HISTORY OF THE TITANIC

TITANIC

*************For nearly 100 years - people from all around

the globe have been fascinated with the TITANIC disaster. It's one of the most talked

about disasters in world history.

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• The history of the Titanic began at a dinner party in a London mansion in 1907. Then J.Bruce Ismay, managing officer of the White star Line, a prominent ship operating company, and Lord James Pirrie devised plans to build three magnificent ships that would set a new standard for luxury and elegance. The first two would be named Olympic and Titanic while the third, to be built later, would be the Britannic. • The White Star Line started production on the Olympic in December of 1908, while work on the Titanic started the following March. The Titanic included amenities that many of its passengers had never enjoyed in their own homes, such as electric light and heat in every room.

• The Titanic was officially launched from Southampton ,England, on April 10, 1912. While the ship carried more than 2,200 passengers and crew, Titanic was equipped with only 16lifeboats, with a capacity of 1,708.

• The Titanic sailed first to Cherbourg, France, to pick up additional passengers, and then to Queenstown, Ireland, before setting out to sea for the transatlantic voyage to New York.

• The first three days of the voyage passed without incident, while the fourth did not. Although the Titanic had received five ice warnings throughout the day on April 14, Captain Edward Smith decided not to slow down and continued on at 21 knots (25 mph). At 11:40 PM, lookout Ferd Fleet spotted an iceberg and notified the bridge.

• First Officer William Murdoch then ordered the ship turned hard to port and the engine room was signaled to reverse direction. The ship did move slightly, but could not avoid the iceberg, which tore a 300 feet-long hole in the ship, causing compartments to begin filling with water.

• Twenty-five minutes after the crash, the ships officers ordered the lifeboats uncovered and began preparing the passengers and crew for evacuation. The first lifeboat was launched twenty minutes after the orders were given. Despite having a carrying capacity of 68, the first lifeboat launched with only 28 passengers.

• When the last boat launched, there were more than 1,500 passengers left on board. The lifeboats contained mostly women and children. However, J. Bruce Ismay managed to escape by sneaking onto one of the last lifeboats. • At approximately 2:10 AM, the stern, or rear of the ship, rose out of the water and shortly thereafter the weight of the raised stern caused the ship to split in two.

• The bow, or front of the ship, slowly sunk as the stern settled back into the water. Then, the stern filled with water until it disappeared into the ocean. More than 1,500 souls were lost in the "greatest maritime disaster in history".

• Many attempts have been made to find the wreck of the Titanic, yet it wasn't until 1985, when an expedition combining teams from IFREMER and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute discovered the famous ship.

• The team, led by Robert Ballard and Jean-Luis Martin, took the first photographs of the Titanic in 73 years. More than 90 years later, people continue to be fascinated with the Titanic. The disaster and its survivors have been the subject of four movies, a Broadway musical and countless books.

• The movie Titanic, written and directed by James Cameron, is the most expensive film ever made and in 1998 it won 11 Academy Awards. The Titanic recently made headlines again in 2001, when a New York couple announced they would be wed in a deep-sea submersible at the Titanic gravesite.

Lifeboat: Titanic was equipped with only 16 lifeboats, with a capacity of 1,708.

Who Really Owned the Titanic?

J.P. Morgan

The Titanic, registered as a British mail ship was really owned by the American railroad tycoon, John Pierpont (J.P.) Morgan. He had most of the controlling interest in the American railroads and was looking to expand his ownership to seize control of the Atlantic shipping trade. He succeeded in acquiring the White Star Line in 1902.

John Pierpont Morgan He was born on Monday 17th April 1837 in Hartford (CT, USA), he was almost 75 when the Titanic sank. He had his very own private suite and promenade deck on the Titanic. He was supposed to join her for her maiden voyage but cancelled his passage, sparing him the fate of many of the other millionaires. He died on Monday 31st March 1913.

