So, as a historian (amateur though I may be), this is kinda a big deal with me and I wanted to share it with you all. I wrote my first major paper on this ship, so I know far too much for my own good.

All of you know what happened with the RMS Titanic by now, either by television, books, or that infernal movie that they just released in theaters for a second time.

Well, tonight is the anniversary of her sinking. The 100th anniversary. We as a people tend to make a big deal about centennials, so this is mine.

The RMS Titanic was considered a marvel of innovation for her time. The largest passenger ship ever constructed then, she was 882 ft  long, 92 ft wide, and 104 ft tall (not counting smoke stacks). Most modern ships would dwarf Titanic today, but in 1912 she was a sight to see! What made her and the other Olympic-class ships special was the use of a "double bottom", designed to prevent a ship from sinking if it ran aground (kinda like that ship in Italy recently... but it happened much easier back then). Titanic also had a compartmentalized hull, which was supposed to keep any flooding confined to the compartment it started in. Because the ship was designed to stay afloat with up to six of those compartments flooded, the press declared the Titanic "unsinkable".

Four major problems existed with Titanic on the construction level, and all four of them contributed to her sinking:
1) Rivets: as we have all heard, the improperly tempered steel in the rivets were too brittle, causing the hull to buckle when the iceberg scraped along the side.

2) Bulkheads: the massive bulkheads that divided the ship into compartments only went up to D-Deck (Titanic had eight decks, D-Deck was number four), so when the compartments in the front flooded, the water would rise to the top of the bulkheads and spill over into the next one.

3) Scotland Road: On E-Deck (the one below D-Deck) there was a wide open corridor that ran the entire length of the ship, which was called Scotland Road after a street in London. This corridor allowed servants and third class passengers easy travel from one end of the ship to the other, but when the ship started flooding... well... hey look, a big corridor with no doors that bypasses all the bulkheads! *facepalm*

4) No Double Hull: Let's face it, a double bottom is a nice idea, but it is only useful if the hull is punctured on the very bottom of the ship. The idea of an entire double hull existed back in 1910 when the Titanic and her sister ship were under construction, but it cost a lot and they didn't think it was necessary. After Titanic sank, double hulls became the standard.

Those are just the errors in construction. Then you have things like the lifeboats. Contrary to what many might think, Titanic actually exceeded the amount of lifeboats required under the safety laws of the time, even though her twenty lifeboats could only hold about half the ship's capacity in passengers (let alone crew). How is this possible? Because the safety rules had been written in 1888 when the largest ship was half Titanic's size! That got changed really quick, and now you must carry enough boats to fit everyone on board.

Because of their desire to make a record, Titanic was traveling in the northern shipping lanes usually used in summer and fall but she wasn't the only one. All were aware that there was unusually heavy ice for April and they'd been getting reports throughout the trip. She was also going a bit fast for night travel, when most ships slowed or stopped. This alone would not have been a problem except for one little thing... the iceberg that they hit was a "growler".

Elara, what is a growler?
A "Growler" is an iceberg that has recently gotten so top-heavy that it has turned over. The majority of an iceberg is underwater, just like the ice in your glass of water. If you look at that same ice in your glass, you will notice that the part below the water is more transparent than the part out of the water. The same is true for icebergs. However, as moister gathers and freezes on the exposed portion of the ice, it gets heavier, and if it gets too heavy, the iceberg flips over. So now you have a massive iceberg with an exposed portion that has been underwater and thus is more transparent until it spends enough time in the air for it to turn white again. At night, this is basically like a giant piece of black ice- totally invisible at a distance.

By the time Titanic spotted the berg, they were too close and moving too fast. The first officer had two options: try to avoid it or hit it dead on. He chose to try and avoid it because hitting dead on would certainly kill all those in the bow of the ship (crew and third class), and it ended up being the wrong call. Yes, ironically, experts agree that if Titanic had hit the iceberg dead on, there would have been far less casualties and she might not have sank.

After the sinking, enforcement about shipping lane usage was stepped up, and the International Ice Patrol was created to help prevent such a disaster from ever happening again. This also lead to the formation of the U.S. Coast Guard.

