What is Titanic? How the Titanic sank. Strange behavior of passengers

105 years ago, on the night of April 14-15, 1912, the legendary Titanic sank. This disaster is described in hundreds of articles, books, films... Why exactly does the sinking of the Titanic attract so much attention?
I agree, the sinking of the Titanic is one of the largest maritime disasters. But not the largest at all. If in terms of the number of victims - much more people died in .
If we talk about disasters that occurred outside of hostilities, then the Titanic ranks third in terms of the number of victims. The sad leader is the Dona Paz ferry, which collided with an oil tanker in 1987. More than 4 thousand people died in the collision and subsequent fire. Second place is held by the wooden paddle steamer Sultana, which sank on April 27, 1865 on the Mississippi River near Memphis due to a steam boiler explosion and fire. The total number of deaths on the ship exceeded 1,700 people.
So why exactly does the Titanic attract so much attention?

« Titanic» ( RMS Titanic)- a British steamship of the White Star Line, the second of three twin ships of the Olympic class. The largest passenger airliner in the world at the time of its construction.

Laid down on March 31, 1909 at the shipyards of the Harland and Wolf shipbuilding company in Queens Island (Belfast, Northern Ireland), launched on May 31, 1911, and underwent sea trials on April 2, 1912.
To mark the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the ship, the Titanic Museum was opened at the Harland and Wolf shipyard.

The workers pictured here are just a small number of the 15,000 people who built the Titanic.

Specifications:
Gross tonnage 46,328 register tons, displacement 66 thousand tons.
Length 268.98 m, width 28.2 m, distance from waterline to boat deck 18.4 m.
Height from the keel to the tops of the pipes - 52.4 m;
Engine room - 29 boilers, 159 coal fireboxes;
The ship's unsinkability was ensured by 15 watertight bulkheads in the hold, creating 16 conditionally watertight compartments; the space between the bottom and the second bottom flooring was divided by transverse and longitudinal partitions into 46 waterproof compartments.
Maximum speed 24-25 knots.

During its maiden voyage on April 14, 1912, it collided with an iceberg and sank 2 hours and 40 minutes later. There were 1,316 passengers and 908 crew members on board, for a total of 2,224 people. Of these, 711 people were saved, 1513 died.
The Titanic disaster has become legendary; several feature films have been made based on its plot. But why did the sinking of the Titanic become legendary?
Titanic was one of the largest ships of that time, the personification of success technical progress. To some extent, it symbolized the very idea of man's victory over nature. "Man - that sounds proud!" - as the classic said.

And on the night of April 14-15, proud humanity received a deafening slap in the face from nature. A huge piece of melting ice easily and quickly sent the result of the work of thousands of people who designed and built the “floating palace” to the bottom.
Historians still argue about the reasons for the death of the Titanic. Proponents of the “conspiracy theory” put forward versions that the Titanic was deliberately sunk to obtain insurance, that it was torpedoed...
All this is, of course, nonsense. But it still couldn’t happen without the human factor. More precisely, a combination of errors, miscalculations, and negligence.
So, already at the construction stage, design miscalculations surfaced. It was believed that the Titanic could theoretically remain afloat if any two of its 16 watertight compartments, any three of the first five compartments, or all of the first four compartments were flooded. Watertight bulkheads, designated from stem to stern by the letters "A" to "P", rose from the second bottom and passed through 4 or 5 decks: the first two and last five reached the "D" deck, eight bulkheads in the center of the liner reached only the deck "E". All bulkheads were so strong that they had to withstand significant pressure if they were breached.

The first two bulkheads in the bow and the last one in the stern were solid; all the rest had sealed doors that allowed the crew and passengers to move between compartments. On the flooring of the second bottom, in bulkhead “K,” there were only doors that led to the refrigerator compartment. On decks “F” and “E”, almost all bulkheads had hermetic doors connecting the rooms used by passengers; all of them could be sealed either remotely or manually, using a device located directly on the door and from the deck to which it reached bulkhead. To bolt such doors on passenger decks, a special key was required, which was available only to the chief stewards. But on G deck there were no doors in the bulkheads.

In the bulkheads “D” - “O”, directly above the second bottom in the compartments where the machines and boilers were located, there were 12 vertically closed doors; they were controlled using an electric drive from the navigation bridge. In case of danger or accident, or when the captain or watch officer considered it necessary, electromagnets, upon a signal from the bridge, released the latches and all 12 doors were lowered under the influence of their own gravity and the space behind them was hermetically sealed. If the doors were closed by an electric signal from the bridge, then they could only be opened after removing the voltage from the electric drive.
In the ceiling of each compartment there was an emergency hatch, usually leading to the boat deck. Those who did not manage to leave the premises before the doors closed could climb up its iron ladder. This is such a seemingly wonderful design, designed to ensure the complete safety of the ship.
But in July - October 1909, while on a business trip in England, Russian engineer V.P. Kostenko, a student of the famous shipbuilder A.N. Krylov, drew the attention of the Titanic designer Thomas Andrews to the potential danger that the watertight bulkheads of the ship’s compartments do not reach the main deck: “Understand, one small hole and the Titanic will be gone.”
However, the proud Briton ignored V.P. Kostenko’s advice, which later became one of the reasons for the death of the ship.

