Greetings Dear Reader!
“What's meant to be will always find a way” -Trisha Yearwood
Today is April 15, 2015.
103 years ago, just as the Sun set in the horizon only to give rise to the night of ill-fate. The luxurious ocean liner Titanic set off for its maiden voyage and ended at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. And the grandeur of the Titanic is remembered till date. Today I shall focus on the possibly unknown facts about the Titanic and what really happened on the night of April 15, 1942.
The Titanic
The exterior
The Titanic was 268.73 meters long from her stem to stern; 53.3 meters high and weighed 46,330 tonnes. The ship's 55,000 horsepower enabled her to cruise at a maximum speed of 42 km/hr.
The interior
The interior of the ship was splendid. It had a tennis court(!), two swimming pools, a gymnasium and four large restaurants. There were individual gardens for each of the first class cabins which were situated on the upper deck. She also included a band of musicians and a library to entertain the passengers.
The ticket to board the Titanic
April 10, 1912
It was the day when the world's largest and most expensive ocean liner embarked her maiden voyage. Everyone wanted to be the first to board the unsinkable Titanic. Some businessmen and Lords paid as much as 870 pounds for the ticket. Titanic weighed the anchor from Southampton Port in Britain in afternoon. The magnificent vessel quickly reached the French port of Cherbourg by nightfall with a speed of 42 km/hr. The Titanic then set course towards Queenstown port in Ireland and on April 11, 1912, the ill-fated steamer left the port of Queenstown in the afternoon.
The 11-storied steamer set course towards New York in the west. After three days of sailing and crossing the better part of the Atlantic Ocean, the Titanic now reached the southern shores of Newfoundland in Canada.
April 14, 1912
Early morning. The majestic steamer was slowly moving towards the danger which the passengers and the crew members knew nothing about. The first alarm to the unexpected danger was received at 9 am from a steamer named 'Carnoia', who sent the message in Morse code saying that all the steamers including theirs have sighted a number of icebergs ahead. It was an unlikely warning and sadly, the radio operator of the Titanic completely ignored it.
The weather was bitterly cold with a continuous flow of wind towards the south that pushed the icebergs right into the path of the Titanic. It was afternoon and the weather remained cold. The steamer named 'Californian' which was navigating at a little distance from the Titanic sighted three mammoth icebergs and transmitted a (second) warning message (the first one being passed by the 'Caronia'), which was also ignored by Harold Bride and Jack Phillips, the radio operators of the Titanic. The third warning message was extremely clear and was passed by the steamer named 'Baltic' which read: "There are a number of icebergs in your path and many of them are growlers. Keep a sharp lookout."
The word 'growler' rang an alarm bell in operator Harold's brain because a growler is an iceberg that has a comparatively flat top unlike the usual tall icebergs which can be seen easily against the horizon. The look-out atop a steamer sees a growler only when the ship gets quite close. It is then impossible to either reduce speed or turn the ship left or right to avoid collision. The captain also committed an unpardonable blunder by passing on the note to the chairman of White Star Line Company Mr. Bruce Ismay, who just glanced at the note and forgot all about it!
The Titanic continued on her set course until late evening. When the 'Californian' sent another warning message to the Titanic, the captain rushed to find Ismay and recovered the first message from him. It was 7.15 pm and pitch dark all around. Captain Edward Smith realised that the course of Titanic should have been changed a long time back, instead of which the steamer had now entered the waters where there were a number of treacherous icebergs. Then the captain sent a keen-eyed sailor to the highest look-out point of the steamer to keep a sharp watch for any iceberg. In spite of bitter cold, the sailor kept watch till almost 11 pm.
Another mistake, or yet another role of ill-fate was that the captain kept up the speed of the Titanic in the pitch dark too. This was because he wished to retire after this voyage and before retiring, he wished to establish a world record of crossing the Atlantic Ocean in the least possible time. It is also said that Ismay wished to make his company world-famous by setting a record of reaching New York in 5 days.
Meanwhile at 11.40 pm, the 'Californian' sent the Titanic an entirely different message saying that they were completely stuck in ice which surrounded their steamer. The then on-duty officer ordered them to stop sending messages as they were interfering and jamming the signals of the Titanic. This was yet another serious mistake. At that time, the Titanic was still moving at a speed of 42 km/hr.
The sailor at the crow's nest faintly outlined a white figure in the darkness. At first he thought it might be his imagination but then when the distance decreased, he was shocked and horrified. Destruction was staring them in the face. He rang the bell tower thrice and picked up the phone and informed the officer,"Change course immediately! Huge iceberg right in front!" The helmsman immediately moved the wheel to the left but the 46,000 tonne steamer moving at a speed of 42 km/hr was impossible to be turned suddenly. The 55,000 horsepower engines were then cut-off. The huge vessel turned slightly towards the left but there wasn't enough time to avoid the collision.
The hull plates at the side of the steamer scraped against the iceberg and a deafening sound filled the air. The stem of the vessel turned a little to the left and the impact was felt only slightly. After a few seconds when the sailors looked out, they saw that the iceberg had moved quite away into the darkness. But the lethal iceberg had caused fatal injury to the Titanic. It was now 12.30 am and during the 50 minutes that had passed after the collision at 11.40 pm, the wireless at Titanic sent out numerous 'help wanted' messages.
