Where and where the Titanic was going when it sank. Secret of the Ocean. How they searched and found the legendary Titanic. House for underwater inhabitants
a" Frederick Fleet noticed an iceberg directly ahead, approximately 650 m from the liner. Having struck the bell three times, he reported to the bridge. The first mate ordered the helmsman: “Left aboard!” - and moved the machine telegraph handles to the “Full back” position. A little later, so that the liner would not hit the iceberg with its stern, he commanded: “Right on board!” However, the Titanic was too large to maneuver quickly, and continued to coast for another 25-30 seconds until its bow began to slowly veer to the left.
At 23:40, the Titanic tangentially collided with an iceberg. On the upper decks, people felt a weak shock and a slight trembling of the hull; on the lower decks the blow was more noticeable. As a result of the collision, six holes with a total length of about 90 meters were formed in the starboard side skin. At 0:05, Captain Smith ordered the crew to prepare the lifeboats for launch, then went into the radio room and ordered the radio operators to broadcast a distress signal.
At about 0:20, children and women were put into the boats. At 1:20 am, water began to flood the forecastle. At this time, the first signs of panic appeared. The evacuation went faster. After 1:30, panic began on board. At about 2:00 the last boat was lowered, and at 2:05 water began to flood the boat deck and captain's bridge. The 1,500 people remaining on board rushed towards the stern. The trim began to grow before our eyes, and at 2:15 the first chimney collapsed. At 2:16 the power went out. At 2:18, with a bow trim of about 23°, the liner broke apart. The bow part, having fallen off, immediately sank to the bottom, and the stern filled with water and sank in two minutes.
At 2:20, the Titanic completely disappeared under water. Hundreds of people swam to the surface, but almost all of them died from hypothermia. About 45 people were saved on two folding boats that did not have time to be lowered from the liner. Eight more were rescued by two boats that returned to the wreck site (No. 4 and No. 14). An hour and a half after the Titanic was completely submerged, the steamer Carpathia arrived at the disaster site and picked up 712 survivors of the wreck.
Causes of the crash
After the tragedy, commissions were held to investigate the causes of this incident, and, according to official documents, the cause was a collision with an iceberg, and not the presence of defects in the design of the ship. The commission based its conclusion on how the ship sank. As some survivors noted, the ship sank to the bottom as a whole, and not in parts.
As the commission concluded, all the blame for the tragic disaster lay with the ship's captain. In 1985, oceanographer Robert Ballard, who had been searching for the sunken ship for many years, was lucky. It was this happy event that helped shed light on the causes of the disaster. Scientists have determined that the Titanic split in half on the surface of the ocean before sinking. This fact again attracted media attention to the reasons for the sinking of the Titanic. New hypotheses arose, and one of the assumptions was based on the fact that low-grade steel was used in the construction of the ship, since it is a well-known fact that the Titanic was built in a short time.
As a result of lengthy studies of the wreckage raised from the bottom, experts came to the conclusion that the cause of the disaster was poor quality rivets - the most important metal pins that tied together the steel plates of the ship's hull. Also, the studied wreckage showed that there were mistakes in the design of the ship, and this is evidenced by the nature of the ship's sinking. It was finally established that the stern of the ship did not rise high into the air, as previously thought, and the ship broke into pieces and sank. This indicates obvious flaws in the design of the ship. However, after the disaster, this data was hidden. And only with the help of modern technologies it was established that it was these circumstances that led to one of the most terrible tragedies humanity.
These are certainly interesting and I would even say “romantic” from a technical point of view, such as or for example. More than a century has passed since these huge liners plied the waters of the Atlantic. But their research does not stop to this day.
British journalist Shanan Meloni studied the history of the Titanic for 30 years and came to "sensational" conclusion: the main cause of the crash was a fire in the fuel storage facility, which lasted about two weeks. This is certainly interesting, but don’t you think that he didn’t tell us anything new?
After all, it’s still the twentieth of September 1987 French television told the world "sensational news": the cause of the death of the Titanic, it turns out, was a fire that broke out in the hold of the ill-fated liner, and not at all a collision with an iceberg.
Since after 30 years they come up again "sensational" versions, then let us remember all of them as they exist. Maybe you will also find something sensational for yourself :-)
Here they are...
On the cold night from the fourteenth to the fifteenth of April 1912, in the middle Atlantic Ocean the most famous happened maritime disaster throughout the history of mankind. The ship of the White Star Line, bearing the proud name "Titanic", having died in the middle of its first voyage and taking with it one thousand five hundred and four human lives, was doomed to become the most famous ship in the world.
