the dead of night

April 14, 1912- night


If you had not known what was going on, nor had you had seen the iceberg, and you were simply strolling up on deck, it was a funny sight you would see, Groggy passengers stumbling up on deck in the dead of night, with a lifebelt on over their pajamas. You might wonder what was going, or why they were up wearing lifebelts at this late hour, and if you asked them what was going on, they would certainly tell you what they were told. then you would wonder, if the ship really was sinking, why weren't more oddly dressed peole up on deck?

If you were you had been sleeping happily in a first class stateroom, warm and cozy, and a obnoxious steward knocked on your door, and told you to get your lifebelt on and get up on deck, you might wonder what brought on this silly frenzy of waking up first class passengers in the dead of night. And once the steward left you would turn out that light, and and cozy up again underneath the covers. Later you would wonder why you did not listen to that steward.

If you were a third class passenger,and you thought you had heard a sound you might turn on the light, then get out of bed. then you would scream, looking down at the icy water that had began to fill your cozy little cabin in the dead of night. Then you might wonder how this could have happened to an amazing ship, an incredible ship like the titanic, an  unsinkable ship. An unsinkable ship that was no longer the titanic.

If you were a Steward, who had been woken up by your boss in the dead of night, and told that the unsinkable ship was sinking, and that you were to go to your cabins and wake up passengers and tell them to put their lifebelts on and get up in on deck as afst as you can, then you kight wonder what was to happen to you. You might be scared, scared out of your witts, becuase then you would realize, realize what was really happening; the titanic was going to sink.

CQD, SOS.

April 14, 1912- night


Thomas Andrews may have been wrong about the time it would take for the Titanic to sink but nonetheless it was a certainty she would founder. Not that any of the passengers would have known this at the time - in fact the passengers were quite ill-informed of the ships status at any time, let alone a time in which their vessel was sinking.

At approximetley 12:10 it was ordered that the first distress signal be sent out - using the Titanic's estimated position and call number (MGY) Jack phillips began typing CQD (the distress signal of the time). Only a little later did his assistent Harold Bride joke that he should use SOS, the new distress signal of the time, because "it might be your last chance to use it." Though they like the many passengers on board believed the Titanic to be in no true danger.

The distress call was replied by three ships though only one was even relativley close - the Carpathia. And this ship was yet still not close at all, or at least not close enough for the Titanic.


Finally at 12:05, soon after Thomas Andrews had given the news to Captain Smith, the order was given to uncover the lifeboats. They had 16 regular wooden lifboats and 4 collapsible boats labelled collapsable A, collapsible B, collapsible C and finally collapsible D. The regular lifeboats were labelled lifeboat 12, lifeboat 7 lifboat 3 and so on.

The Titanic's passengers lay asleep in there beds yet still, perhaps not even having opened an eye during the time of the collision - but there restful sleep would soon be interupted by a voice. And maybe this voice would seem to be lying for this was the Titanic - but it was saying one thing loud and clear.

"Up on deck captain's orders bring lifejackets no exceptions."

And if you did not heed this voice's warning then the only punishment would be on you.

Awoken by the Crash

April 14, 1912- night




"Can you hear that?"

"I don't hear a thing."

"That's just it- the engines have stopped."

Everyone who knew it had happened was in shock. Could the unsinkable ship have just it an iceberg?

"What's going on?"

"What was that loud sound?

Some people in the lower areas of the ship were knocked out of bed by a terrible noise.

"What was that?"

"I didn't feel anything."

"There was just a slight shudder."

 

"Should we go up on deck to see what's going on?"

The people who had been awoken by the crash, (or were already up, but felt it) went up on deck only too be reassured that there was no trouble. They went back to bed, or whatever they had been doing.

Captain Smith had been awoken by the crash and immediately came to the bridge asking what they had struck. First Officer Murdoch (who was in charge when the ship struck the fatal iceberg) responded that they had hit an iceberg.

Thomas Andrews, the ship's head designer, had not felt or heard the crash. He continued looking at the ship's design plans.

The fourth officer searched the ship and did not see any damage as far as he had gone. After telling this to the Captain he left with the ship's carpenter for a more thorough check. They found that the ship was indeed damaged and was collecting water fast.

After the Captain heard from the fourth officer he went to find Thomas Andrews for a look at the areas where the ship was taking in water. They toured the mailroom and found it was flooding with water.

After touring the other damaged areas, the Captain asked Thomas what he thought.

"Titanic will sink."

"But that's impossible! The Titanic is unsinkable!"

"She can stay afloat if four of the sixteen compartments are flooded. Five are flooded."

"How long can she last?"

"An hour. An hour and a half at most."

Iceberg Dead Ahead.

April 14 ,1912 -night

The great ship sailed along peacefully as Fredrick Fleet and his lookout partner stared into the waters, their naked eyes straining to spot what was ahead- but they saw nothing. It was late at night- almost midnight in fact- and and all seemed to be quiet on the Titanic. They seemed to have left behind the binoculars in Southampton, restricting them to just their normal sight. It didn't help that the ocean was calm so waves wouldn't splash against rocks or icebergs making them easier to see. In fact, the circumstances of the night were circumstances of foul luck, and perhaps that would soon be proved.

The past evening would be one to enjoy-there was a first class dinner party in one of the restaurants held by wealthy Philadelphia passengers. Many important passengers attended it including Marian and John Thayer as well as Captain Smith himself. Another guest was Major Archibald Butt and many more of the Titanic's more wealthy passengers. After dinner, card games began as usual on the ship:gambling was a popular hobby among rich passengers of the Titanic.

