The Titanic Complex: A Cultural Manifest

On April 15, 1912 at 11:40 P.M. the Titanic collided with an iceberg and by 2:20 A.M. it was at the bottom of the ocean; over 1,500 people died. The massive loss of life was a shock to the world. The “unsinkable” ship had sunk. Despite the Titanic’s claims about being “unsinkable” and completely safe, many avoidable things led to the immense number of fatalities, such as the shortage of lifeboats, lowered bulkheads, and the lack of binoculars. Bruce Ismay, the designer of the Titanic and director of Whitestar line, often chose the comfort of his passengers over their safety. While Ismay was designing the Titanic he thought that the deck was too cluttered so he decided to keep only a third of the lifeboats needed to save all of the passengers

The Titanic is different from the other ships because, they thought that the Titanic was unsinkable. “It’s another ice burg warning…the captain had seemed quite unconcerned” on 106 and 107 so they aren’t worried that they will not hit the ice burg and sink because those people don’t think it can sink. “There was much talk among the passengers about the Titanic being unsinkable.” On 105 so they aren’t worried that the boat will sink. “Nicknamed the Unsinkable ship” on page 102 it even says unsinkable

I am coming to you over 100 years ahead in time, and I have come to tell you that the Titanic cruise ship you are about to aboard is very much unsafe. The author that posted this information is Vicki Bassett. The purpose of my letter is to inform your family of the design flaws of the Titanic so you don’t die. I have seen the death toll, about 1500 people died on the Titanic the night of the disaster. Only 700 survive, and your family is not a part of that. The hull steel, failed rivets, and there were also flaws in the watertight compartments of the Titanic. The Titanic suffered from several detrimental flaws right before it had even set sail! You should completely eliminate the Titanic from your calendar and schedule a vacation somewhere else because if you go on the Titanic you are walking into a death trap.

The Titanic was a ship that sunk during its maiden voyage in 1912. This big ship was on it’s way to New York when it struck an iceberg. It was believed to be “unsinkable” but that night it met it’s fate and sunk killing many passengers. As the story goes they say it’s the icebergs fault for the sinking of the ship. When in reality, the White Star Line was truly at fault for the sinking of the Titanic. They are responsible for this tragedy because they went full speed after ignoring six ice warnings. Not only that but they should've thought of the consequences when they decided to take off lifeboats for more room for luxury items. Then they weren’t prepared and never had any drills or safety procedures for if the ship were to sink.

“She brushed the berg so gently that many on board didn’t notice it, but so lethally that she was instantly doomed (Lord).” The Titanic sent out her first distressed call at 12:15 a.m. (Lord). At 12:45, she began to fire rockets (Lord). At 1:10 when the first lifeboat pulled away, the water was up to the ship’s portholes (Lord). Fifty-five minutes later, at 2:05, the last lifeboat had left and there were 1,600 people stuck on the sloping decks (Lord). At 2:17, the Titanic majestically stood on end (Lord). It was at 2:20, on April 15, 1912, when the Titanic, the unsinkable ship had slipped beneath the sea (Lord). The sinking of the Titanic was known as the most famous disasters at sea (“Edward J. Smith”

Second, we must now take a look at the history of the RMS Titanic. It was known as being the largest and, at the time, most extravagant ocean liner built for that time. The Titanic carried 2,200 passengers and crew members and collided into an iceberg just shy of 2 hours before it was supposed to arrive to its destination. Due to a scarcity of lifeboats available to the passengers, over 1,500 people were left to either freeze or drown with the engulfing ship. It is important to note that most of the survivors were found to be children and women (A & E Networks,

During the time of her construction, Titanic was the largest, grandest, safest, and most technologically advanced ship during her time. Her designers and engineers set out to build a class of ocean liners that could compete against White Star Line’s rival company, Cunard. However, when Titanic, the second of her sister ships sunk on her maiden voyage, it shook the world and it had a major impact on the world and its people. One of the main effects was the effect on safety regulations. Titanic only carried enough lifeboats to sustain roughly half of the passengers and crew on board. At the time, Titanic actually exceeded the amount of the lifeboats required by the British Board of Trade regulations by 10 percent.

