prevent unscientific or unethical interventions. [273][274][275]
Submersible dives in 2019 have found further deterioration of the wreck,
including loss of the captain's bathtub. [276] Between 29 July and 4 August
2019, a two-person submersible vehicle that was conducting research
and filming a documentary crashed into the shipwreck. EYOS
Expeditions executed the sub dives. It reported that the strong currents
pushed the sub into the wreck leaving a "red rust stain on the side of the
sub." The report did not mention if the Titanic sustained any damage.

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 TALE OF TITANIC

The bow of the wrecked Titanic, photographed in June2004

48
 TALE OF TITANIC

Replica
There have been several proposals and studies for a project to build
a replica ship based on the Titanic. A project by South African
businessman Sarel Gaus was abandoned in 2006, and a project by
Australian businessman Clive Palmer was announced in 2012, known as
the Titanic II.
A Chinese shipbuilding company known as Wuchang Shipbuilding
Industry Group Co., Ltd commenced construction in November 2016 to
build a replica ship of the Titanic for use in a resort. The vessel will
house many features of the original, such as a ballroom, dining hall,
theatre, first-class cabins, economy cabins and swimming pool. [323]
[324]
 Tourists will be able to reside inside the Titanic during their time at
the resort. It will be permanently docked at the resort and feature an
audiovisual simulation of the sinking, which has caused some criticism.
[325]

The RMS Olympic was the sister ship of the Titanic. The interior

decoration of the dining salon and the grand staircase were in identical
style and created by the same craftsmen. Large parts of the interior of
the Olympic were later sold and are now in the White Swan Hotel,
Alnwick, which gives an impression of how the interior of
the Titanic looked.

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TALE OF TITANIC

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 TALE OF TITANIC

Conclusion
After the disaster of the titanic, questions were raised,many
controversies took birth investigations were conducted and some
unknown facts surfaced that shocked everyone. How would it feel if say
that there was another ship 37 kms away from Titanic that night,which
could make it in time to save the passengers of the titanic.it is true the
ship was s s Californian .one hour before the Titanic hit the iceberg,the
last iceberg warning was issued by s s Californian,they had warned
watch out there are a lot of iceberg in the ocean here after that at 11:15,
the radio operator on the Californian ship had switched off the radio.the
Californian ship had stopped for the night and was not moving ahead,
keeping the danger in mind.since the ship had stopped for the night and
the radio was off,it did not receive the distress signal.the ship was so
close to the Titanic that the passengers on the deck of the Titanic could
see the ship on the horizon.when the officers were boarding the
passengers in the Titanic,one officer even remarked that he could see a
Ship in the distance and that it would come save them soon and so there
was no need to worry.but this Californian ship did not come even when
rockets and flares were lit up it is reported that after 12 am, the crew
members on the Californian ship had actually seen the rockets fired from
Titanic they had even informed their captain Stanley lord but the captain
insisted that it was no distress signal rather the rich men on Titanic who
were partying.had captain lord of the Californian ship taken the rockets
and flares seriously that night ,so many people aboard the Titanic could
have been saved.Both the inquires that were conducted in this matter
put the blame on captain lord of the californian.but one single man
Cannot be blamed for such a huge disaster other people were
responsible as well like the lifeboat example, there were not a sufficient
number of lifeboats. because the company that made the ship thought it
was unsinkable and the lifeboats were unnecessary. Apart from that,the
captain of Titanic had not even conducted safety drills. A safety dill was
to be conducted on the day Titanic collided with the iceberg but the
captain cancelled that because he thought they were unnecessary since
the ship was unsinkable.

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TALE OF TITANIC
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