Titanic- it has many different names: the Ship of Dreams, the Unsinkable Ship, and the worst
Maritime Disaster in all of history. Designed and manufactured by the White Star Line Company, this
huge British luxury liner weighed approximately 46,000 gross tons.
Titanic set off on it's maiden voyage, carrying more than 2,220 passengers, from the docks of
Southampton in early April 1912. Titanic's voyage was called the voyage of discovery, but it turned
out to be the last voyage that it and many of its passengers would take. Built originally with enough
lifeboat capacity for everyone on the ship, the boat deck seemed too crowded so half of the
lifeboats were taken off the ship.
While the great ship was speeding toward New York City, it struck an iceberg about 153km south
of the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, only minutes before midnight on April 14, 1912. Titanic was
swallowed by the sea in less than three hours, and, even though there was enough room for half of
the passengers in the lifeboats, the people paniced and loaded the boats themselves. They filled the
boats much less than full because they were worried about being too crowded.
In the end, 1,513 out of the 2,220 passengers perished in the freezing ocean water. Investigations
into the happenings of that night are frustrating to say the least. Another ship, the Californian, was
close enough to Titanic to rescue the passengers, but it did not respond to the Titanic's distress calls
because its radio opperator was off duty and asleep.
Titanic is now at the bottom of the sea, but the dreadful occurances of April 14, 1912 live on in the
minds and hearts of the survivors and the loved ones of those passengers who weren't as fortunate.
These are the tragedies, and this is the disaster simply known as Titanic.
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