What happened when the Titanic began to sink?
The stem filled with water and so the steamer keeled over. The huge waves that lashed the deck broke the first tower of the Titanic. The stern was then raised, the weight of which could not be borne by the central part of the Titanic. The steamer broke into two and the towers broke due to the terrible impact. The stern stayed afloat for some time and the things inside the liner fell into the water. The stem started sinking like a stone. The stern became ramrod straight and eventually sank with a rotational motion. Then it became straight again while sinking. This was how the Titanic broke into two before sinking.
The sinking of the Titanic shook the whole world. It clearly shows how helpless man is against his own fate! But should one blame fate alone for this tragedy? The servicemen aboard also committed the silliest of mistakes which cannot be overlooked. It seems that the Titanic which was dubbed as 'unsinkable' had been built only to sink tragically into the Atlantic on her maiden voyage!
While one may take it in positive as well as negative respect, but it is correct either way. The tragedy of the Titanic is like no other in the history of mankind. It is for that reason that it holds a special mention in the pages of history. To conclude this post, I promise to return with the world's most enduring UFO mystery in the next post. Until then keep sharing the link and drop in your reviews/ suggestions in comments below. Bye!
Image credit:
Wikipedia
Source:
Safari India
The Titanic continued on her set course until late evening. When the 'Californian' sent another warning message to the Titanic, the captain rushed to find Ismay and recovered the first message from him. It was 7.15 pm and pitch dark all around. Captain Edward Smith realised that the course of Titanic should have been changed a long time back, instead of which the steamer had now entered the waters where there were a number of treacherous icebergs. Then the captain sent a keen-eyed sailor to the highest look-out point of the steamer to keep a sharp watch for any iceberg. In spite of bitter cold, the sailor kept watch till almost 11 pm.
Another mistake, or yet another role of ill-fate was that the captain kept up the speed of the Titanic in the pitch dark too. This was because he wished to retire after this voyage and before retiring, he wished to establish a world record of crossing the Atlantic Ocean in the least possible time. It is also said that Ismay wished to make his company world-famous by setting a record of reaching New York in 5 days.
Meanwhile at 11.40 pm, the 'Californian' sent the Titanic an entirely different message saying that they were completely stuck in ice which surrounded their steamer. The then on-duty officer ordered them to stop sending messages as they were interfering and jamming the signals of the Titanic. This was yet another serious mistake. At that time, the Titanic was still moving at a speed of 42 km/hr.
The sailor at the crow's nest faintly outlined a white figure in the darkness. At first he thought it might be his imagination but then when the distance decreased, he was shocked and horrified. Destruction was staring them in the face. He rang the bell tower thrice and picked up the phone and informed the officer,"Change course immediately! Huge iceberg right in front!" The helmsman immediately moved the wheel to the left but the 46,000 tonne steamer moving at a speed of 42 km/hr was impossible to be turned suddenly. The 55,000 horsepower engines were then cut-off. The huge vessel turned slightly towards the left but there wasn't enough time to avoid the collision.
The accident
The hull plates at the side of the steamer scraped against the iceberg and a deafening sound filled the air. The stem of the vessel turned a little to the left and the impact was felt only slightly. After a few seconds when the sailors looked out, they saw that the iceberg had moved quite away into the darkness. But the lethal iceberg had caused fatal injury to the Titanic. It was now 12.30 am and during the 50 minutes that had passed after the collision at 11.40 pm, the wireless at Titanic sent out numerous 'help wanted' messages.
What happened when the Titanic began to sink?
How the Titanic broke into two after the collision
The stem filled with water and so the steamer keeled over. The huge waves that lashed the deck broke the first tower of the Titanic. The stern was then raised, the weight of which could not be borne by the central part of the Titanic. The steamer broke into two and the towers broke due to the terrible impact. The stern stayed afloat for some time and the things inside the liner fell into the water. The stem started sinking like a stone. The stern became ramrod straight and eventually sank with a rotational motion. Then it became straight again while sinking. This was how the Titanic broke into two before sinking.
Remains of the Titanic found recently
The sinking of the Titanic shook the whole world. It clearly shows how helpless man is against his own fate! But should one blame fate alone for this tragedy? The servicemen aboard also committed the silliest of mistakes which cannot be overlooked. It seems that the Titanic which was dubbed as 'unsinkable' had been built only to sink tragically into the Atlantic on her maiden voyage!
Well it is rightly said- "Do not be afraid; our fate cannot be taken from us. It is a gift."
While one may take it in positive as well as negative respect, but it is correct either way. The tragedy of the Titanic is like no other in the history of mankind. It is for that reason that it holds a special mention in the pages of history. To conclude this post, I promise to return with the world's most enduring UFO mystery in the next post. Until then keep sharing the link and drop in your reviews/ suggestions in comments below. Bye!
Image credit:
Wikipedia
Source:
Safari India
Simply Amazing
ReplyDeleteThanks a lot :) Keep sharing and revisiting the blog! :)
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