Titanic's Sister Ships

The Titanic was the second of three large liners intended to work the Southampton-New York "shuttle" service. The sister ships were planned to be near identical.

Olympic & Titanic in Belfast

•Launched on 20th October 1910 Olympic was the first of the trio of White Star Liners. Under the command of Captain E.J. Smith (who was later to command the Titanic) she sailed on June 14th 1911 on her Maiden voyage to New York.

•The Olympic was received well, but on 20th September 1911 she was involved in a collision with cruiser HMS Hawke. After limping back to Belfast she was repaired using components from her sister (Titanic) then under construction.

•After the Titanic disaster, Olympic underwent various safety improvements including lifeboats for all aboard, and in October 1912 she returned to Belfast again for installation of an inner watertight skin.

Sinking of the Titanic

The place where the ship sank

Titanic passengers: The passengers on the Titanic have become as infamous as the sinking of the ship itself. While the tragic sinking would have no doubt been met with shock, the tragedy was manifested by large number of first class and notable Titanic passengers who perished in the ship's disaster. There were 2228 people on board of the Titanic, 337 in first class, 285 second class, 721 in third class and 885 crew members.

Some passengers taking a stroll.

Miss Elizabeth Gladys Dean 

Miss Elizabeth Gladys Dean, better known as Millvina, was born on 2 February 1912. She was the daughter of Bertram Frank Dean and Georgette Eva Light Dean. In April, 1912 she was only nine-weeks-old and was, with her parents and elder-brother Bertram, about to emigrate to Wichita, Kansas where her father hoped to open a tobacconist shop.Millvina boarded the Titanic at Southampton with her parents and brother. Millvina, her mother and brother were all rescued. They returned to England aboard the Adriatic. It was on the Adriatic that Millvina became quite a spectacle: that such a tiny baby could have came through the ordeal alive. First and Second Class passengers on the Adriatic queued to hold her, and many took photographs of her, her mother and brother, several of which were published in contemporary newspapers. "[She] was the pet of the liner during the voyage, and so keen was the rivalry between women to nurse this lovable mite of humanity that one of the officers decreed that first and second class passengers might hold her in turn for no more than ten minutes" In April, 1996 she visited Belfast for the first time, as guest of honour for a Titanic Historical Society convention. Millvina was the last living-survivor. She lived in retirement in Southampton, England and was kept very busy attending conventions; appearing in documentaries, TV series and radio shows; signing huge amounts of autographs; and relating her tales to school groups.

She died 31st May 2009 after a short illness.

The infamous ship set sail on April 10, 1912 under the command of Captain John Smith. Facts about Captain John Smith, his life and his tragic death aboard the ship are often the subject of much debate and study. Many historians feel that the tragedy could have been avoided in it's entirely had Captain Smith acted differently. Others aren't so sure. Certainly a number of other factors contributed to the heavy loss of life, including the lack of life boats.

Captain J. Smith

Famous passengers on the Titanic included Molly Brown, wife of a Colorado silver mine entrepreneur, and John Jacob Astor. Molly Brown became famous in her own right for being the only woman to have rowed a lifeboat to safety. Titanic survivor stories have given the world a wealth of information regarding what actually happened during the fateful last minutes of the ill fated luxury liner and the people in the Titanic. Diaries of the Titanic passengers have revealed the sinking of the infamous ship was a story rich in tragedy, triumph and despair,sacrifice and selfishness.

Molly Brown

One of the most touching stories regarding the passengers on the Titanic is the tale of an elderly wealthy couple, the Straus'. When it became apparent that no male passengers on the Titanic could be allowed to board the limited lifeboats, Mrs. Straus chose to stay by the side of her husband; even though it meant certain death. The couple perished with the ship.

Mr. and Mrs. Straus

Titanic Crew & Titanic passengers ... 

The Major Players!

