Bad Omen

April 2,1912

The Titanic would sail in just 8 days. But before any of this could happen the ship (being all fitted out) had to pass her sea trials  (something of a "test drive"). The Olympic, the Titanic's sister ship had aleardy sailed at this time. Though it did not sink on it's maiden voyage, it did collide with another ship (the hms Hawke) which tore a 40 foot gash in the hull of the Olympic. before it could sink they managed to pach it up and the Olympic limped back to shore. Could this have been a sign that these new ships were maybe not so safe?

The Titanic's sea trials were very short and took less than a day. By the evening of April 2 the Titanic was headed for Southhampton where the deadly voyage would begin.

April 10,1912

The Southhampton port bustled with many people waiting to board the Titanic. Everyone (even those who were not going to board) was excited for the very first journey (maiden voyage) of this magnificent ship of dreams. Many famous people were to board the Titanic ... either to be a survivor of one of the greatest sea disasters, or to be lost forever.

Before any of these passengers would board the great ship, Thomas Andrews, the ship's head designer and nephew of the owner of Harland and Wolff, would board. He being the designer saw many flaws in the ship but in the end was proud of his very own ship of dreams.

Before passengers even boarded the Titanic you could see the different treatment between classes. The Titanic's First Class passengers were greated by stewards in the reception room. After that they were escorted to their rooms. The men even got a flower for their buttonhole. By contrast, the Third Class passengers were greated my a medical officer who wanted to make sure they didn't carry desease.

As the Titanic was slowly pulled out of Southhampton's harbour, she passed a moored ship (the New York). The Titanics passing caused this ship to break it's mooring ropes and drift towards titanic. Quickly the Titanic went full astern and the burst of water from the Titanic's propeller pushed the New York away. The ships had only been 4 feet apart. Could this have been another sign?

The launch of Titanic

May 31 1911-

More than 100,000 people were crowded into the shipyard of Harland and Wolff that day, each one of them craning to see this unsinkable ship, this defier of god, this 882 foot miracle. And the Titanic truely was one of White Star line's miracle ships. Even at this time of the launch, when it didn't have it's four glorious smokestacks (even though only three were used as smokestacks the other one was simply used for ventilation and a more glorious look.) or it's glamerous interor, the ship was truely beautiful. Everybody whatched as red rockets were shot in the air to singal other ships in the river. And in those 62 second in between the Titanic became the largest object ever moved.

Now the White Star line's miracle ship lays at the bottom of the atlantic ocean, Harland and Wolff shipyards no longer stands and the White Star line's other miracle ships are gone. But these things live on in our hearts and they will forever. I know a lot about the Titanic and love it a lot but I created this blog to teach others about the Titanic and the importance of this disaster that is still clear more than 100 years after.

At the time of the launch the ship was only an empty hull. Later it would be "fitted out" for passengers to be able to board it. Locals of Belfast, Ireland could buy tickets to the launch and all the money made was to go to charity.

It took ten months for the ship to be fitted out for her voyage. In the fitting out they would put on the propeller blades, the smokestacks, and of course everything that was to be inside the ship had to be placed in during this time. Yes, the Titanic did have electricirty and was one of the first ever ships to have a swimming pool. It also had turkish baths, a gym were first class passengers could stay fit, and a Parisan cafe as well as other reastaurants. The Titanic and her sister ships (Britannic - orignally supposed to be called Gigantic - and Olympic) were very famous for being luxourious, and of course unsinkable. People believed these ships were unsinkable because of their 16 watertight compartments. If for whatever reason the ship started to fill with water then with of a push of a button on the bridge these watertight doors would slam shut, preventing the water to get to the rest of the ship. The Titanic could stay afloat with 4 of the compartments flooded. In the actual sinking, 5 were flooded.

The world was very excited for these new unsinkable, luxourious ships. But were they ready?