The Story Of The Titanic (November 21, 2015)

It was the Golden Age of the ocean liner. In the past ten years, over 350 vessels had entered service on the Atlantic route alone. The Mauretania, flagship of the Cunard Line, held the speed record of 26 knots, but, now, a new ship had entered the market: the mighty Titanic. At 882 feet, nearly 4 times the length of a Boeing 747, she was the largest ship ever built and was part of a fleet of three colossal new giants, with her sisters Olympic and the still-to-be-launched Gigantic. Her owner, the White Star Line, hoped to achieve a monopoly on the route and drive all competition out of business. Both the Titanic and the Olympic were built in Belfast, Ireland. They were constructed to survive the rough, stormy waters of the North Atlantic. Titanic took 3 years to complete and 8 lives were lost during her construction. The Titanic was unquestionably the pride of the fleet. She was equipped with the latest safety features, including 16 watertight bulkheads connected with state-of-the-art electrically controlled doors. Once the Titanic was finally finished, her designers were so confident in the new ship, so certain of her invincibility, that they equipped her with just 20 lifeboats, only enough for half the passengers and crew aboard. The press, seduced by this hubris, dubbed her unsinkable. The Titanic was capable of 23 knots, not as fast as the Mauretania, but no ship on Earth could match her for sheer luxury. For first class passengers, there was a Grand Staircase, staterooms, and even a Turkish bath. The Titanic sailed from Southampton, England, on April 10, 1912. At the Titanic’s helm was the White Star Line’s premier commander, Captain Edward Smith. Smith was a veteran of the high seas and had commanded numerous White Star maiden voyages. But this voyage was to be his last. When Captain Smith returned to England, he planned to retire and live with his wife in Hampshire. The Titanic stopped in Cherbourg, France, and then in Queenstown (Cobh), Ireland. Then, on April 12, 1912, the Titanic headed for New York. Then, on April 14, 1912, at 11:40 p.m., the Titanic struck an iceberg on her starboard side. The Titanic was built with defective rivets. When the Titanic hit the iceberg, the rivets popped off and the water came in, 5 compartments were flooded. The boilers exploded and the prisoners who were hired by the courts to work in the boilers got scalded and they died. The Titanic started to go down by the head. Then, the lights went out and the Titanic broke in half. At 2:20 a.m., on April 15, 1912, the Titanic sank to the bottom of the North Atlantic, killing 1,500 men, women, and children.