Wireless operators Jack Phillips
and Harold Bride were busy
sending out CQD, the
international distress signal.
Several ships responded,
including Mount Temple,
Frankfurt and Titanic's sister ship,
Olympic, but none was close
enough to arrive in time.[47] The
closest ship to respond was
Cunard Line's Carpathia 58 miles
(93 km) away, which could arrive
in an estimated four hours —too
late to rescue all of Titanic's
passengers. The only land –based
location that received the distress
call from Titanic was a wireless
station at Cape Race,
Newfoundland.[47][48]
From the bridge, the lights of a
nearby ship could be seen off
the port side. The identity of this
ship remains a mystery but there
have been theories suggesting
that it was probably either SS
Californian or a sealer called
Samson.[49] As it was not
responding to wireless, Fourth
Officer Boxhall and
Quartermaster Rowe attempted
signalling the ship with a Morse
lamp and later with distress
rockets, but the ship never
appeared to respond.[50]
Californian, which was nearby
and stopped for the night
because of ice, also saw lights in
the distance. Californian's
wireless was turned off, and the
wireless operator had gone to
bed for the night. Just before he
went to bed at around 23:00,
Californian's radio operator
attempted to warn Titanic that
there was ice ahead, but he was
cut off by an exhausted Jack
Phillips, who had fired back an
angry response, "Shut up, shut
up, I am busy; I am working
Cape Race", referring to the
Newfoundland wireless station.
[51] When Californian's officers
first saw the ship, they tried
signalling her with their Morse
lamp, but also never appeared
to receive a response. Later, they
noticed Titanic's distress signals
over the lights and informed
Captain Stanley Lord. Even
though there was much
discussion about the mysterious
ship, which to the officers on
duty appeared to be moving
away, the master of Californian
did not wake her wireless
operator until morning.[50]
Lifeboats launched
Sinking of the Titanic by Henry
Reuterdahl, drawn based on
radio descriptions.
The first lifeboat launched was
Lifeboat 7 on the starboard side
with 28 people on board out of
a capacity of 65. It was lowered
at around 00:40 as believed by
the British Inquiry.[52][53]
Lifeboat 6 and Lifeboat 5 were
launched ten minutes later.
Lifeboat 1 was the fifth lifeboat
to be launched with 12 people.
Lifeboat 11 was overloaded with
70 people. Collapsible D was the
last lifeboat to be launched.
Titanic carried 20 lifeboats with a
total capacity of 1,178 people.
While not enough to hold all of
the passengers and crew, Titanic
carried more boats than was
required by the British Board of
Trade Regulations. At the time,
the number of lifeboats required
was determined by a ship's gross
register tonnage, rather than her
passenger capacity.
Titanic had ample stability and
sank with only a few degrees list,
the design being such that there
was very little risk of unequal
flooding and possible capsize.
[12] Furthermore the electric
power plant was operated by the
ship's engineers until the end.
Hence Titanic showed no
outward signs of being in
imminent danger, and
passengers were reluctant to
leave the apparent safety of the
ship to board small lifeboats.
Moreover, large numbers of
Third Class passengers were
unable to reach the lifeboat
deck through unfamiliar parts of
the ship and past barriers,
although some stewards such as
William Denton Cox successfully
led groups from Third Class to
the lifeboats.[54] As a result,
most of the boats were launched
partially empty; one boat meant
to hold 40 people left Titanic
with only 12 people on board.
With " Women and children first"
the imperative for loading
lifeboats, Second Officer
Lightoller, who was loading boats
on the port side, allowed men to
board only if oarsmen were
needed, even if there was room.
First Officer Murdoch, who was
loading boats on the starboard
side, let men on board if women
were absent. As the ship's list
increased people started to
become nervous, and some
lifeboats began leaving fully
loaded. By 02:05, the entire bow
was under water, and all the
lifeboats, except for two, had
been launched.
Final minutes
Around 02:10, the stern rose out
of the water exposing the
propellers, and by 02:17 the
waterline had reached the boat
deck. The last two lifeboats
floated off the deck, collapsible
B upside down, collapsible A
half-filled with water after the
supports for its canvas sides were
broken in the fall from the roof
of the officers' quarters. Shortly
afterward, the forward funnel
collapsed, crushing part of the
bridge and people in the water.
On deck, people were
scrambling towards the stern or
jumping overboard in hopes of
reaching a lifeboat. The ship's
stern slowly rose into the air,
and everything unsecured
crashed towards the water.
While the stern rose, the
electrical system finally failed and
the lights went out. Shortly
afterward, the stress on the hull
caused Titanic to break apart
between the last two funnels,
and the bow went completely
under. The stern righted itself
slightly and then rose vertically.
After a few moments, at 02:20, it
also sank.[55]
Only two of the 18 launched
lifeboats rescued people after
the ship sank. Lifeboat 4 was
close by and picked up five
people, two of whom later died.