Edward John Smith: Captain RMS Titanic

(January 27, 1850 - April 15, 1912)

Bruce Ismay - Titanic Survivor - Managing Director: White Star Line

(December 12, 1862 - October 17, 1937)

Thomas Andrews - Chief Designer: RMS Titanic

(Febuary 7, 1873 - April 15, 1912

1st Officer William Murdoch (Feb 28, 1873, - April 15, 1912)

Margaret (Molly) Brown - Titanic Survivor

(July 18, 1867 - October 26, 1932) "The Unsinkable Molly Brown"

American Socialite who helped passengers to the lifeboats - and later assisted in rescue efforts

John Jacob Astor: Wealthy American Businessman (July 13, 1864 - April 15, 1912)

In 1897 - with the help of his cousin - William Waldorf Astor, the famous Waldorf-Astoria hotel in NYC was built

Benjamin Guggenheim: Wealthy American Businessman(October 26, 1865 - April 15, 1912)

Just before the titanic sank, Benjamin Guggenheim was noted for saying ..."we've dressed in our best, and are prepared to go down like gentlemen”

Isidor Straus: Co-Owner Macy*s Department Store (Febuary 6, 1845 - April 15, 1912) and his wife -

Rosalie Ida Blun (1849 - April 15, 1912)Isidor Straus tried to get his wife into a lifeboat, but she refused to go,

saying ... "We have been together for many years - where you go, I go"

Frederick Fleet (October 15, 1887 – January 10, 1965)

Forward Lookout who first announced the sighting of the iceberg ...

He also survived of the sinking of the RMS Titanic

The first live Titanic pictures were taken on September 1, 1985, the day the Wreckage of the ship was finally discovered. For the next several months numerous sketches of the Titanic ship were developed based on the initial Titanic wreck photos taken that day.

Pictures

Thousands of underwater pictures were taken during the 1986 Titanic expedition. In later trips to the deep, artifacts would be recovered from the wreckage of the Titanic. In total, more than 5,000 pieces would be recovered from the wreckage site. Today, the wreckage of the Titanic is considered by many to be a memorial to the lives of the 1,522 people who died when the ship sank on an early spring morning in 1912.

Titanic Construction

The gantry

The bow under the gantry

The stern under the gantry

Propeller axe

Huge propellers

Fitting out

Fitting out

Cylinder

Anchor

Inside the Titanic

Barber Shop

Gym

Bath Tub

Engine

BoilerRoom

RadioRoom 1

RadioRoom2

Titanic Chain

Titanic-Boarding

Titanic Leaving

TITANIC After Sink

The search vehicle Argo begins a two-hour descent to the hull of the Titanic in the North Atlantic Ocean.

Two four-story-high reciprocating engines (one of which is pictured here) drove the Titanic's outboard propellers.

Lights from the Mir 2 submersible illuminate the port anchor winch on the foredeck of the sunken Titanic.

In the early morning hours of September 1, 1985, oceanographer Robert Ballard and photographer Emory Kristof found and photographed the shipwreck of the century, the R.M.S. Titanic. Kristof and his crew used a submersible search vehicle and a towed sled with a still camera to shoot more than 20,000 frames, including this one of the ocean liner's starboard propeller.

An intact glass pane from the window of Captain Edward J. Smith's cabin hangs open on the Titanic, which lies two and a half miles (four kilometers) beneath the North Atlantic Ocean.

The Mir 1 submersible illuminates the bow railing of the Titanic.

A ceramic bowl and other debris from the Titanic litter the floor of the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Newfoundland.

A hull fragment from the Titanic lies on the ocean floor.

An opening on the starboard side of the ship's hull could be damage from the Titanic's collision with an iceberg on April 14, 1912. About 1,500 people died when the ship sank, breaking in two.

Pipes and the captain's bathtub are shown in this photo of what remains of the captain's cabin on the Titanic, more than two miles underwater in the north Atlantic. The picture was taken in July 2003.

