The Titanic

The Titanic

     Have you ever read about the Titanic? I would like to tell you about the era and events that led up to the Titanic. The era was the Edwardian age. This era is still famous for its extravagant clothing, building, and ship styles. Also, it had high quality foods such as caviar, peacock, expensive wines, and lamb. This age continued until just after the Titanic sank. The Titanic was started in Belfast, Ireland in 1908. Once the hull, the shell of the Titanic, was completed, it was sent to Southampton, England to be fitted with furniture, supplies, lifeboats etc.

    In April 1912 the Titanic sailed first to France, then to Belfast, Ireland, the last stop before its transatlantic voyage. Life on the Titanic was as extravagant as the era. One lady on board said, “Most of our time was spent dressing and undressing in-between parties and meals.” Things went smoothly for the first few days, the air was cool and the sky was blue. But on Sunday, April 15, the air was cold and the watchmen began to see Icebergs. Later in the day they received two Iceberg warnings. The wireless operator wrote them down, sent them to the bridge, and kept on sending letters that he continued to get from the passengers to send back to England. Later he got another message from a closer ship the Californian. This time however, the wireless operator only put the message to the side and sent an annoyed message, “shut up shut up, I’m busy!” The message was never delivered to the bridge. Meanwhile Captain Smith was dining with the Astors, a wealthy couple that where traveling on the Titanic. When he finished he went up to the bridge and then went to bed.

     At 11:40pm, the lookouts saw an Iceberg dead ahead. A few seconds later, the Titanic struck the Iceberg. Water poured in and 10 minutes later there was 14 feet of water in the front of the boat. The Captain was told that the ship could only stay afloat for around two and a half hours. He then gave the order to uncover and fill the lifeboats. Even once all the lifeboats where filled there were still 1500 people on board. Fifty-eight miles away, the ship Carpathia received the Titanic’s distress signal and speeds toward the disaster. At 4:10am the Carpathia picked up the first lifeboat. Once the last lifeboat was picked up, the Carpathia left and headed for New York with 705 survivors. There were many lessons learned from this event. Soon after, the laws where changed so that a ship had to have more than enough lifeboats. Also, lifeboat drills must be done before a ship takes off.

     In 1980 the Titanic was found two miles below the surface of the water by a French-American team on the ship “Knorr” that sent down the submersible “Argo” which took pictures of the ruin. Today there is a debate on whether they should raise the Titanic or not.

     I hope that I have peaked your interest in this Historic event.