Fact: One of the sticking points I have with the film Titanic is it showing the third class passengers being held behind gates during the evacuation. Historical record shows that didn't happen. The reason so many third class passengers didn't make it was because they either got lost in the ship trying to get up to the Boat Deck, or they didn't speak English so they had no idea what was going on when the crew came running through yelling for everyone to abandon ship.

One of the most tragic stories that I read while doing my research was actually about a family in first class - the Allison family. The only child in first or second class to perish was young Loraine Allison. The family of four (mother, father, Loraine and baby Trevor) were traveling with servants. When the accident happened, the nurse Alice and baby Trevor were separated (the circumstances are not clear on how) and made it to the lifeboats while the rest of the family tried to find them and each other. By the time Loraine and her parents had found each other and deduced that Trevor and the servants were not on the ship, all the lifeboats had been launched. Bessie Allison, the mother, was one of two women in first class that died.

The whole story is rather sad, but it is important that we acknowledge it. It is important that we remember the dead and why they died so that such things may never happen again.

So as you go about your day today, take a moment and think about all that I have said here. Also, take a moment to savor what you have, because disaster and tragedy can strike at any moment, and technology is never infallible no matter how awesome it might seem to be.

Please, share your thoughts.

Yeah, it was pretty tragic. When I was a kid, I heard of the movie. Because of me only hearing about the movie, I thought that the titanic was just a fictional story.

catfight09 : I have heard of a few people that had the same thing happen. I assume you figured out the truth before I posted this thread, yes?

Oh yeah. I've read a couple of historical books and whatnot about the Titanic and found out it was true prior to the thread. My Nana always sends me historical books that hold all sorts of information.

Man,when I saw the movie,I was heartbroken. All the people that died on the Titanic may Rest in Peace

Elara : The Titanic actually sank on the 15th,not the 14th. it just collided with the iceberg on the 14th

starwars293 : The Titanic finished sinking on the 15th, but the event that caused it to sink was today, and she started sinking on the 15th. It just took over two hours to get down there.

By the way, there's been a lot of coverage on this lately, and I heard on Morning Edition yesterday what some historians think was the final song played by the musicians, and it is hauntingly beautiful.

But I must disagree with your choice of titles, although the sinking was a great tragedy, I don't know if I would call it one of the greatest tragedies in history, especially compared to historical events such as the Holocaust, or the Black Plague.

However, it is interesting to note that on the Titanic, the rule of "Women and children first" actually played out without much pettiness. I like to think that humans are much more socially conscious that we seem to be, and that sort of proves it.

Elara : This is truly sad but if another replica of the ship is built let's hope we have a warm winter with temps in the 30's 40's 50's and 60's to prevent another tragedy like this one.

Rest In Peace to the people on the titanic you will be missed

I dunno, if you are talking about shiping disasters its one of the worst. Otherwise it pales.
This was the beggining of the end for the white star liners, others met there end too.
Trivia, popular history idolises the captaind and puts blame upon a 1st class passenger (iv forgoten his name) for making the captain alter speed and course, and the captain of the ship that recieved the sos was blamed for failing to rescue the passengers. The 1st is fiction. The 2nd unjust, he was far greater a distance than historians claimed, from the titanic. Had he acted, its unlikely he'd have made it in time to do anything.
The african rights campaigner marcus garvey also founded the 'black star line', a direct reference to the highly succesfull white star.

The ship, Titanic, sinking was one of the worst tragic events in history. It took place on April third, nineteen twelve. It took approximately three hours to complete a successful sink into the Atlantic Ocean. When it had sank, most humans froze to death in the ice cold ocean water. Mostly rich people survived the tragedy of the sink. I was a tad offensive to the movie, though, but I regret saying what I said. Although, the movie was interesting. I enjoyed the action in it. I'm astonished about the amount of people that died. It was extremely depressing and I hope nothing like this ever occurs again. ---In memory of the ~Titanic---

Man,I can't stop thinking about this event. Ever since I saw the movie,I was pretty much heartbroken. RIP to the people who died on the Titanic. If someone made another Titanic ship,would you guys go on it?

starwars293 :
no I would not.

