Titanic - 100 Years Ago Today

cnredd · #1 (**permalink**) 04-14-2012, 01:14 PM

Quote:

A century has sailed by since the luxury steamship RMS Titanic met its catastrophic end in the North Atlantic, plunging two miles to the ocean floor after sideswiping an iceberg during its maiden voyage. Rather than the intended Port of New York, a deep-sea grave became the pride of the White Star Line’s final destination in the early hours of April 15, 1912. More than 1,500 people lost their lives in the disaster. In the decades since her demise, Titanic has inspired countless books and several notable films while continuing to make headlines, particularly since the 1985 discovery of her resting place off the coast of Newfoundland. Meanwhile, her story has entered the public consciousness as a powerful cautionary tale about the perils of human hubris.

The last sentence is what I take from the Titanic...Touting it as "unsinkable" was pure arrogance and chutzpah...

MrLiberty · #2 (**permalink**) 04-14-2012, 06:54 PM

I found this the other day, a little Titanic trivia............

Quote:

Violet Constance Jessop (October 2, 1887 – May 5, 1971) was an ocean liner stewardess and nurse who achieved fame by surviving the disastrous sinkings of sister ships RMS Titanic and HMHS Britannic in 1912 and 1916 respectively. In addition, she had been on board Titanic and Britannic′s other sister ship, RMS Olympic, when it collided with the protected cruiser HMS Hawke in 1911.

Violet Jessop - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Comet · #3 (**permalink**) 04-14-2012, 06:57 PM

Anyone know of the creepy similarities between Titanic and the fictional novel, 'Futility,' written around fourteen years earlier? Very strange. The name of the ship in the novel was 'Titan.'

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Similarities to the Titanic

Although the novel was written before the Olympic-class Titanic had even been designed, there are some remarkable similarities between the fictional and real-life counterparts. Like the Titanic, the fictional ship sank in April in the North Atlantic, and there were not enough lifeboats for the passengers. There are also similarities between the size (800 ft long for Titan versus 882 ft 9 in long for the Titanic, speed (25 knots for Titan, 22.5 knots for Titanic) and life-saving equipment.

Beyond the name, the similarities between the Titanic and the fictional Titan include:

Described as "unsinkable"

- The Titanic was the world's largest luxury liner (882 feet, displacing 63,000 long tons), and was once described as being practically "unsinkable".

- The Titan was the largest craft afloat and the greatest of the works of men (800 feet, displacing 75,000 tons, up from 45,000 in the 1898 edition), and was considered "unsinkable".

Shortage of lifeboats

- The Titanic carried only 16 lifeboats, plus 4 Engelhardt folding lifeboats, less than half the number required for her passenger capacity of 3000.

- The Titan carried "as few as the law allowed", 24 lifeboats, less than half needed for her 3000 capacity.

Struck an iceberg

- Moving too fast at 22½ knots, the Titanic struck an iceberg on the starboard side on the night of April 14, 1912 in the North Atlantic 400 miles away from Newfoundland.

- Also on an April night, in the North Atlantic 400 miles from Newfoundland (Terranova), the Titan hit an iceberg while traveling at 25 knots, also on the starboard side.

Sinking

-The unsinkable Titanic sank, and more than half of her 2200 passengers died.

- The indestructible Titan also sank, more than half of her 2500 passengers drowning.

- Went down bow first, the Titan actually capsizing before it sank.

Futility, or the Wreck of the Titan - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

MrWrite · #4 (**permalink**) 04-14-2012, 10:15 PM

The best movie versions are the original 1953 with Clifton Webb and Barbara Stanwyck and the British "A Night to Remember".

Forget the "all-time money-maker." Special effects and "authenticity" can't make up for cheesy melodramatics. The black and white predecessors are more moving by far and WAY better acted.

Leonard diCaprio belatedly burbling into the drink can't remotely compare to Webb and his reunited adolescent son bravely going down together after the kid's given up his lifeboat seat.

Oftencold · #5 (**permalink**) 04-14-2012, 10:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cnredd

Titanic

The last sentence is what I take from the Titanic...Touting it as "unsinkable" was pure arrogance and chutzpah...

Has any one else ever given thought to the somewhat disturbing idea that we are living in someone else's distant past?

cnredd · #6 (**permalink**) 04-14-2012, 10:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oftencold

Has any one else ever given thought to the somewhat disturbing idea that we are living in someone else's distant past?

April 15, 2067 - Grandson on grandpa's lap...

Grandpa - "I remember your great-great-grandpappy was on the now biggest political forum in the world; Political Wrinkles...