In addition, the steel used to cover the Titanic's hull was of low quality, with a large admixture of phosphorus, which made it very brittle at low temperatures. If the casing were made of high-quality, tough steel with a low phosphorus content, it would significantly soften the impact force. The metal sheets would simply bend inward and the damage to the body would not be so serious. Perhaps then the Titanic would have been saved, or at least would have remained afloat for a long time, sufficient to evacuate most of the passengers.
Also, according to the research, it was revealed that the hull steel was susceptible to brittle rupture in cold waters, which also accelerated the sinking of the ship.

It is now also known that the rivets on the Titanic were of poor quality. Conducted research and tests, analysis of procurement documents showed that forged iron rivets were used as rivets, and not steel, as was originally planned. Moreover, these rivets were of low quality, they contained many foreign impurities, in particular coke; during forging, this coke collected in the heads, further increasing fragility. During an iceberg strike, the heads of cheap rivets simply broke, and sheets of 2.5-centimeter steel separated under the pressure of the ice.

In addition, the number of lifeboats was insufficient due to outdated Admiralty instructions. But even those boats that were there turned out to be not completely filled. And this is due to miscalculations in the training of the Titanic crew.

But they didn’t skimp on luxury. There were legends about the pomp and splendor of the Titanic's interiors. The ship had 762 cabins, which were divided into 3 classes. There was room for 2,566 passengers, with unprecedented amenities available to passengers in all classes.
The difference between the luxurious first class cabins and the cheapest accommodation in third class was great: the differences were in everything - in size, decoration and number of rooms. Some third-class cabins had no washbasins or closets, things had to be stored in bags and used as a pillow, and all the furniture consisted of an iron bed with a straw mattress.
In terms of comfort, luxury and service, the Titanic was comparable to the best hotels of that time and was rightfully considered a luxury “floating hotel”.

1st class cabin:

1st Class Restaurant on Deck:

Smoking lounge 1st class:

Library:

Gym

What strange sports equipment there were back then...

There was even a swimming pool.

Smoking lounge 2nd class.

3rd class premises

A bunch of miscalculations led to errors in maneuvering, to a collision with an iceberg, to the fact that the ship quickly sank, and many passengers were unable to use the boats... All this is quite well known and has been described many times.

By the way, an interesting detail. Almost all the women and children from the 1st and 2nd class cabins were saved. More than half of the women and children from the 3rd class cabins died because they had difficulty finding their way up through the labyrinth of narrow corridors. Almost all the men also died. 323 men (20% of all adult men) and 331 women (75% of all adult women) survived.
On the one hand, this speaks of class privileges and prejudices of the society of that time. On the other hand, the fact that there are many men among the dead, and fewer women, tells us that the advanced ideas of feminism had not yet captured the masses. And it was still customary for women to be allowed to go ahead. As historians, aristocrats and millionaires say. those traveling 1st class could have been saved, but ladies and children were allowed to go ahead. 3rd class passengers were not always so gallant, and some rushed to the boats, pushing aside those who were weaker.

Yes, the representatives of the elite of that time had not matured enough to understand that “those who don’t have a billion can go to hell.” (c) And they believed that there is something more important in life than life itself. They could have saved their skins, but their upbringing and breed did not allow them to put their own lives above all else. And I involuntarily remember the words of Fr. Vsevolod Chaplin that earthly human life is not at all the highest value for a Christian. These words caused a terrible butthurt among the burning hamsters. Unlike the reactionary priest, the handshake representatives of a progressive society consider their precious lives to be the highest value. Like those passengers of the Titanic who furiously rushed to the lifeboats, pushing aside women and children...

The fate of the passengers and crew of the Titanic has become the topic of numerous articles. Some of them are not really surprising. For example,
In May 2006, the last American eyewitness to survive the sinking of the Titanic died at the age of 99. Swedish by birth Lillian Gertrud Asplund (Swedish. Lillian Gertrud Asplund), who was 5 years old at the time of the disaster, lost her father and three brothers. Her mother and brother, who was three years old at the time, survived. They were third class passengers and escaped in lifeboat No. 15. Asplund was the last person to remember how the tragedy occurred, but she avoided publicity and rarely spoke about the event.
who was two and a half months old at the time of the death of the liner, died on May 31, 2009 at the age of 97 years. Her ashes were scattered to the wind on October 24, 2009 in the port of Southampton, where the Titanic began her maiden voyage. last flight...