The catastrophic sinking of the Titanic, over one hundred years ago, continues to drive scientists to search for answers. Was this simply an unfortunate maritime disaster, or did human error play a role in Titanic’s demise? Bruce Ismay, president of White Star Lines, had a dream. A dream, to build a magnificent luxury liner that would transport people across the Atlantic Ocean in style. With the help of the owner, John Pierpont, and ship designer Thomas Andrew Jr., the ship of dreams was soon a reality. However, Titanic’s maiden voyage on April 10, 1912, from Southampton, England to New York, made history in an inconceivable way. Sadly, over one thousand innocent people went to a watery grave in the middle of the cold, dark, Atlantic Ocean.

On April 30, 1907, Bruce Ismay and William James Pirrie had an idea to build a ship, the Titanic. “Harland and Wolff of Belfast, Ireland built the ship,” (United States). Within a few days short of five years, the Titanic was then ready to set sail from Belfast to Southampton. There were 2,223 passengers on board making their way to a better life. The Titanic made it to Southampton the next day, and then set sail for New York. The Titanic gave many people a chance to start a new life in America, and it was known as “The Ship of Dreams”. The ship consisted of millionaires all the way down to immigrants. This dream ship was also said to be unsinkable, however, this story is something that literally went down in history. Many sources state that the cause of the Titanic’s demise on April 14, 1912, was due to a variety of causes such as, the way the rivets were placed, the airtight rooms were not airtight, there were not enough lifeboats for the number of passengers present, Captain Smith avoided iceberg warnings, and the weather that night was a major problem altogether. Each of these played a key role in the tragic downfall of the White Star Liner ship, the Titanic, but the rivets and construction of the ship were the main issues at fault.

When analyzing this disaster the first thing to consider is the engineer’s design of the Titanic. The Titanic was employing many new and innovative designs that were believed to make the Titanic the safest ship ever built at that time. The engineer’s of the vessel made claims that the Titanic was “unsinkable” and that “even in the worst possible accident at sea, the ship should have stayed afloat for two to three days.” One of the features that lead them to this claim was the 16 watertight compartments in the hull of the ship. The way they were designed allowed for up to four compartments to be breached and they ship would still carry

1ST QUESTION: The questions is why? Why is it the Titanic that everyone remembers? There have been far worse disasters than the Titanic, such as the tsunami that devastated Japan in 2011, or the earthquakes in Haiti. So why is the Titanic

People were shocked at the news of the "unsinkable" Titanic sinking and this disbelief was due to the 19th Century’s reliance on science and industry to solve problems. When people set eyes on the most luxurious and biggest ship ever, they easily presumed it unsinkable. The Titanic, along with it’s size, had watertight

If he could’ve said the truth maybe less people would’ve been prepared and less people could’ve died. Another example that proves that there wasn’t any clear communication was that on page 111 it stated, “...passengers did not realize the seriousness…” Why didn’t they know? Because the crew and the captain weren’t explaining the extremity of this situation. It’s such a simple rule to follow but yet it was broken. The next rule that was broken was that the captain is responsible for all life on the Titanic until 0 passengers are left on board. The captain of the Titanic did go down with the ship, but he could’ve done a little more to help each passenger a little more than he did. On page 110 it says

They think that the iceberg was the main reason that a lot of people died. If you look back that it you can see that there was more to do to a lot of people dieing then the iceberg. During the time of the Titanic.

Greenway wanted to do was give his opinions on the sinking of the two ships. He wanted to show what he thought about the difference between the two. He thought the Titanic might have been a calmer sinking. Even though there were still issues the people still know what to do. They were calm and collective back then. The men were better and know what to do more. He wanted to show that in the 1900s, men were more like gentlemen. Yes, they were still pushing and wanting to get off the boat, but the woman and children were put first. Greenway wanted to show how much men have changed over the years. In the first paragraph Greenway mentions a man named Harry Widener. Widener and his family were aboard the Titanic the night of the sinking. Greenway knows that Widener is an example of her men were in 1912. He states, “he put his mother as well as other woman and children safely in the lifeboat”, Harry puts others first. He wanted to make sure the woman and children were first. Like most people of his time, Widener had manners. Greenway made sure to mention him because he was a gentleman. Widener is a prime example of how people use to be.