One Of Titanic's Gigantic Engines. They Look Small Here But In Actuality They Are The Length Of The Keel To The Deck.:

Painting Of The Deck The Gym Windows Are Visible Aswell.

Shoes Laying On The Ocean Floor Where A Body Once Lay

The Submersible Jason Jr. Looking Into A Window.

The Rudder Of The Titanic.

The Stand Where The Wheel Once Was Attached To It. This Is All That Remains Of The Wheel House Now

A Piece Of A Staircase That Hasn't Decayed

The Windows Of the Officer's Quarters

The "Big Piece" Which They Raised From The Ocean. It Was Over 20 Feet Long And Weighed About 18 Tons. The First Attempt in 96 Was Unsuccessful But The Second in August Of 97 Was A Success

Pieces Of The Chandeliers Hangs From The Roof

One Of The Ship's Telemotor's

Boiler

Engine

Notes

Titanic Movie

Titanic (1997)

Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Bill Paxton, Billy Zanebased a screenplay by director James Cameron, whose fictional love story is intertwined with a chronicle of the April 1912 Titanic sinking

Bernard HillBorn:December 17, 1944Birthplace: Manchester, England, UK

Captain Edward John SmithBorn: January 27, 1850Birthplace: Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, EnglandDied: April 15, 1912, Atlantic Ocean (perished during sinking of RMS Titanic)

Reel Face: Real Face:

Kathy BatesBorn:June 28, 1948Birthplace: Memphis, Tennessee, USA

Margaret "Molly" BrownBorn: July 18, 1867Birthplace: Hannibal, MissouriDied: October 26, 1932Barbizon Hotel, New York City(brain tumor)

Eric BraedenBorn:April 3, 1941Birthplace: Kiel, Germany

John Jacob AstorBorn: July 13, 1864Birthplace: Rhinebeck, New YorkDied: April 15, 1912Atlantic Ocean(perished in Titanic disaster)

Victor GarberBorn:March 16, 1949Birthplace: London, Ontario, Canada

Thomas AndrewsBorn: February 7, 1873Birthplace: Comber, County Down, IrelandDied: April 15, 1912Atlantic Ocean(perished in Titanic sinking)

Questioning the Story

Were Jack and Rose based on real people?

No. Jack Dawson and Rose DeWitt Bukater, portrayed in the movie by Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, are almost entirely fictional characters (James Cameron modeled the character of Rose after American artist Beatrice Wood, who had no connection to Titanic history). The movie's love story is also fiction.

I heard there was a J. Dawson on board the Titanic, is that true?

Yes. A man who signed his name J. Dawson did board the Titanic. However, the J. stood for Joseph, not Jack. Born in Dublin, Joseph Dawson was a member of the Titanic crew. He worked as a coal trimmer (it was his job to even out the piles of coal that were shoveled into the ship's furnaces)

Who sketched Jack's drawing of Rose that we see in the movie Titanic?

Director James Cameron did the sketch of Rose (Kate Winslet) wearing the necklace. It is actually Cameron's hand, not Leonardo DiCaprio's, that we see sketching Rose in the movie. James Cameron also drew all of the pictures in Jack's sketchbook.

Were the movie's underwater shots of the Titanic wreckage real?

Yes. Most of the underwater shots of the Titanic wreckage are real. In 1995, James Cameron hired the Russian vessel Akademik Mstislav Keldysh and its two submersibles. He made a total of twelve dives to film the underwater close-ups at a depth of 12,500 feet below the North Atlantic. Special cameras and housings were designed to withstand the 6,000 pounds per square inch of water pressure. Each dive lasted approximately fifteen hours, but the cameras could only store 500 feet of film, which meant that only twelve minutes of footage could be shot per dive. As a result, a few of the underwater shots had to be faked.

Were any of Pablo Picasso's paintings lost with the Titanic?