The plane crash was one of the most famous disasters in the history of mankind. In essence, the tragedy of the Titanic became a symbol of the death of what seemed powerful and unsinkable, a symbol of the weakness of human technogenic civilization in front of the forces of nature. And ahead of humanity awaited revolutions, bloody world and local wars...
Therefore, the disaster was widely reflected in art, for example in the film Titanic.

The futility of human pride, power and glory - all this was absorbed by the Titanic disaster. A century ago, the “floating palace” rests at the bottom, becoming the grave for many people.
R.I.P.

105 years ago, the Titanic's only voyage began. We offer interesting real stories passengers of the liner.

On April 10, 1912, the British liner Titanic left the port of Southampton on its first and last voyage. Four days later, after colliding with an iceberg, the now legendary liner crashed. There were 2,208 people on board the ship, and only 712 passengers and crew members managed to escape. 3rd class passengers buried alive at the bottom of the ocean and millionaires choosing best places in half-empty lifeboats, an orchestra playing until the last moment and heroes saving their loved ones at the cost of their own lives... All this is not only footage from a Hollywood film, but also real stories of passengers from the Titanic.

The real cream of society gathered on the passenger deck of the Titanic: millionaires, actors and writers. Not everyone could afford to buy a first class ticket - the price was $60,000 at current prices.

3rd class passengers bought tickets for only $35 ($650 today), so they were not allowed to go above the third deck. On the fateful night, the division into classes turned out to be more noticeable than ever...

Bruce Ismay was one of the first to jump into the lifeboat - CEO the White Star Line company, which owned the Titanic. The boat, designed for 40 people, set sail with only twelve.

After the disaster, Ismay was accused of boarding a rescue boat, bypassing women and children, and also of instructing the captain of the Titanic to increase speed, which led to the tragedy. The court acquitted him.

William Ernest Carter boarded the Titanic at Southampton with his wife Lucy and two children Lucy and William, as well as two dogs.

On the night of the disaster, he was at a party in the restaurant of a first-class ship, and after the collision, he and his comrades went out onto the deck, where the boats were already being prepared. William first put his daughter on boat No. 4, but when it was his son's turn, problems awaited them.

13-year-old John Rison boarded the boat directly in front of them, after which the officer in charge of boarding ordered that no teenage boys be taken on board. Lucy Carter resourcefully threw her hat on her 11-year-old son and sat down with him.

When the landing process was completed and the boat began to descend into the water, Carter himself quickly boarded it along with another passenger. It was he who turned out to be the already mentioned Bruce Ismay.

21-year-old Roberta Maoney worked as a maid to the Countess and sailed on the Titanic with her mistress in first class.

On board she met a brave young steward from the ship's crew, and soon the young people fell in love with each other. When the Titanic began to sink, the steward rushed to Roberta's cabin, took her to the boat deck and put her on the boat, giving her his life jacket.

He himself died, like many other crew members, and Roberta was picked up by the ship Carpathia, on which she sailed to New York. Only there, in her coat pocket, did she find a badge with a star, which at the moment of parting the steward put in her pocket as a souvenir of himself.

Emily Richards was sailing with her two young sons, mother, brother and sister to her husband. At the time of the disaster, the woman was sleeping in the cabin with her children. They were awakened by the screams of their mother, who ran into the cabin after the collision.

The Richards were miraculously able to climb into the descending lifeboat No. 4 through the window. When the Titanic completely sank, the passengers of her boat managed to pull seven more people out of the icy water, two of whom, unfortunately, soon died of frostbite.

The famous American businessman Isidor Strauss and his wife Ida traveled in first class. The Strauss had been married for 40 years and had never been separated.

When the ship's officer invited the family to board the boat, Isidore refused, deciding to give way to women and children, but Ida also followed him

Instead of themselves, the Strauss put their maid in the boat. Isidore's body was identified by a wedding ring; Ida's body was not found.

The Titanic featured two orchestras: a quintet led by 33-year-old British violinist Wallace Hartley and an additional trio of musicians hired to give Café Parisien a continental flair.

Typically, two members of the Titanic orchestra worked in different parts liner and different time, but on the night of the ship’s death, all of them united into one orchestra.

One of the rescued passengers of the Titanic would later write: “Many heroic deeds were performed that night, but none of them could compare with the feat of these few musicians, who played hour after hour, although the ship sank deeper and deeper and the sea got closer. to the place where they stood. The music they performed entitled them to be included in the list of heroes of eternal glory."

Hartley's body was found two weeks after the sinking of the Titanic and sent to England. A violin was tied to his chest - a gift from the bride. There were no survivors among the other orchestra members...

Four-year-old Michel and two-year-old Edmond traveled with their father, who died in the sinking, and were considered "orphans of the Titanic" until their mother was found in France.

Michel died in 2001, the last male survivor of the Titanic.

Winnie Coates was heading to New York with her two children. On the night of the disaster, she woke up from a strange noise, but decided to wait for orders from the crew. Her patience ran out, she rushed for a long time along the endless corridors of the ship, getting lost.

