The crew of the Titanic lacked training in loading and lowering the
Many lifeboats only carried half of their maximum capacity; there are many versions as to the reasoning behind half-filled lifeboats. Some sources claimed they were afraid of the lifeboat buckling under the weight; others suggested it was because the crew was following orders to evacuate women and children first.
The lack of sufficient lifeboats was chief among the reasons cited for the enormous loss of life. While complying with international maritime regulations (Titanic carried more than the minimum number of lifeboats required), there were still not enough spaces for most passengers to escape the sinking ship.
Even though the Titanic, which launched in 1911, weighed 45,000 tons, that minimum was the same. The Titanic carried 20 lifeboats, giving it enough capacity for roughly half of the people on board the night the ship sank. Until the Titanic disaster, lifeboats weren't seen as a substitute for an entire ship.
The Titanic was provided with 14 lifeboats, of capacity for 65 persons each, or 910 persons; 2 emergency sea boats, of capacity for 35 persons each, or 70 persons; 4 collapsible boats, of capacity for 49 persons each, or 196 persons. Total lifeboat capacity, 1,176. There was ample lifebelt equipment for all.
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.
The crew of the Titanic lacked training in loading and lowering the lifeboats and few knew which boat they were assigned to. Lifeboats were not filled to capacity because senior officers did not know the boats had been tested and were strong enough.
Third-class passenger Rhoda Abbott jumped from the Titanic deck along with her two sons. The two boys drowned, but Abbott was the only female Titanic survivor to be pulled from the water.
Three small dogs, two Pomeranians and a Pekingese, survived the Titanic disaster cradled in their owners' arms as they climbed into lifeboats.
A safe and a satchel raised from the wreck of the Titanic were opened on live television Wednesday, yielding soggy bank notes, coins and jewelry, including a gold pendant with a small diamond and the inscription, “May This Be Your Lucky Star.”
The sea's surface shone like glass, making it hard to spot icebergs, common to the North Atlantic in spring. Nevertheless, Captain Smith kept the ship at full speed. He believed the crew could react in time if any were sighted.
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.
The second study, by British historian Tim Maltin, claimed that atmospheric conditions on the night of the disaster might have caused a phenomenon called super refraction. This bending of light could have created mirages, or optical illusions, that prevented the Titanic's lookouts from seeing the iceberg clearly.
Ismay, heir to the prominent British White Star Line shipping company, owned the Titanic, and he's the one who said it would be fine to put just 20 lifeboats on a ship that could hold 2,800 people.
When the Titanic hit the iceberg, the hull plates split open and continued cracking as the water flooded the ship. Low water temperatures and high impact loading also caused the brittle failure of the rivets used to fasten the hull plates to the ship's main structure.
They included dogs, cats, chickens, other birds and an unknown number of rats. Three of the twelve dogs on the Titanic survived; all other animals perished.
Were there horses aboard the Titanic? That's still a mystery. Some sources say there were polo ponies aboard, and there's an unverified story about a German racehorse who had a private paddock on C deck.
There were 128 children aboard the ship, 67 of which were saved. The youngest Titanic survivor was just two months old; her name was Millvina Dean (UK, b.
Only 25 percent of the Titanic's third-class passengers survived, and of that 25 percent, only a fraction were men. By contrast, about 97 percent of first-class women survived the sinking of the Titanic. The term steerage originally referred to the part of the ship below-decks where the steering apparatus was located.
On today's date in 1912, the body of James McGrady, a saloon steward aboard the RMS Titanic, was interred in Halifax, N.S., where he's buried at Fairview Lawn Cemetery. Recovered in the preceding weeks, McGrady's body was the last body recovered from the tragic sinking that took place about two months prior.
Titanic was celebrated as the biggest, safest, most advanced ship of its age, but it was a lowly stoker in its boiler room who truly deserved the name 'unsinkable'. John Priest survived no fewer than four ships that went to the bottom, including Titanic and its sister ship Britannic.
The iceberg that the Titanic collided with was approximately 50 to 100 feet high and between 200 and 400 feet long. This iceberg, large enough to cause the infamous disaster, was only a fraction of its actual size as about 90% of it was underwater.
The new ocean liner, which will reportedly cost about $500 million, will accommodate 2,400 passengers and 900 crew members, same as the original. It will also, thankfully, be equipped with modern navigation tools, a wider hull for extra stability and yes, enough lifeboats and life vests for all.
Delgado said such physical items should be treated with respect as if they themselves are the human parts. In the 111 years that have followed the disaster, expeditions to the Titanic have not found any human remains, according to RMS Titanic Inc, the company that owns rights to the wreckage.