An increasing number of people wanted to travel across the ocean to reach America. So, the White Star Line decided to build three big ships: Olympic, Titanic, and Gigantic. The project of the biggest one, called ‘Titanic’, started in 1907. It was two hundred and sixty-nine metres long, much higher than the biggest building of that time. It was also supposed to be resistant and safe, as it was able to float with four of its sixteen compartments full of water. It had nine decks and from the bridge, the captain and his officers could see the horizon. The only problem was that it could carry three thousand people but it only had lifeboats for half of them. There were just twenty lifeboats. 

On the day of its inauguration, on 10^th April 1912, the Titanic nearly crashed into a small boat, the ‘New York’, which was pulled closer to the ship as the Titanic had created a huge movement of water. Luckily, another small boat was able to pull the unfortunate New York to safety. 

The Titanic, on its first trip, was carrying about two thousand people, nearly a half was the crew, 898 people, and the rest passengers divided into three classes, living on three levels. The richest were in first class (322 people). They stayed on the top deck, where they had restaurants, bars, a swimming pool, a library, and so on. They stayed in spacious and luxurious rooms with loads of servants. The shipbuilder was on the ship as well. 

The passengers in second class (275 passengers) could also benefit from entertainments and facilities, like bars and an open deck for walks. 

People in third class (712 passengers) had smaller, more basic but clean rooms. They were European, especially Irish, and were travelling across the ocean with the same purpose: starting a new life in America. 

 

THE DISASTER

1.      Phillips, the radio operator, received the third ice warning of the day early in the afternoon. The Captain showed the notices only at 7.15 pm. 

2.      The second officer told the lookouts to pay attention to icebergs. It was a clear evening.

3.      At 9.40 pm Phillips received another message but he ignored it. 

4.      An hour later he was contacted by the Californian, which was stuck in the ice. He replied he was busy. 

5.      At 11.40 pm the lookout saw a gigantic iceberg right ahead. He rang the bell three times and phoned the bridge. There was no time to waste. The first Officer turn the ship left and ordered the crew to stop the machines. The impact caused few long holes along the hull, but the noise wasn’t very loud so passengers didn’t realise. The Captain and his officers got to the bridge, the fourth officer reported that water was coming in.

6.      At midnight, the ship’s builder soon realised that the Titanic was sinking, so the Captain ordered the crew to prepare the lifeboats. The passengers woke up, wore life jackets and warm clothes and reached the boat deck. There were lifeboats for only 1,178 people and the passengers were more than 2,200. 

Phillips sent the SOS message: ‘ come quick, danger’. The nearest ship was the Carpatia, four hours far. The Titanic was the first ship to send such a message. At 12.45 am, the crew began to send rockets (bright lights sent to the sky in case of danger). 

7.      At 2:20 on 15^th April the Titanic had disappeared into the icy North Atlantic ocean. The survived people were on lifeboats or swimming trying to reach them. Two hours later the Carpatia arrived, people in the lifeboats were shouting and waving hands, they also burnt papers. Only 705 people were rescued most of first class.

Bruce Ismay, the president of the Company which built the ship, survived but Thomas Andrews, the builder, and Captain Smith weren’t that lucky. 

 

First class: Survived women and children 145; 

Second class: Survived women and children 104;

Third class: Survived women and children 105;

Crew: Survived men and women 214 (only 20 women).

 

The World cries:

The day after the Titanic sank, newspapers and radio reported the horrible news about the disaster. Once arrived in New York the passengers from third class had no money or luggage in an unknown country.

A ship had picked up the dead bodies from the ocean, among these 328 bodies there was the richest man on earth.

Two of the children rescued from the Titanic had no family in America. After a while, a woman saw their photo in the newspaper; she was their mother. The children had been stolen by their father.

Another incredible story is still told: the Allison siblings, Trevor and Loraine, were separated during the sinking. The boy got into a lifeboat with his nurse and the rest of the family disappeared. Years later, a woman told she was rescued by the ship’s builder and had lived in the USA, she was Loraine. Later on, there were rumors about the nurse being a murderer but then the truth came out: the real murderer had the same name. 

In 1985, a group of scientists found the Titanic on the seabed using a submarine. Many questions about the sinking dynamics were finally answered, for example: the real position of the ship. The group took many pictures but did not touch anything. Some years later, a group of French experts returned 3,600 things up from the wreck.