No. After Rose (Kate Winslet) boards the ship in the movie, we see her displaying authentic paintings by the then barely-known painter, Pablo Picasso. Cal (Billy Zane) comments that the artist will never amount to anything. \ This is an obvious point of humor in the movie, but it also raises the question as to whether or not these paintings were in fact part of Titanic history.

Yes. Joseph Phillippe Lemercier Laroche was the only black man to perish in the Titanic sinking. Laroche, shown on the right in a family photo, was on board with his pregnant wife Juliette and their two young daughters. The story of this interracial family was not known until 2000, three years after the movie's release, when the Chicago Museum of Science & Industry and the Titanic Historical Society revealed the information as part of a Titanic exhibit.

Were there any black passengers on board the Titanic?

Did Bruce Ismay really encourage Captain Smith to go faster?

During the U.S. Senate's Inquiry into the disaster, Bruce Ismay, the Managing Director of the White Star Line, said the following, "I understand it has been stated that the ship was going at full speed. The ship never had been at full speed. The full speed of the ship is 78 revolutions. She works up to 80. So far as I am aware, she never exceeded 75 revolutions. She had not all her boilers on. None of the single-ended boilers were on." Ismay said that it was their intention to work the ship up to its full speed of 80 revolutions either on the next day (Monday) or two days later (Tuesday), depending on the weather.

Did pieces of ice from the iceberg really land on the promenade deck?

Yes. Mrs. Churchill Candee, of Washington, said the following about the ice, "The first thing I recall was one of the crew appearing with pieces of ice in his hands. He said he had gathered them from the bow of the boat. Some of the passengers were inclined to believe he was joking. But soon the situation dawned on all of us." Survivor William Lucas reported seeing "about a couple of tons" of ice "on the forewell [deck] on the starboard side" of the ship. Fourth Officer Joseph Groves Boxhall said that he found "a little ice in the well deck covering a space of about three or four feet from the bulwarks right along the well deck, small stuff."

Did the Titanic's band continue to play as the ship went under?

Yes. 33-year-old Wallace Henry Hartley, a violinist, was the bandleader on the Titanic. Hartley (left) had a fiancée in Boston Spa, near Wetherby in Yorkshire, and he had spent time with her before leaving on the Titanic.

After the ship struck an iceberg, Wallace Hartley assembled his eight-man band, and they eventually ended up on the Boat Deck near the entrance to the Grand Staircase. There, they played ragtime and waltzes. Specifically, survivors reported them playing "Alexander's Ragtime Band" and "In the Shadows". No one is certain what the last song was that the band played as the ship went down.

Were the third class passengers really locked below as the movie Titanic suggests?

Yes, but not exactly in the way that the film implies. Titanic history tells us that gates did exist which barred the third class passengers from the other passengers. However, these gates weren't in place to stop a third class passenger from taking a first class passenger's seat on a lifeboat.

At the time of the sinking, some stewards kept gates locked waiting for instructions, while others allowed women and children to the upper decks. As a result of poor communication from the upper decks, the dire reality of the situation was never conveyed. The crew failed to search for passengers in the cabins and common areas, and the fact that some third class passengers did not speak English, also presented a problem. As a result, many of the third class passengers were left to fend for themselves. Only 25 percent of the third class passengers survived the disaster.

Did Officer Murdoch really commit suicide after shooting passengers and accepting a bribe?

After the release of James Cameron's 1997 movie Titanic, Officer William Murdoch's surviving relatives, other historians, and people from Murdoch's hometown of Dalbeattie, Scotland were angered over Cameron's decisive portrayal of First Officer Murdoch (right). In the film, he turns his gun on himself after shooting two passengers who are rushing a lifeboat. Based on witness testimony, historians are fairly certain that an officer did commit suicide, but it can't be said with absolute certainty that it was First Officer Murdoch. Also, there is no evidence to suggest that Murdoch ever took a bribe.

Did some of the passengers choose to go down with the ship?