A crew member suddenly greeted her and directed her to the lifeboats. She ran into a broken closed gate, but it was at that moment that another officer appeared, who saved Winnie and her children by giving them his life jacket.

As a result, Vinnie ended up on the deck, where she was boarding boat No. 2, which, literally by miracle, she managed to board..

Seven-year-old Eve Hart escaped the sinking Titanic with her mother, but her father died during the crash.

Helen Walker believes that she was conceived on the Titanic before it hit an iceberg. “This means a lot to me,” she admitted in an interview.

Her parents were 39-year-old Samuel Morley, the owner of a jewelry store in England, and 19-year-old Kate Phillips, one of his workers, who fled to America from the man's first wife, seeking to start a new life.

Kate got into the lifeboat, Samuel jumped into the water after her, but did not know how to swim and drowned. “Mom spent 8 hours in the lifeboat,” said Helen. “She was in only a nightgown, but one of the sailors gave her his jumper.”

Violet Constance Jessop. Until the last moment, the stewardess did not want to be hired on the Titanic, but her friends convinced her because they believed that it would be a “wonderful experience.”

Before this, on October 20, 1910, Violette became a stewardess of the transatlantic liner Olympic, which a year later collided with a cruiser due to unsuccessful maneuvering, but the girl managed to escape.

And Violet escaped from the Titanic on a lifeboat. During the First World War, the girl went to work as a nurse, and in 1916 she got on board the Britannic, which... also sank! Two boats with a crew were pulled under the propeller of a sinking ship. 21 people died.

Among them could have been Violet, who was sailing in one of the broken boats, but again luck was on her side: she managed to jump out of the boat and survived.

Fireman Arthur John Priest also survived a shipwreck not only on the Titanic, but also on the Olympic and Britannic (by the way, all three ships were the brainchild of the same company). Priest has 5 shipwrecks to his name.

On April 21, 1912, the New York Times published the story of Edward and Ethel Bean, who sailed in second class on the Titanic. After the crash, Edward helped his wife into the boat. But when the boat had already sailed, he saw that it was half empty and rushed into the water. Ethel pulled her husband into the boat.

Among the Titanic's passengers were the famous tennis player Carl Behr and his lover Helen Newsom. After the disaster, the athlete ran into the cabin and took the women to the boat deck.

The lovers were ready to say goodbye forever when the head of the White Star Line, Bruce Ismay, personally offered Behr a place on the boat. A year later, Carl and Helen got married and later became the parents of three children.

Edward John Smith - captain of the Titanic, who was very popular among both crew members and passengers. At 2.13 a.m., just 10 minutes before the ship's final dive, Smith returned to the captain's bridge, where he decided to meet his death.

Second Mate Charles Herbert Lightoller was one of the last to jump from the ship, miraculously avoiding being sucked into the ventilation shaft. He swam to collapsible boat B, which was floating upside down: the Titanic's pipe, which came off and fell into the sea next to him, drove the boat further from the sinking ship and allowed it to remain afloat.

American businessman Benjamin Guggenheim helped women and children into lifeboats during the crash. When asked to save himself, he replied: “We are dressed in our best clothes and are ready to die like gentlemen.”

Benjamin died at the age of 46, his body was never found.

Thomas Andrews - first class passenger, Irish businessman and shipbuilder, was the designer of the Titanic...

During the evacuation, Thomas helped passengers board lifeboats. He was last seen in the first class smoking room near the fireplace, where he was looking at a painting of Port Plymouth. His body was never found after the crash.

John Jacob and Madeleine Astor, a millionaire science fiction writer, and his young wife traveled first class. Madeleine escaped on lifeboat No. 4. John Jacob's body was recovered from the depths of the ocean 22 days after his death.

Colonel Archibald Gracie IV is an American writer and amateur historian who survived the sinking of the Titanic. Returning to New York, Gracie immediately began writing a book about his voyage.

It was she who became a real encyclopedia for historians and researchers of the disaster, thanks to the information contained in it. a large number names of stowaways and 1st class passengers remaining on the Titanic. Gracie's health was severely compromised by hypothermia and injuries, and he died at the end of 1912.

Margaret (Molly) Brown is an American socialite, philanthropist and activist. Survived. When panic arose on the Titanic, Molly put people into lifeboats, but she herself refused to board them.

“If the worst happens, I’ll swim out,” she said, until eventually someone forced her into lifeboat number 6, which made her famous.

After Molly organized the Titanic Survivors Fund.

Millvina Dean was the last surviving passenger of the Titanic: she died on May 31, 2009, aged 97, in a nursing home in Ashurst, Hampshire, on the 98th anniversary of the liner's launch.