Why did the most perfect ship of that era, a ship that was considered completely unsinkable, sank? Let's use a blogger prosto_serge Let's collect all the proposed versions:
Twins: Titanic (right) and Olympic
Version one. Conspiracy theory
Few people know that the Titanic had a twin brother - the ship Olympic, an exact copy of it, also owned by the White Star Line. How is this possible, the reader may be surprised, since the Titanic was considered a unique ship, the largest ship of that era, and now it turns out that there was another ship that was not inferior in size to it? No, the Titanic was indeed longer than its twin. Two inches. Just imagine - the length of a matchbox! - but still longer. Another thing is that it was almost impossible to notice these inches with the naked eye (and, perhaps, with the armed eye too), so that an outsider, looking at the twins standing side by side, could not tell which one was which.
The Olympic was a year older than its brother (so it would be more correct to call the Titanic a copy), and not much luckier. Probably, one should have written something like “from the very beginning, an evil fate hovered over each of the ships,” but more on that a little later: of course, the greatest naval disaster could not help but be surrounded by mystical rumors.
Well, rock, not rock, but the fate of the Olympic was indeed full of troubles. His career began when the ship crashed into a dam during launching. After that, small and large accidents rained down on him one after another, and the ship did not even seem to be insured. There are rumors that after a number of accidents, the owners would be happy to insure their ship, but insurance companies refused to deal with the failed liner. The most serious accident was a collision with the British war cruiser Hawk, which led the White Star Line to significant financial problems: expensive repairs were needed, and the company's financial situation was very sad. So the Olympic was placed in Belfast docks to await a decision on its future fate. And now - attention! Look at the photo on the left - this is almost the only photo in existence that shows the Titanic and Olympic standing side by side. It was made in Belfast.
Final fitting out of the Titanic at the Belfast shipyard
Why not assume, some researchers said, that the White Star Line decided to pull off a huge fraud. Quickly patch up the old Olympic and... pass it off as the new Titanic! Technically, this would not be at all difficult: swapping the plates with the names of the ships, and even interior items on which the monogram of the ships is applied - for example, cutlery (the Olympic and the Titanic had, of course, some design differences - well, yes who knows about them?). Then the Olympic, under the guise of the new, prestigious, widely advertised (and, of course, honorably insured) Titanic, will set off on a journey across the Atlantic, where it will collide (completely by accident, of course) with an iceberg (fortunately, there is a shortage of them at this time it hasn't been a year). Of course, no one was going to sink the liner - and no one believed that some iceberg was capable of sending the most reliable ship in the world to the bottom. It was planned to arrange a small collision, after which the ship would slowly reach New York, and its owners would receive a tidy insurance amount, which would come in handy for the company.
This version is supported by strange behavior the ship's captain, Edward Smith. Why was such a seasoned, experienced sea wolf so careless about the safety of his ship? Why did he stubbornly ignore messages coming from other ships about drifting icebergs, and even himself, it seems, directed the liner along the course on which it would be easiest to encounter an ice mountain? Why did he do this, if not to carry out the White Star plan? Personally, it seems to me that this was precisely for this purpose, but... the plan was completely different. But more on that later.
John Pierpont Morgan
It turned out to be quite difficult to refute the conspiracy theory, especially since White Star went out of its way to save its reputation: it distorted information about the disaster in every possible way, bribed witnesses, and so on. Actually, convincing arguments were found only after the sunken liner itself was discovered (and this happened only seventy-three years later - the remains of the ship were discovered by Robert Ballard's expedition in September '85). So, the participants of one of the expeditions who descended to to the lost ship, photographs were taken of the propeller, on which the Titanic's minted serial number is clearly visible - 401 (its older brother had the number exactly 400). Proponents of the conspiracy theory claim, however, that the Olympic damaged its propeller after a collision with the cruiser Hawk, and White Star replaced it with a propeller from the then unfinished Titanic. But number 401 is also found on other parts of the sunken ship, so the accusation of a planned disaster on the White Star Line can be dropped. The following theory looks much more plausible - we’ll talk about it now.
One of the arguments in favor of the conspiracy theory was the fact that industrialist John Morgan, one of the owners of the Titanic, was supposed to sail on board his ship, but canceled his ticket a day before the ship left the port.
They also say (this is where the mysticism began) that the tycoon was dissuaded from going by Nikola Tesla, endowed with the gift of foresight, whose development was financed by Morgan.
A piece of the Titanic's plating lifted from the bottom
Second version. Chasing the Blue Ribbon
It all started a long time ago, when regular maritime communications were established between England and America, and, therefore, competition between ship-owning companies began to flare up. The faster the ship crossed the Atlantic, the more popular it became. In 1840, the Cunard company invented a prize for ships that set a speed record: now the ship that crossed the Atlantic Ocean faster than all its predecessors received the Blue Riband of the Atlantic as an award.