Yes. Near the end of the movie Titanic, we see an old couple embracing in bed as water pours into their cabin. The couple is first class passengers Isador and Ida Straus (left). Isador was the co-owner of Macy's department store. In real life, Isador and Ida were both offered a place on Lifeboat No. 8, but Isador chose to stay on the Titanic so long as there were women who remained on the ship. Ida refused to abandon her husband. Witnesses on the deck and in Lifeboat No. 8 heard Ida tell her husband, "We have been living together for many years. Where you go, I go." The couple was last seen sitting on a pair of deck chairs (not lying in bed like in the movie). Only Isador's body was recovered and identified.

Did the Titanic's lights continue to burn until just before the ship went under?

Yes. Dr. Washington Dodge, a Titanic survivor who observed the ship's final moments from a lifeboat, said the following in an April 20, 1912 San Francisco Bulletin article, "We saw the sinking of the vessel. The lights continued burning all along its starboard side until the moment of its downward plunge. After that a series of terrific explosions occurred, I suppose either from the boilers or weakened bulkheads." This account is nearly identical to what is shown in the movie.

Did the Titanic really break apart as it sunk?

Yes. For years, whether the Titanic broke apart as it went under was a highly debated element of Titanic history. Some survivors testified that the ship did break apart as it sunk, while others said that it went under intact. Much of the uncertainty surrounding this was put to rest in 1985 when the wreck of the Titanic was discovered in two separate portions on the sea bottom. It is very likely that the ship broke apart much like the movie's depiction.

Were any of the passengers rescued from the water like Rose?

Yes. Only two of the sixteen lifeboats went back to pick up survivors, and they ended up saving six. The first was Quartermaster Perkis in Lifeboat 4, who was able to pull 5 people from the water but only 3 survived. The second boat was Lifeboat 14 headed by Fifth Officer Harold Lowe (right), who had gathered nearby lifeboats together to free up room in one of them. When Lifeboat 14 returned to where the Titanic had sunk (approximately 150 yards away), Officer Lowe and a working crew of six men picked up four survivors from the water. One of the four men found in the water, a William F. Hoyt from New York, died in the lifeboat.

How long could the people have remained alive in the water?

On the night of the Titanic sinking, the temperature of the salt water was likely around 28° F. The human body loses heat to the water about 30 times faster than it does to the air. When the core body temperature falls to approximately 89° F, a decrease in consciousness occurs. If the core temperature cools to below 86° F, then heart failure becomes a major concern, as it is the most common cause of hypothermia-related deaths. The people in the bone chilling 28° water above the sinking Titanic would have had anywhere from several minutes to an hour to live, depending on their physical condition and how much they flailed. Some people in the water might have believed that swimming would help their body to generate heat. In reality, people who swam or moved around a lot would have lost heat 35-50% faster and been susceptible to exhaustion. There were even several people who died from hypothermia in the Titanic lifeboats, because they were open and gave no protection against the cold. Regulations have since been put in place that require lifeboats to be fully or partially enclosed.

Was the Heart of the Ocean (Coeur de la Mer) a real diamond?

No. The Heart of the Ocean diamond is a fictional device that James Cameron added to the plot in order to give Brock Lovett (Bill Paxton) a reason to hear Rose's story. The Heart of the Ocean is based on the famous Hope Diamond that King Louis XVI of France gave to Marie Antoinette to add to her jewelry collection. The Hope Diamond is currently on display at the Smithsonian Natural History Museum in Washington, D.C. It holds no place in Titanic history. As a result of moviegoer fantasies surrounding the fictional Heart of the Ocean, the Asprey & Garrard jewelry company decided to make a real Heart of the Ocean diamond necklace. The 170-carat sapphire, surrounded by sixty-five 30-carat diamonds, was worn by Celine Dion during her performance of "My Heart Will Go On" at the 1998 Academy Awards Ceremony. The necklace later sold at a benefit auction for $2.2 million.

Thanq for Your Time

With Love….RAMYA SOMPALLI