Her ashes were scattered on October 24, 2009 at the port of Southampton, where the Titanic began its first and last voyage. At the time of the death of the liner she was two and a half months old

Exactly 100 years have passed since the day the most famous maritime disaster in history - the sinking of the Titanic. On the night of April 14-15, 1912, the ship collided with an iceberg and sank in the waters of the North Atlantic.

Among all the maritime disasters that occurred in Peaceful time The Titanic ranks third in terms of the number of victims - 1,517 people.

We remember the events of 100 years ago.

The Titanic was built in 1909-1911 by the shipbuilding company Harland and Wolff (Belfast, Northern Ireland). In the photo: workers walk from the Harland and Wolf plant in Belfast. A ship still under construction can be seen in the background, 1911. (Photo Photographic Archive | Harland & Wolff Collection | Cox):

The Titanic was launched on May 31, 1911. In the photo: the ship at the Harland and Wolf shipyard before launching, 1911:

In April 1912, the largest passenger liner in the world set sail from the English port of Southampton to New York. on your first and last trip. On board were the richest people in the world. (Photo by United Press International):

Departure from the English port of Southampton, April 10, 1912. The dimensions of the Titanic are 269 meters long, 28.2 meters wide, 18.4 meters high. The Titanic was taller than most city buildings at the time. (AP Photo):

The Titanic was not only the largest, but also the most luxurious liner of its time: there were GYM's, swimming pools, libraries, upscale restaurants and luxurious cabins. In the Foto: one of the restaurants. (Photo The New York Times Photo Archives | American Press Association):

There were three classes on the Titanic: 1st, 2nd and 3rd. This photograph of the second class room. (Photo by The New York Times Photo Archives | American Press Association):

English naval officer (27 January 1850 - 15 April 1912). (Photo by The New York Times Archives):

William McMaster Murdoch - First Mate. It was he who was on watch and could not prevent a collision with the iceberg. William Murdoch died along with the Titanic.

James Cameron's film of the same name shows how Murdoch took money from a rich passenger for the right to board a boat, shot two passengers, and then shot himself. None of this is true. In fact, William Murdoch honestly fulfilled his duty and did everything to save as many people as possible. 75% of all those rescued from the Titanic were evacuated from the starboard side, where rescue operation It was William Murdoch who commanded. (AP Photo):

A photograph of the 30 meter high iceberg that the Titanic is believed to have collided with. The photo was taken from the cable-laying ship Mina, which was one of the first ships to discover the wreck of the Titanic. According to the Mina crew, it was the only iceberg near the disaster site.

The iceberg belonged to a rare type of “black iceberg”, i.e. turned over so that their dark underwater part reaches the surface. Because of this, he was noticed too late. At the moment of the collision of the iceberg with the Titanic, a pressure of 2.5 tons per square cm arose. Thick metal would have held up, but the rivets holding the metal sheets of the Titanic's hull could not. The seams spread over a length of about 90 meters, immediately damaging 5 of the 16 conditionally waterproof compartments of the ship. (Photo by United States Coast Guard):

Almost all the women and children from the 1st and 2nd class cabins were saved from the Titanic. More than half of the women and children from the 3rd class cabins died because... it was difficult for them to get up through the labyrinth of narrow corridors. Also, almost all the men died. Total from the sinking of the Titanic 1,517 people died.

In the photo: the Titanic lifeboat, taken by one of the passengers of the ship "Carpathia", It was the "Carpathia" that removed from the boats surviving passengers of the Titanic (712 people). (Photo: National Maritime Museum | London):

Another photograph taken by a passenger on the steamer Carpathia, showing the boats with the rescued passengers of the Titanic. (Photo: National Maritime Museum | London):

There were 2,229 people on board the Titanic, but the total capacity of the lifeboats was only 1,178 people. The reason was that, according to the rules in force at that time, the total capacity of lifeboats depended on the tonnage of the ship, and not on the number of passengers and crew members. And without a lifeboat, only wearing a life jacket, it was almost impossible to survive: the temperature of the sea water was only 0.56 degrees Celsius.

In the photo: a boat picks up a passenger in a life jacket from the water. (Photo by Paul Treacy | EPA | PA):

Surviving passengers disembark from the rescue ship Carpathia, New York, April 17, 1912. ( American Photos Press Association):

Meeting the survivors of the Titanic, New York. (Photo by The New York Times Photo Archives | Times Wide World):

In the photo: the family that was on board the Titanic. The daughter and mother survived, the father died. (AP Photo):

New York, April 14, 1912. People on the streets are waiting for news about the fate of the passengers of the sunken Titanic. (AP Photo):

The latest news about the number of survivors and deaths is posted on the street in New York. (Photo by The New York Times Photo Archives):

The very first articles from Ogonyok magazine, published in April 1912. This is how they found out details in Russia at a time when there was no Internet, television or even radio. It is worth noting that when the Titanic sank, in Russia it was the morning of April 2 according to the Julian calendar, and in Europe and America it was the night from 14 to 15 according to the Gregorian calendar:

Postcard of the Titanic, 1912. (Photo New York Times Archives):

A rare exhibit - ticket on the first and last voyage of the Titanic. (Photo):

The wreck of the Titanic was discovered on September 1, 1985. This was done by former US Navy Commander and Oceanology Professor Robert Dwayne Ballard. Initially, he planned to keep the coordinates of the ship's location secret so that no one could desecrate this place, which he considered a cemetery.