He was a Moderator from Alaska...until they found the bodies in his backyard, that is..."...

saltwn · #7 (**permalink**) 04-14-2012, 11:26 PM

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Titanic's Fatal Flaws

According to some hypotheses, Titanic was doomed from the start by the design so many lauded as state-of-the-art. The Olympic-class ships featured a double bottom and 15 watertight bulkheads equipped with electric watertight doors which could be operated individually or simultaneously by a switch on the bridge. It was these watertight bulkheads that inspired Shipbuilder magazine, in a special issue devoted to the Olympic liners, to deem them “practically unsinkable.” But the watertight compartment design contained a flaw that may have been a critical factor in Titanic’s sinking: While the individual bulkheads were indeed watertight, water could spill from one compartment into another. Several of Titanic’s Cunard-owned contemporaries, by contrast, already boasted innovative safety features devised to avoid this very situation. Had White Star taken a cue from its competitor, it might have saved Titanic from disaster.

The second critical safety lapse that contributed to the loss of so many lives was the number of lifeboats carried on Titanic. Those 16 boats, along with four Engelhardt “collapsibles,” could accommodate 1,178 people. Titanic when full could carry 2,435 passengers, and a crew of approximately 900 brought her capacity to more than 3,300 people. As a result, even if the lifeboats were loaded to full capacity during an emergency evacuation, there were available seats for only one-third of those on board. While unthinkably inadequate by today’s standards, Titanic’s supply of lifeboats actually exceeded the British Board of Trade’s regulations.

Never hurts too be overly cautious.

MrLiberty · #8 (**permalink**) 04-15-2012, 01:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrWrite

The best movie versions are the original 1953 with Clifton Webb and Barbara Stanwyck and the British "A Night to Remember".

Forget the "all-time money-maker." Special effects and "authenticity" can't make up for cheesy melodramatics. The black and white predecessors are more moving by far and WAY better acted.

Leonard diCaprio belatedly burbling into the drink can't remotely compare to Webb and his reunited adolescent son bravely going down together after the kid's given up his lifeboat seat.

The movie with Webb and Stanwyck was called Titanic, the 1959 Version, A Night to Remember starred Kenneth More

Titanic1953

Nighttoremember1958

saltwn · #9 (**permalink**) 04-15-2012, 11:38 AM

Officials: Human remains at Titanic shipwreck site

Officials: Human remains at Titanic shipwreck site

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NEW YORK - Human remains may be embedded in the mud of the North Atlantic where the New York-bound Titanic came to rest when it sank 100 years ago, a federal official said Saturday.

A 2004 photograph, released to the public for the first time this week in an uncropped version to coincide with the disaster's centenary, shows a coat and boots in the mud at the legendary shipwreck site.

"These are not shoes that fell out neatly from somebody's bag right next to each other," James Delgado, the director of maritime heritage at the National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration, told The Associated Press in a phone interview.

The way they are "laid out" makes a "compelling case" that it is where "someone has come to rest," he said.

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The image, along with two others showing pairs of boots resting next to each other, were taken during an expedition led by NOAA and famed Titanic finder Robert Ballard in 2004. They were published in Ballard's book on the expedition. Delgado said the one showing a coat and boots was cropped to show only a boot.

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Filmmaker James Cameron, who has visited the wreck 33 times, told the newspaper that he had seen "zero human remains" during his extensive explorations of the Titanic. "We've seen shoes. We've seen pairs of shoes, which would strongly suggest there was a body there at one point. But we've never seen any human remains."

For Delgado, who was the chief scientist on an expedition in 2010 that mapped the entire site, the difference in opinion is "one of semantics."

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"I as an archaeologist would say those are human remains," he said, referring to the photograph of the coat and boots specifically. "Buried in that sediment are very likely forensic remains of that person."

He said in an email that the images "speak to the power of that tragic and powerful scene 2 ½ miles below" and "to its resilience as an undersea museum, as well as its fragility."

"This is an appropriate time to note the human cost of that event, and the fact that in this special place at the bottom of the sea, evidence of the human cost, in the form of the shattered wreck, the scattered luggage, fittings and other artifacts, and the faint but unmistakable evidence that this is where people came to rest, is present," he said.

R.I.P.

Edited: the above link shows the cropped pic of the boot. This one the full pic though small: http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/...n-titanic.html

pjohns · #10 (**permalink**) 04-15-2012, 07:16 PM

It was 100 years ago, today, that the Titanic went down, having first struck an iceberg a few hours earlier, on the night of April 14, 1912.

This, of course, occured in the North Atlantic, not too far from Newfoundland.

About two-thirds of the ship's passengers and crew of 2,223 people perished in those icy waters.

Too few lifeboats were onboard. But that was not the most important problem.

The Titanic's faulty construction may have contributed to its sinking.

Ultimately, its sister ship, the Britannic, was modified, as a result of this.

Had the Carpathia responded, initially, to the Titanic's flares, following the latter's collision with an iceberg, the final body count might have been very different.

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