Neither of the two lookouts would have enjoyed such activities even if they weren't on shift. There were 4 different groups on the Titanic- first class being the highest and crew being the lowest. Although the officers and captain recieved much respect for their jobs- there were levels in society no matter were you were from or were you went.

At 11:39 Fredrick Fleet saw something,dead ahead. He rang the warning bell three times, and telephoned the bridge not seconds later telling them what he saw. He hung up and waited. Slowly, the great ship began to turn starboard. 36 seconds passed and then there was a slight shudder.

The Titanic had struck on iceberg, dead ahead.

predictions & icebergs

April 14 ,1912- morning


As the peaceful Titanic sailed the cold waters of the North Atlantic, only a few signs could possibly show that this could ever be the day that would determine the great ship's fate. One of those few signs was that many ice warnings had been transmitted throughout the voyage. The only thing is - how many of those ice warnings were actually recieved by Captain Smith?

The first warning of the day was recieved at 9:00 from the ship Caronia saying they had passed icebergs, growlers and field ice. ( A growler is a dark slab of ice either from an iceberg our a big pack of ice.) The second telegram of the day was recieved at 11:40 from the dutch ship Noordam  saying "much ice" in the same general area as were the Caronia had seen some.

The second of those few signs was that in some cases - even before the voyage - people claimed they had premonitions of a great disaster at sea such as the one that awaited the Titanic. In 1898 a man named Morgan Robertson wrote a book called Futility or the wreck of the Titan. The book talks of a ship trying to cross the Atlantic, then hitting an iceberg and sinking, killing almost all of the passengers. A young Scottish girl who lay dying had a vision of a liner sinking in the Atlantic ocean. She saw many people dying in the water. This vision happened hours before the Titanic sank.

These are just some examples of the many predictions and coincidences that led to the irony and sadness of the unsinkable ship sinking on it's maiden voyage. When looking back on the Titanic, for me, one of the saddest parts is realizing all the things they could have done to stop even some of the many deaths. Now remeber - always check the number of lifeboats before you sail your ship!

Traveling in Luxury

April 11,1912

Once the Titanic had left Queenstown (Cobh) Ireland, all 2224 passengers were aboard. All that was left was its last planned stop: New York City. Though truly the titanic had one stop before that that would prevent it from ever reaching New York, or any other place in the earth.

For first class passengers the Titanic's voyage would be quite enjoyable. There was a gymnasium in which you could ride a mechanical camel and a rowing machine and many other things. There was also a swiming pool as well as turkish baths. The Titanic was one of the first ships to have a salt water swiming pool on board. There were three smoking rooms for men only as well as a Parisan cafe and a reading and writing room that mostly women used.There were 5 children in first class.

Though they could not use all the luxuries of first class, second class could have a very enjoyable yoyage as well. They could read books from the second class library or play cards. There was also chess and dominoes. They could also go for walks. (Going for walks on the available decks was of course available in all classes.) There were 22 children in second class.

The third class passengers didn't have many activities to enjoy but they could make their own fun. There were 2 rooms available for their use: the smoke room and the general room. Though they could play cards and of course smoke in the smoke room. Some passengers brought their own instruments and played them in the general room. There were 72 third class children.

Though there were only about 99 children on the Titanic you can just see how much bigger the families were in third class. One family (the Sage family) had 9 children, whereas the families in other classes would have one or two children.

First class passengers would dine either in one of the Titanic's restaurants or in the grand dining saloon. Each class had its own place to eat. In third class, the dining saloon could only hold about 400 people, which was defenitly not enough for the Titanic's large amount of third class pasengers. They were each given a ticket that said what round they would be eating in. If you missed your round you would go hungry.

In its own day, the Titanic was simply a large cruiseship. But now the Titanic represents something more that an 882 foot long ship at the bottom of the North Atlantic ocean- looking back on the Titanic you can see the seperation between the classes. Back then the third class of people didn't matter. The story of the Titanic can teach people to treat others with less wealth as equals in our world.

the path to doom

April 10, 1912

After the incident with the New York was over, the Titanic could carry on with it's secheduled trip; stopping at Cherboug, France and Queenstown (now called Cobh) Ireland. From there it was to carry on into the icy waters of the North Atlantic to New York City, it's final destination. But not one of the 2224 passengers could tell the Titanic would be stopped forever down to the bottom of the sea.

The Titanic's first stop was Cherboug.  It arrived there an hour late because of its incident with the New York. 142 first class passengers, 30 second class passengers, and 102 third class passengers boarded at Cherboug.

Many of the Titanic's most rich and famous passengers boarded in France, including 47 year-old John Jacob Astor and his newely wedded wife Madeline, who was only 18. They were traveling to New York returning from their exctended honeymoon in Egypt and Paris. Madeline was pregnant and wanted her baby born in the United States. Also, Margaret Brown (later to be known as the unsinkable Molly Brown) and Benjamin Guggenheim who was on the ship with a lady named Madame Aubart. She was not his wife.

Not many people disembarked from the great ship. 15 first class passengers and 9 second class passengers and a canary who belonged to Mr. Meanwell.

The port in Cherboug was not a big enough port to hold the Titanic, so the tugboats the Traffic and Nomadic carried passengers on board. Many people to be documented in history boarded the titanic in Cherboug. In fact every last soul on the Titanic was to be a part of history, whether unknown or known to all the voices of the world. The Titanic truly did change the world.


April 11,1912

After traveling the seas for a night, the Titanic would arrive in Queenstown at 11:30 a.m. 113 third class passengers and 7 second class passengers as well as luggage and sacks of mail were carried out to theTitanic in the tugboats America and Ireland.

The Titanic left Queenstown at 1:40 p.m . Now the Titanic was headed straight in the direction of the icy waters that led to New York city. There in it's path lay the iceberg that marked the titanic's doom.