On the first dive, Ballard's team confirmed that the Titanic had broken in two during the dive.

In the photo: Titanic at the bottom Atlantic Ocean at a depth of 3,750 meters. 1999 (Photo by P.P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology):

Among all the maritime disasters that occurred in peacetime, The Titanic ranks third in terms of the number of victims- 1,517 people.

Disappointing 1st place belongs to the Philippine ferry Dona Paz, which collided with an oil tanker in 1987. More than 4 thousand people died in the collision and subsequent fire.

2nd place belongs to wooden paddle steamer The Sultana sank on April 27, 1865 on the Mississippi River due to a steam boiler explosion and fire. More than 1,700 people died.

Starboard side of the Titanic, August 28, 2010. (Photo by Premier Exhibitions, Inc. | Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution):

(Photo by Institute for Archaeological Oceanography & Institute for Exploration/University of Rhode Island Grad. School of Oceanography):

One of the ship's propellers lying on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. (Photo by Ralph White | AP):

A 17-ton section of the Titanic's hull is raised to the surface, 1998. (Photo by RMS Titanic, Inc., via Associated Press):

The same 17-ton piece from the Titanic, July 22, 2009. (Photo by RMS Titanic, Inc., via Associated Press):

Scattered along the seabed great amount various items, including parts of the ship, interior items and personal belongings of passengers. At an auction in April 2012 to mark the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, 5,000 items were sold as a single lot.

A gold-plated pocket watch recovered from the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. (Photo by Kirsty Wigglesworth Associated Press):

Money. (Photo by Stanley Leary | Associated Press):

Photos from the collection of Lilian Asplund (right), a survivor of the Titanic. She was 5 years old then. (Photo by Kirsty Wigglesworth | Associated Press):

Binoculars, comb, dishes and a cracked lamp. (Photo by Michel Boutefeu | Getty Images, Chester Higgins Jr. | The New York Times):

Glasses. (Photo by Bebeto Matthews | Associated Press):

Chronometer from the captain's bridge. (Photo by Alastair Grant | AP):

(Photo by Chang W. Lee | The New York Times):

Spoons. (Photo by Douglas Healey | Associated Press):

Gilded handbag. (Photo by Mario Tama | Getty Images):

A few more photos of the Titanic. The bow and stern parts of the vessel were found on the ocean floor 650 meters from each other. (Photo COPYRIGHT© 2012 RMS TITANIC, INC; Produced by AIVL, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution):

This is the first full image of the sunken Titanic, collected from 1,500 individual images high resolution, obtained using sonars - means of sound detection of underwater objects using acoustic radiation. View from above. (Photo COPYRIGHT© 2012 RMS TITANIC, INC; Produced by AIVL, WHOI). (Clickable, 2400×656 px):

Opened food. Side view. In addition, the best steel of the time, from which the Titanic was made, became brittle at low temperatures. (Photo COPYRIGHT© 2012 RMS TITANIC, INC; Produced by AIVL, WHOI). (Clickable, 2400×824 px):

Two engines of the Titanic - the largest passenger airliner in the world at the time of construction, which was considered unsinkable. (Clickable, 2400×1692 px):

Interesting fact: the last surviving passenger of the Titanic, Millvina Dean, who was 2.5 months old at the time of the sinking of the liner, died on May 31, 2009 at the age of 97 years.

Although not the most terrible in terms of the number of victims, the sinking of the Titanic remains the most famous shipwreck in history. Real Interesting Facts For more than a century, scientists, specialists and ordinary people have been occupied by the wreck and death of a famous ship, at whose service are books, television shows, documentaries and feature films, among which the famous film by James Cameron stands out as a mighty lump. But the sea giant's disaster leaves blank spots that need filling. Here we would like to introduce 15 real facts about the death of the legendary ship Titanic, which sank on April 14, 1912 when it collided with an iceberg in the Atlantic Ocean. The ship sank two and a half hours later, when the 15th had already arrived.

On April 10, 1912, the eight-deck steamship Titanic solemnly set sail from Southampton to New York on its first and last voyage. Four days later, the ship suffered multiple holes below the waterline after colliding with a mountain of ice in the North Atlantic. First Mate William Murdock spotted the approaching iceberg a minute before impact, but for some unknown reason waited thirty seconds before sounding the alarm. This was far from the only mistake that ultimately led to the sinking of the Titanic. Below are other tragic entertaining interesting facts.

1. After the Titanic's collision with an iceberg, the deck of the ship was strewn with snow and ice, which many passengers perceived as an unexpected trick and began to play football with ice fragments, not even suspecting the nightmare that had ensued.