Close to an hour later, lifeboat
14 went back and rescued four
people, one of whom died
afterward. Other people
managed to climb onto the
lifeboats that floated off the
deck. There were some
arguments in some of the other
lifeboats about going back, but
many survivors were afraid of
being swamped by people trying
to climb into the lifeboat or
being pulled down by the
suction from the sinking Titanic,
though it turned out that there
had been very little suction.[56]
As the ship fell into the depths,
the two sections behaved very
differently. The streamlined bow
planed off approximately 2,000
feet (609 m) below the surface
and slowed somewhat, landing
relatively gently. The stern
plunged violently to the ocean
floor, the hull being torn apart
along the way from massive
implosions caused by
compression of the air still
trapped inside. The stern
smashed into the bottom at
considerable speed, grinding the
hull deep into the silt.[55]
After steaming at 17.5 knots
(32.4 km/h) for just under four
hours, RMS Carpathia arrived in
the area and at 04:10 began
rescuing survivors. By 08:30 she
picked up the last lifeboat with
survivors and left the area at
08:50[1] bound for New York.
[56]
Aftermath
Arrival of Carpathia in New
York
Carpathia docked at Pier 54 in
New York following the rescue.
On 18 April,[1] Carpathia docked
at Pier 54 at Little West 12th
Street in New York with the
survivors. She arrived at night
and was greeted by thousands of
people. Titanic had been headed
for 20th Street. Carpathia
dropped off the empty Titanic
lifeboats at Pier 59, as property
of the White Star Line, before
unloading the survivors at Pier
54. Both piers were part of the
Chelsea Piers built to handle
luxury liners of the day. As news
of the disaster spread, many
people were shocked that Titanic
could sink with such great loss of
life despite all of her
technological advances.
Newspapers were filled with
stories and descriptions of the
disaster and were eager to get
the latest information. Many
charities were set up to help the
victims and their families, many
of whom lost their sole
breadwinner, or, in the case of
third class survivors, lost
everything they owned.[57] On
29 April opera stars Enrico
Caruso and Mary Garden and
members of the Metropolitan
Opera raised $12,000 in benefits
for victims of the disaster by
giving special concerts in which
versions of "Autumn" and
"Nearer My God To Thee" were
part of the program.[58] The
people of Southampton were
deeply affected by the sinking.
According to the Hampshire
Chronicle on 20 April 1912,
almost 1,000 local families were
directly affected. Almost every
street in the Chapel district of
the town lost more than one
resident and over 500
households lost a member.[59]
Survivors, victims and
statistics
Further information: List of
Titanic passengers and List of
crew members on board RMS
Titanic
Category
Number aboard
Number of survivors
Percentage survived
Number lost
Percentage lost
First class
329
199
60.5 %
130
39.5 %
Second class
285
119
41.8 %
166
58.2 %
Third class
710
174
24.5 %
536
75.5 %
Crew
899
214
23.8 %
685
76.2 %
Total
2,223
706
31.8 %
1,517
68.2 %
Of a total of 2,223 people
aboard Titanic only 706, less
than a third, survived and 1,517
perished.[60] The majority of
deaths were caused by
hypothermia in the 28 °F (−2 °C)
water[61] where death could be
expected in less than 15 minutes.
[62]
Men and members of the 2nd
and 3rd class were less likely to
survive. Of the male passengers
in second class, 92 percent
perished. Less than a quarter of
third-class passengers survived.
[63] Six of the seven children in
first class survived, all of the
children in second class survived,
whereas less than half were
saved in third class. 96 percent
of the women in first class
survived, 86 percent of the
women survived in second class
and less than half survived in
third class. Overall, only 20
percent of the men survived,
compared to nearly 75 percent
of the women. Men in first class
were four times as likely to
survive as men in second class,
and twice as likely to survive as
those in third.[64]
Four of the eight officers
survived. About 21 of the 29 able
seamen survived and all seven
quartermasters and eight
lookouts survived. Three of the
13 leading firemen survived,
around 45 other firemen
survived and around 20 of the
73 coal trimmers survived. Four
of the 33 greasers survived and
one of the six mess hall stewards
survived. Around 60 of the 322
stewards and 18 of the 23
stewardesses survived. Three of
the 68 restaurant staffs survived.
All five postal clerks, guarantee
group, and eight-member
orchestra perished.
Another disparity is that a
greater percentage of British
passengers died than Americans;
some sources suggest it was
because Britons of the time were
polite and queued, rather than
forcing their way onto the
lifeboats. The captain Edward
John Smith was shouting: "Be
British, boys, be British!" as the
liner went down.[65][66]
A Swede, Alma Pålsson, was
travelling third class with four
children aged under 10 to
meet her husband; all died.
"Pålsson's grief was the most
acute of any who visited the
offices of the White Star, but
his loss was the greatest. His
whole family had been wiped
out."[67]
The sailors aboard the ship CS
Mackay-Bennett, which
recovered bodies from Titanic,
were upset by the discovery of
a 19-month-old boy. They
paid for a monument and he
was buried on 4 May 1912
with a copper pendant placed
in his coffin by the sailors that
read "Our Babe". The boy was
identified in 2007 as Sidney
Leslie Goodwin.[68]
Stewardess Violet Jessop, who
had been on board RMS
Olympic during the collision
with HMS Hawke in 1911,
went on to survive the sinking
of HMHS Britannic in 1916.
[69]
The last living survivor was
Millvina Dean from England,
only nine weeks old at the
time of the sinking. She died
on 31 May 2009, the 98th
anniversary of the launching
of Titanic's hull.[70]
There are many stories about
dogs on Titanic. A crewman
released the dogs from the
ship's kennels before it went
down; they were seen running
on the decks. Two lap dogs
survived with their owners in
lifeboats.[71]
No comments:
Post a Comment