Was the demise of the Titanic, the “unsinkable” ship, actually caused by an iceberg? People have been told for centuries that the Titanic’s catastrophic sinking was caused by the ship hitting an iceberg. Hundreds of movies have been made and thousands of articles and books have been written about the infamous sinking. However, the cause of the sinking is very different than most people have been told all along. The Titanic, which was regarded as unsinkable, was the largest ship of its time. The ship was owned by the White Star Line, and departed from Southampton England on April 10 1912, scheduled to bring its 2224 passengers to New York. In the early hours of April 15 1912, the ship sank, killing 1500 people. Most historians believe that …show more content…
One major piece of evidence that supports the fire theory is the images discovered by Molony that reveal a thirty-foot long, diagonal black mark on the hull’s front starboard side. These marks resemble scorch marks caused by a fire at almost exactly where the iceberg struck the ship (NY Daily News). The pictures Molony references were found at an auction house and were taken by chief electrical engineer of the Titanic, John Westbeech Kempster. Kempster took these photographs on April 1 and April 2 at the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast, Northern Ireland, just over a week before the ship sailed (CNN). At first, Molony thought the black mark could just be a reflection, but after careful examination, he found that the mark did not change places between photographs. One thing that caught Molony’s eye about the mark was that it was facing the sea, not the dock. Molony believes that the ship was strategically positioned so that the passengers were not able to see the mark, so as not to raise questions (New York Times). Dr. Guillermo Rein, who specializes in studying coal fires, also examined the photos with Molony. In a documentary about the coal fire entitled “Titanic: The New Evidence”, Dr. Rein states that the marks could “definitely” be from a coal fire. Since the photographs were taken about ten days before the ship’s departure, the fire must have been going on for at least that
Most people thought that the Titanic was unsinkable, but they couldn’t have been any further from the truth. The Titanic’s maiden voyage in the early 1900s was cut short due to a collision with an iceberg. The Titanic was a tragic event that helped change sailing for years to come because of the massive casualties and the sinking of an unsinkable ship.
Because the crew of the Titanic did not listen to the warnings sent by other ships, the Titanic hit an iceberg at eleven-forty p.m. The scouts of the ship saw the iceberg about thirty seconds before the ship’s starboard (right) side scraped against it. If the Titanic was going slower, then the crew would have been able to turn the ship around the iceberg. The crew and the passengers were not too worried, though. The Titanic was built so that it was “unsinkable”. There were compartments on the sides of the ship that would hold water if the ship were to get any holes. Then, the whole ship found out that there were not enough compartments to hold all of the water gushing into the hull. At eleven-fifty p.m., fourteen feet of seawater was filled inside of the Titanic. Most of the crew was shocked by how much water was entering the Titanic that they started to panic as the ship started to tilt forward.
The way that light passed through that air could have caused distortion to the look of objects by the horizon. This causing the ice berg kept from being seen until it was thirty seconds away and alter the Titanic’s appearance to a nearby ship, which explains its lack of help when the ship set of distress calls. Maltin also points out other little things that lead to the sinking of the Titanic and the absence of enough life boats. One of the biggest errors made by the crew members was when the operator was listening to telegraphs sent in, looking out for any about the current ice situation ahead of time, he has accidentally skipped right over the one. The ship had just gotten to a place where they could receive telegraphs from the United States, the operator was overwhelmed with them. The message warning the titanic about the iceberg had been written in an informal manner, he thought it be nothing important before listening to it all. As the titanic began to sink only around 700 people were able to fit on the amount of life boats that the Titanic was stocked with. Critics shame the ship a lot for not having enough life boats for everyone aboard, but because the Board of Trade rewarded ships who didn’t need as many life boats and the ship was fully believed to be unsinkable, the designer didn’t see a reason to why they would need that many life
On April 15th 1912 the largest ship in the world, the Titanic, plunged into the icy blue waters of the Atlantic ocean. Hundreds of bodies littered the shining ripples of water while survivors frantically searched for their loved ones, holding on to the hope that they were still alive. No one knows who is to blame for this horrific disaster, but many believe that Captain Smith is to blame for the sinking. He ignored ice warnings from the crew and surrounding ships. He also allowed lifeboats to be filled to only half their capacity before being lowered into the water. Captain Smith also traveled at full speed through an ice field.
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.