John Jacob Astor IV
2. A first-class ticket, according to modern calculations, cost about $100,000, so the truly wealthy sailed on the upper deck, and the richest among them was John Jacob Astor IV, whose fortune was estimated at $85 million. In this century, Astor would be considered a billionaire. The rich man set sail with his wife, whom he put in a rescue boat, and he himself, with discipline (his army background), began to wait for his turn. Astor IV did not survive.

3. According to statistics, 74% of women and 20% of men survived on the sunken ship giant, so despite all the scandals and shameful acts of panic, the strong half of the passenger population behaved with dignity. Without exaggeration, what the heroic members of the ship’s orchestra did, who until the last minute supported their colleagues in misfortune with their playing.

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4. A Parisian-style café, Turkish bath, gymnasium, large library with reading room, squash court, living garden, hair salon, heated swimming pool, elevators and other luxurious furnishings constituted the daily comfort of first-class passengers, who were encouraged to feel at home. At the same time, seven hundred people from the third class were using two tiny bathrooms.

Last photo Titanic passengers
5. A photo of first-class travelers happy with life and the transatlantic voyage was taken in the ballroom of the ship on the night of April 14, 1912, just minutes before the accident.

6. News about the real situation with survivors and dead passengers remained a secret to the rest of the world for several days, and the first newspapers even reported that all tourists and crew members survived the sinking of the Titanic.

7. According to the construction plans, the Titanic was equipped with 64 lifeboats, but to reduce the cost of the project and not to spoil the appearance of the ship for tourists walking on the upper tiers, only 20 boats were available at the fateful moment. During rescue operations, many of the boats were only half filled, because the crew was practically unprepared for an emergency situation and, in a state of panic, made a lot of mistakes.

Titanic's ship's band
8. The most miraculous rescue story happened to Charles Jufin, a staff cook on the Titanic. The cook was unlucky to make it into one of the rescue groups, so the cook dangled in the water for two and a half hours and miraculously did not freeze from the cold, which happened to the others trying to survive in the icy water. Subsequently, Dzhufin claimed that he was saved by a mighty amount of whiskey, which the cook carefully stuffed into himself before throwing himself overboard.

9. Science fiction writer Morgan Robertson in his novel “Futility, or the Wreck of the Titan” described a shipwreck that was strangely reminiscent of the April 1912 disaster, also with an almost exact coincidence of the name of the floating transport. It’s just that the novel was written in 1898, when the Titanic was just a figment of the imagination of its future designers.

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10. The Titanic took us to Honeymoon thirteen couples for whom a romantic vacation turned into a nightmare attraction.

11. One of the reasons why the team showed itself to be incompetent in rescue procedures is the fact that the training lecture and practical exercises with passengers in case of an emergency at sea were scheduled for April 15 - too late, because the tragedy happened on the eve of X-day.

12. Almost immediately after the sinking, wealthy relatives of the dead tourists began to discuss the possibility of lifting the ship up and delivering it to New York, but years and decades passed without the desired results. The depth in this area of the ocean reaches several kilometers, so before the invention of deep-sea bathyscaphes there was no question of saving the Titanic, which was considered lost for more than seventy years. Only on September 1, 1985, the ultra-modern Argo apparatus recorded the first frames with details of the lost ship at a depth of about 4000 meters.

13. Halomonas titanica, a new metal-eating bacterium, is named after the steamship lying at the bottom, which will be completely “gobbled up” in the next twenty to thirty years unless the ship is raised to the surface.

14. James Cameron created a great work dedicated to love and epic tragedy, but on the Titanic, even without the director’s imagination, there were people who showed the world an amazing romantic and tragic story that will forever remain in the annals of human civilization.
American-German businessman Isidor Strauss and his wife Ida lived for more than forty years before traveling on the famous ship. The entrepreneur had the opportunity to be among the rescued, but refused to take a place in a boat filled with women and children. But Ida did not want to leave her beloved husband, so she refused to save herself without her husband. Therefore, the Strauss spouses, holding hands, remained on deck and met death with dignity.

15. In addition to the Strauss, the shipwreck was fatal for one and a half thousand people. Experts put the figure at 1513, which could have been much lower if all safety rules had been followed on the Titanic or at least there had been no cases of outright bungling. Like, for example, with the key to the box with binoculars.

David Blair, previously responsible for this function as an assistant captain, was removed from the flight and replaced with a more experienced officer. And Blair forgot to give the key to the box, which led to the absence of binoculars on the fateful night. Looking ahead, Fred Fleet survived the sinking of the ship and subsequently claimed that he would have noticed the approaching ice disaster much earlier if he had had ordinary marine binoculars at hand.

100 years ago, on the night of April 15, 1912, after colliding with an iceberg in the waters of the Atlantic Ocean, the Titanic liner sank, carrying more than 2,200 people.

