Whoa, Dude!
Posted on 04/14/2005 6:45:52 PM PDT by kellynla
Just before midnight in the North Atlantic, the RMS Titanic fails to divert its course from an iceberg, ruptures its hull, and begins to sink.
Four days earlier, the Titanic, one of the largest and most luxurious ocean liners ever built, departed Southampton, England, on its maiden voyage across the Atlantic Ocean. While leaving port, the massive ship came within a couple of feet of the steamer New York but passed safely by, causing a general sigh of relief from the passengers massed on the ship's decks.
The Titanic was designed by the Irish shipbuilder William Pirrie and spanned 883 feet from stern to bow. Its hull was divided into 16 compartments that were presumed to be watertight. Because four of these compartments could be flooded without causing a critical loss of buoyancy, the Titanic was considered unsinkable. On its first journey across the highly competitive Atlantic ferry route, the ship carried some 2,200 passengers and crew.
After stopping at Cherbourg, France, and Queenstown, Ireland, to pick up some final passengers, the massive vessel set out at full speed for New York City. However, just before midnight on April 14, the ship hit an iceberg, and five of the Titanic's compartments were ruptured along its starboard side. At about 2:20 a.m. on the morning of April 15, the massive vessel sank into the North Atlantic.
Because of a shortage of lifeboats and the lack of satisfactory emergency procedures, more than 1,500 people went down in the sinking ship or froze to death in the icy North Atlantic waters. Most of the approximately 700 survivors were women and children. A number of notable American and British citizens died in the tragedy, including the noted British journalist William Thomas Stead and heirs to the Straus, Astor, and Guggenheim fortunes. The announcement of details of the disaster led to outrage on both sides of the Atlantic. The sinking of the Titanic did have some positive effects, however, as more stringent safety regulations were adopted on public ships, and regular patrols were initiated to trace the locations of deadly Atlantic icebergs.
And what do you want to bet that 85 years down the road, they'll make a sappy movie about it?
Whoa, Dude!
Saw the traveling exhibit in Houston a couple of years ago. That was very interesting and sad.
Time to sell your White Star Line stock.
Hold on to her Jack....she's chubby, she'll float.
Ted Kennedy was the captain.
RMS Titanic will (no doubt) rise above the movies and other (crap) made about her; like the pheonix, she comes to be immortal. For what it's worth, 57 years earlier, on that selfsame night, Abraham Lincoln also went to his eternal reward. Make of this what you will, Shakespeare was right in that April can be the cruelest month--remember that taxes are due on the 15th.........
The Titanic exhibit was here in the Twin Cities a few years ago.
I kept saying "Yes, I'll go before it closes". Then it closed and I hadn't made it.
I wish I had.
"remember that taxes are due on the 15th"
that is unless you file for an extension :)
More cushion, less pushin'.
Titanic archive
http://www.titanic-online.com/
I thought that was TS Eliot. Or did both authors impugn the month of my birth?
I live in Central New York State and drove to Boston to view the exhibit when it was there. They had the large piece of the ship on display that they had previously recovered. Water was constantly flowing over it as part of the desalination process. There was a sign nearby that said: "Do not touch." A guy standing next to me said: "Oh go on, you know you want to touch it." So I did, and fortunately wasn't caught doing it. Since then I've been able to say I touched the Titanic.
Here's hoping 2012 sees a re-enactment. Let Al Gore, Ted-former-CNN, and Hillary book their voyage NOW.
Classic case of Man vs Nature...
Nature won.
The first thing they ever taught us in the navy was the classic line that Thomas Andrews used in the move (well, a form of it)
"If it's steel, it can sink"
I spend most of career in the navy on Submarines---on one boat, she refused to submerge on her sea trials.
April is the cruelest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.
-- The Wasteland
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