THE RMS TITANIC

RMS Titanic was a British vessel, a passenger liner, the  biggest there ever was and also known to be unsinkable. Unfortunately the RMS Titanic sank in the North Atlantic Ocean in 1912 after striking an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York City. The RMS Titanic had on board an estimated 2,224 people including passengers and crew aboard. Out of this huge number more than 1,500 died, making this sinking tragedy one of modern history's deadliest peacetime commercial marine disasters.

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Titanic was under the command of Capt. Edward Smith with Chief Officer Henry Tingle Wilde. The ocean liner carried some of the wealthiest people in the world, as well as hundreds of emigrants from Great Britain, Ireland, Scandinavia and elsewhere throughout the Europe. The first-class accommodation was designed to be at utmost comfort and luxury as they were built with a gymnasium, swimming pool, libraries, high-class restaurants and deluxe cabins. Although Titanic had advanced safety features such as watertight and weather tight compartments and remotely activated watertight doors, it only carried enough lifeboats for 1,178 people. This means that the lifeboats will only be able to carry about half the number of passengers on board, The ship carried 16 lifeboat davits which could lower three lifeboats each which means they have a total a total of 48 boats. However, Titanic carried only a total of 20 lifeboats which was against the protocol of the vessel.

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The RMS Titanic departed Southampton on 10 April 1912. On 14 April, four days into the crossing and about 375 miles (600 km) south of Newfoundland, she received six warning of sea ice around, however she was still maneuvering at nearly her maximum speed. The Officer on Watch (OOW) had then saw an iceberg dead straight ahead of her. The warning bell from the lookout at about 2330 hours of the iceberg was too short for the ship to alter her course. The engines were quickly put to reverse and the ship was turned sharply. She hit an iceberg at 2340 hours ship's time. The collision caused the hull plates to buckle inwards along her starboard side making a 300 foot gash. This caused five of her sixteen watertight compartments to break open to the sea. However, she could only survive if four of it were broke open to flooding.

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Distress signals were initiated and passengers as well as some crew members had started to be evacuated into the lifeboats. However due to the ship sinking at a fast rate, there was a no refuge for the passengers on board. Therefore, the Captain had ordered many of lifeboats to be launched although they were only partially loaded. This caused a disproportionate number of men to be left aboard because of a "women and chid first" protocol during the loading of the lifeboats. At 0220 hours, the Titanic broke apart and foundered with well over one thousand people still aboard. Just under two hours after the Titanic sank, the Cunard liner RMS Carpathia arrived and brought on board an estimated 705 survivors.

The disaster was met with worldwide shock and an outrage due to the huge loss of life and the regulatory and operational failures that led to this tragedy. Therefore Britain and the United States had come into the discussion and made major improvments in maritime safety. One of their most important legacies was the establishment in 1914 of the International Convention fo the Safety Of Life At Sea (SOLAS), which still governs maritime safety. Several new wireless regulations were passed around the world in an effort to learn from the many missteps in wireless communications which could have saved many more passengers.

( Source : Google Images )