Titanic is the largest passenger ship of the early 20th century, the second of three twin steamships produced by the British company White Star Line.

The length of the Titanic was 260 meters, width - 28 meters, displacement - 52 thousand tons, height from the waterline to the boat deck - 19 meters, distance from the keel to the top of the pipe - 55 meters, maximum speed - 23 knots. Journalists compared it in length to three city blocks, and in height to an 11-story building.

The Titanic had eight steel decks, located one above the other at a distance of 2.5-3.2 meters. To ensure safety, the ship had a double bottom, and its hull was separated by 16 waterproof compartments. Watertight bulkheads rose from the second bottom to the deck. The ship's chief designer, Thomas Andrews, stated that even if four of the 16 compartments were filled with water, the liner would be able to continue its journey.

The interiors of the cabins on decks B and C were designed in 11 styles. Third class passengers on decks E and F were separated from first and second class by gates located in different parts of the ship.

Before the Titanic set out on its first and last voyage, it was especially emphasized that there would be 10 millionaires on board the ship on its first voyage, and in its safes there would be gold and jewelry worth hundreds of millions of dollars. American industrialist, heir to a mining magnate Benjamin Guggenheim, millionaire with his young wife, assistant to US Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft Major Archibald Willingham Butt, US Congressman Isidore Strauss, actress Dorothy Gibson, wealthy public figure Margaret Brown, British fashion designer Lucy Christiane Duff Gordon and many other famous and wealthy people of that time.

On April 10, 1912, at noon, the Titanic superliner set off on its only journey along the route Southampton (Great Britain) - New York (USA), with stops in Cherbourg (France) and Queenstown (Ireland).

During the four days' journey the weather was clear and the sea was calm.

On April 14, 1912, on the fifth day of the voyage, several ships sent reports of icebergs in the area of the ship's route. Most day, the radio was broken, and many messages were not noticed by the radio operators, and the captain did not pay due attention to others.

In the evening, the temperature began to drop, reaching zero Celsius by 22:00.

At 23:00, a message was received from the Californian about the presence of ice, but the Titanic's radio operator interrupted the radio exchange before the Californian had time to report the coordinates of the area: the telegraph operator was busy sending personal messages to passengers.

At 23:39, two lookouts noticed an iceberg in front of the liner and reported it by telephone to the bridge. The most senior of the officers, William Murdoch, gave the command to the helmsman: “Rudder to port.”

At 23:40 "Titanic" in the underwater part of the ship. Of the ship's 16 watertight compartments, six were cut through.

At 00:00 on April 15, Titanic designer Thomas Andrews was called to the bridge to assess the severity of the damage. After reporting the incident and inspecting the ship, Andrews informed everyone present that the liner would inevitably sink.

There was a noticeable tilt on the ship's bow. Captain Smith ordered the lifeboats to be uncovered and the crew and passengers to be summoned for evacuation.

By order of the captain, the radio operators began sending distress signals, which they transmitted for two hours, until the captain relieved the telegraph operators of their duties a few minutes before the sinking of the ship.

Distress signals, but they were too far from the Titanic.

At 00:25, the coordinates of the Titanic were accepted by the ship Carpathia, which was located 58 nautical miles from the site of the wreck of the liner, which was 93 kilometers. ordered to immediately head to the site of the Titanic disaster. Rushing to help, the ship was able to reach a record speed of 17.5 knots - with the maximum possible speed for the ship being 14 knots. To do this, Rostron ordered to turn off all appliances that consume electricity and heating.

At 01:30 the operator of the Titanic telegraphed: “We are in small boats.” By order of Captain Smith, his assistant, Charles Lightoller, who led the rescue of people on the left side of the liner, put only women and children in the boats. The men, according to the captain, were supposed to remain on deck until all the women were in the boats. First Mate William Murdoch on the starboard side to the men if there were no women or children in the line of passengers gathering on deck.

At about 02:15, the Titanic's bow dropped sharply, the ship moved forward significantly, and a huge wave rolled across the decks, washing many passengers overboard.

At about 02:20 minutes the Titanic sank.

At about 04:00 in the morning, approximately three and a half hours after receiving the distress signal, the Carpathia arrived at the site of the Titanic's wreck. The ship took on board 712 passengers and crew members of the Titanic, after which it arrived safely in New York. Among those rescued were 189 crew members, 129 male passengers and 394 women and children.

The death toll, according to various sources, ranged from 1,400 to 1,517 people. According to official data, after the disaster, 60% of passengers were in first class cabins, 44% in second class cabins, 25% in third class.

The last surviving passenger of the Titanic, who traveled on board the liner at the age of nine weeks, died on May 31, 2009 at the age of 97. The woman's ashes were scattered over the sea from the pier in the port of Southampton, from where the Titanic set off on its last voyage in 1912.

The material was prepared based on information from RIA Novosti and open sources