“We could see groups of the almost fifteen hundred people still aboard, clinging in clusters or bunches, like swarming bees; only to fall in masses, pairs or singly, as the great after part of the ship, two-hundred and fifty feet of it rose into the sky, till it reached a sixty-five or seventy degree angle.” – John Thayer (www.eyewitnesshistory.com). The RMS Titanic, more commonly known as “The Titanic”, set sail across the Atlantic Ocean April 10, 1912 from Southampton, England to New York City, USA. The “unsinkable” Titanic was a luxury boat, with mostly first class seats. It was the most high class boat of its time with nothing but positive reviews from wealthy businesses. The sinking of the Titanic is proof that
On April 15, 1912 at approximately 2:20am, the RMS Titanic sank into the ocean after crashing into a towering iceberg, 640km south of Newfoundland, Canada. More than 1500 people have died, tearing apart relationships and families. The whereabouts of the ship is still unknown and many fear the worst. The captain and crew has been blamed for this incident and is now facing public scrutiny.
The causes of the titanic sinking are unbelievable.One of the reasons the titanic did not stay afloat is, when they got the alert for the iceberg straight ahead, they reversed the engine so they would slow down.After they started to turn hoping that they would miss the iceberg. Unfortunately they hit the iceberg causing them to puncture 5 air chambers which was bad because if they punctured more than 4 air chambers they would sink. Another reason they did not stay afloat is that they used delicate steel for the hull of the
The Sinking of the Titanic was a tragedy that affected many. This event will forever be in the memories of the people who have suffered from losing loved ones and to the people that such a historical event affected. History was drastically changed after the Sinking of the Titanic, the so called “unsinkable” ship, occurred. A number of theories have been conducted about this event throughout the years after its occurrence. However, only one of these theories should be true. The workers who built the Titanic relied more on the aesthetic beauty and scenery of the ship, rather than the safety of the passengers.
On April 10, 1912, the Titanic left Southampton, England on her voyage to New York City. The White Star spent all they had and spared no expense in assuring her luxury. She was a legend even before she sailed. The Titanic had passengers mixed with the world’s wealthiest basking in the elegance of first class accommodations and immigrants packed into steerage. She was said to be the safest ship ever built, so safe that she only carried 20 lifeboats, which was enough to accommodate for only half her 2,200 passengers and crew. This was decided due to the ship’s construction that was said to make her “unsinkable.” The Titanic was four days into her journey, when she struck an iceberg at 11:40 P.M. on April 14, 1912. The fireman compared the sound to “the tearing of calico, nothing more.” The collision was fatal and the icy water soon poured through the
On the night that everything went wrong, the Titanic received many ice warnings from other ships that were nearby. None of the crew members took those warnings seriously because the ship was supposedly indestructible. The crew quickly realized how serious the warnings were when they saw a huge, dark shape in the distance. They tried to steer away from the iceberg, but it was too late. The iceberg brushed along the side of the Titanic, and the ship came to a stop. Many people on board didn’t even realize the ship had hit anything, but many noticed the unsettling quietness after the engines stopped (Ballard
I feel this incident might have occurred but with few loses. According to the article, there were repeated warnings that imply there was an issue with this ship; specifically the sounds the passengers heard hours prior to collision. If better materials were used the ship would have lasted longer floating. This means more people would have been saved. The article did a great job in answering many of the unanswered questions. Until now, I always thought the iceberg was the main and only reason that caused Titanic to sink. I learned from the above information that multiple reasons such as: weak building structure, rusted steel, and icy waters also played a major part in Titanic’s fate. The source was very reliable and contained important
The Titanic shipwreck was a tragic accident. This ship may have been caused by many different things. In my opinion I think that the wreck was caused by the captain, and the weather.
It was a disaster that stunned the world, for the ship was thought of as “unsinkable”. An eyewitness says, “I have been on the ocean most of my life, and I have never seen the water as smooth as it was that night”. Many passengers were involved, as were the crew of the ship, when the Titanic hit an iceberg that was around 50 to 100 feet high, and 200 to 400 feet long. The Titanic hit the iceberg in the North Atlantic ocean on April 14, 1912. The ship had completely sank into the North Atlantic ocean at about 2:20 AM on April 15, 1912. When the Titanic design was approved, the Titanic began taking test runs, A little while later the Titanic started its voyage, About three or four days later iceberg warnings were sent out, an iceberg had hit
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