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From the beginning, some blamed the Titanic's skipper, Captain E.J. Smith, for sailing the massive ship at such a high speed (22 knots) through the iceberg-heavy waters of the North Atlantic. Some believed Smith was trying to better the crossing time of Titanic's White Star sister ship, the Olympic.
Who was to blame for the sinking of the Titanic? Both America and Britain held inquiries into the disaster. both reached the almost identical conclusions. The American inquiry concluded that Captain Smith should have slowed the speed of the boat given the icy weather conditions.
1. Icebergs – the ultimate hazard. The poor navigation of icebergs is undoubtedly the most well-known and momentous of mistakes that caused the sinking of the Titanic. Indeed, the collision between the Titanic and an iceberg – on 14 April 1912 at 11:40pm – is what caused the tragedy.
Due to the size and speed of the Titanic it was not able to avoid the iceberg. Some historians suspect that if the order hadn't been given to stop the engines, the Titanic may have been able to swing around and out of the way of the iceberg.
The Titanic would founder. (By reversing the engines, Murdoch actually caused the Titanic to turn slower than if it had been moving at its original speed. Most experts believe the ship would have survived if it had hit the iceberg head-on.)
Iceberg warnings went unheeded: The Titanic received multiple warnings about icefields in the North Atlantic over the wireless, but Corfield notes that the last and most specific warning was not passed along by senior radio operator Jack Phillips to Captain Smith, apparently because it didn't carry the prefix "MSG" ( ...
The man at the wheel of the Titanic when it struck a fateful iceberg in 1912 has not been remembered well throughout history. Quartermaster Robert Hichens was accused of refusing to return to rescue passengers after taking charge of a lifeboat on the sinking ship.
But the watertight compartment design contained a flaw that was a critical factor in Titanic's sinking: While the individual bulkheads were indeed watertight, the walls separating the bulkheads extended only a few feet above the water line, so water could pour from one compartment into another, especially if the ship ...
Later life. Though cleared of blame by the official British inquiry, Ismay never recovered from the Titanic disaster. Already emotionally repressed and insecure before his voyage on Titanic, the tragedy sent him into a state of deep depression from which he never truly emerged.
Captain Smith having done all man could do for the safety of passengers and crew remained at his post on the sinking ship until the end. His last message to the crew was 'Be British. '"
Most of the bodies were never recovered, but some say there are remains near the ship. What could have happened to the bodies? Some Titanic experts say a powerful storm the night of the wreck scattered the life-jacketed passengers in a 50-mile-wide area, so it's likely the bodies scattered across the seafloor.
On April 14, 1912, the Titanic tragically struck an iceberg in the cold Atlantic Ocean despite receiving seven warnings throughout the day of the imminent danger.
The latest version – by the novelist Louise Patten – suggests that a breakdown in communications caused the steersman to turn the ship the wrong way in the face of the iceberg. And, despite the collision, she says the captain was ordered to keep on going, rather than wait for a rescue ship.
How many people survived the Titanic? Of its total 2,240 passengers and crew, only 706 people survived the Titanic, says History.com.
Out of the 900 crew members on board the Titanic, a mere 214 of them survived. This means that 76% of the Titanic's crew perished when the ship sank.
The Titanic had a swimming pool on board
In first class there were many new attractions such as squash courts, a Turkish bath, a gymnasium, a barber shop and also the first swimming pool on board a ship. Even the cheaper third class cabins were of a better standard than those on other liners.
The dubious honor of the worst sinking of all time goes to the Wilhelm Gustloff, torpedoed by a Russian submarine on January 30th, 1945. She was crammed to the gunwales with German refugees, fleeing the advancing Russian Army in the waning months of World War Two.
MV Doña Paz, Death Toll: 4,386
The Doña Paz took two hours to sink and was followed by the Vector two hours later. Only 24 passengers from the Doña Paz and 2 crew members from the Vector were rescued. As none of the lifeboats could be suspended, the few survivors had to swim through the flames to get to safety.
After the Titanic sank to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean on April 15, 1912, hundreds of the survivors, families of victims, and owners of cargo filed claims against the White Star Line for loss of life, property, and for injuries sustained. Their claims totaled $16.4 million.
It was her sister, Edna Kearney Murray who survived the sinking of the Titanic but it wasn't in an overloaded lifeboat. “My great aunt Edna was in England at the time and had purchased a ticket for return passage to America on the Titanic,” Chris said.
While many are familiar with the tragic accident itself, not many are aware of the numerous lawsuits that followed. In the aftermath of the ship's sinking, a protracted transatlantic legal battle ensued between the vessel's British owners and claimants from the United States.
Three small dogs, two Pomeranians and a Pekingese, survived the Titanic disaster cradled in their owners' arms as they climbed into lifeboats.
The iceberg loomed closely at only 900 feet (274 meters) from the ship.
First-class berths would cost $4,591, second-class would be $1,834, and third-class accommodations $1,071. A calculated estimation of the Titanic concludes that the total number of first-class travelers was 324.