Anyway, yes, it was bad. Of the 2,223 people on the ship, only 713 survived. Ouch.

Lazlo Falconi : I did say "one of" not "the"... and most historians still consider it to be one.

ProGamer135 : April 3rd? Uh.....?

starwars293 : Like the others said, the sinking began on the 14th and finished around 2am on the 15th (and since "tonight" encompassed both... well... yeah). Perhaps I should have been clearer.

And yes, I would totally go on a replica because it would have to conform to modern safety standards. It would be tiny though.

thenumberone : The person you are thinking of is Bruce Ismay, who was president of White Star. He and the ship builder were on board as first class passengers. And yeah, the whole stink over the Californian was just sad... but it did mandate that telegraph operators could no longer turn their sets off at night afterwards.

Scientists thought about some kind of mirage. Mirages can be seen during the day and the night. It's just a theory but they said that it may be a good cause for this accident. Now it's up to you, everyone, to believe or not this theory

I didn't have any realatives on board. I don't have any kind of personal connection to Titanic. It's simply something that has interested me for years, even before the movie.

When the movie did come out, all of my friends finally got into it as well. While everyone else in our ELA class did the usual work, we got to read books and write essays about Titanic. We even got to go on our own little field trip to check out a Titanic exhibit that was at the museum. It was extremely small, but fascinating nonetheless.

A year or so after the film had been released, I went to an exhibit in Portage la Prairie which had hundreds of items not only from the R.M.S Titanic itself, but from the movie. Seeing so many personal effects from people who had perished that night was very haunting. It made it real, if that makes any sense at all. Reading letter's written to loved one's who they would never see again, seeing a life belt with blood stains, a deck chair...History came to life and became the present.

I seen the movie three times in theatres back in '98, but admittedly I haven't watched it too much in recent years. It's just too heartbreaking for me to watch honestly, especially after seeing so many personal item's that belonged to people who were onboard.

Yesterday however, I took my sister who had never seen it before, to see it in 3D. I started crying during the opening scene. It's safe to say that I probably wont be watching it again for quite a while. Afterwards, it was all we talked about. Not Jack and Rose, but the real tragedy. That 100 years ago at that time, the survivors were still on the Carpathia, not knowing if loved one's had survived or not. I can't even imagine the horror of that night.

This past week there has been so many documentaries on televsion, and I've been watching as many as I can even if the information is nothing new. It's just so fascinating to me.

It struck the iceberg at 11:40 p.m. the night of the 14th and went into the sea at 2:20 a.m. on the 15th. Two hours and forty minutes. So many lived lost...

While the movie is one the highest grossing films of all time and is wildly popular, it's based on a horrific incident the will forever remain one of history's most infamous disasters.

More than 1500 people were lost to the sea 100 years ago, but they will never be forgotten.

thing1 : Yes, several artifacts have been recovered and currently tour the world in a series of exhibits. The biggest piece is the grand stairwell.

I worked at the exhibit when it came to Long Beach, which was housed onboard the RMS Queen Mary so the staircase wouldn't fit (I think it's in Vegas). I can tell you, walking through that exhibit day after day leaves you with chills. At one point I had to be the one standing at the end and thanking people for coming... it got really depressing because that is where the passenger list is located on a giant wall. The way they do the exhibit is really neat... at the beginning they give you a "boarding pass" for one of the passengers with facts about them, why they were on board, stuff like that. At the end, you find your passenger's name on the list to see if they survived. I had Molly Brown, so I didn't need to look... but yeah, it was interesting.

For more info on the exhibits, you can check out the website and it lists where the exhibits currently are and stuff: http://www.rmstitanic.net/

jlh : There was a young man, in I believe second class, who did that... he was just old enough to not be considered a "child" (so like 15). The captain went down with the ship.

You had said something about "Molly Brown", I think it was. I was just wondering: are you related to that person, did you do a report, or did you already know, because you said you did not need to look. I was just wondering about that.