Actually, there was no material prize. The winner did not receive a cash prize, nor was the captain given a commemorative cup, which could be placed in a prominent place in the wardroom. But the ship acquired something more - priceless prestige that could not be achieved by other means. In addition to honor in maritime circles (and, therefore, fame and popularity), the winner of the award received a contract for the transportation of mail (including diplomatic mail) between America and Europe, and this is a very profitable item in shipping. And in general - see for yourself: if you are a rich businessman, maybe even a millionaire, which ship would you prefer to travel on? Isn't it the most prestigious and fastest?
At the time of the Titanic's departure from Southampton, the Blue Ribbon was owned by the Mauritania, a ship owned by White Star's main competitor. Naturally, this could not be tolerated, and White Star decided to bet on its favorite. The Titanic's winning of the Blue Riband would be a triumph for the corporation, helping to improve its shaky position: the All Atlantic Ribbon typically carried four times as many passengers as other similar ships.
Due to the threat of a collision with floating ice, the prescribed route of the Titanic (and any other ship following the same course) did not run in a straight line, but made a small detour, skirting the dangerous ocean area where most icebergs drift. Of course, this maneuver lengthens the road. That's why it might seem that Captain Smith was steering his ship straight into a cluster of icebergs - he just needed to take a shortcut and get the Blue Ribbon at all costs. That is why the Titanic was moving at full speed and did not slow down even after receiving several radio warnings about ice danger from other ships. Let other ships worry, but the Titanic has nothing to fear. In the “crow’s nest” - a special observation platform on the forward mast - there are two lookouts who, in case of danger, can instantly report it to the captain’s bridge using telephone communication: The Titanic is equipped with the latest technology. And if a collision does occur, well, that just means that the record will be set another time. Icebergs do not pose a danger to the ship - after all, it is known that the Titanic is completely unsinkable. Its hold is divided into sixteen waterproof compartments, so that if it suddenly gets a hole (which, of course, cannot be), then only one of the compartments will be filled with water, and the ship will calmly continue its journey. That's one thing - the liner will not sink, even if four compartments are filled! And a ship can receive such damage only in war.
Well, it’s not for nothing that pride is one of the deadly sins. She played a cruel joke on the Titanic: the iceberg damaged five compartments - one more than was permissible.
But how could the ice break through the steel of the ship's plating? In the mid-nineties, a piece of the Titanic's skin was raised to the surface and subjected to a fragility test: a sheet of metal, fixed in clamps, had to withstand the blow of a thirty-kilogram pendulum. For comparison, a piece of steel used in shipbuilding today was also tested. Before the experiment, both samples were placed in an alcohol bath with a temperature of just over a degree - this is exactly what the ocean water was like on that fateful night. Modern metal came out of the test with honor: under the blow of a hammer it bent, but remained intact. The one raised from the bottom split into two parts. Maybe it became so fragile after lying on the ocean floor for eighty years? Researchers managed to obtain a sample of steel from those years at the Belfast shipyard where the Titanic was built. He passed the strength test no better than his brother. The experts' conclusion was that the steel used in the Titanic's construction was of very low quality, with a large admixture of sulfur, which made it brittle at low temperatures. Alas, at the beginning of the twentieth century, the level of development of metallurgy was far from what it is today. If the liner's skin had been made of high-quality steel, the hull would have simply bent inward from the impact, and the tragedy could have been avoided.
One of the Titanic's watertight bulkheads
Third version. Fire in the hold
On September 20, 1987, French television told the world sensational news: the cause of the death of the Titanic, it turns out, was a fire that broke out in the hold of the ill-fated liner, and not a collision with an iceberg. Apparently, supporters of the new hypothesis assured, spontaneous combustion of coal occurred in one of the ship’s coal storages (well, this is indeed possible), the fire spread throughout the hold, reached the steam boilers, which exploded, causing the ship to go to the bottom. As for the iceberg, it just happened to be nearby, so it was blamed for the crash of the liner.
Yes, indeed, there was a fire on the Titanic - and this is no longer speculation, but an established fact. However, could it have caused the disaster? Oh, that's unlikely. How do you imagine a fire in a coal bunker? A roaring flame casting ominous crimson reflections on the metal cladding of the walls, bare-chested sailors rushing about, someone pumping a pump, and a stream of water disappearing into a raging wall of fire? I must disappoint you - in fact, everything is much more prosaic. In general, a fire in a coal bunker on ships of that time was a fairly common thing. In such a fire, coal does not glow, does not burn, but quietly and peacefully smolders, sometimes for several days. We fought such fires with our own in a simple way- they burned smoldering coal out of turn in steamship furnaces. So a fire in a coal hold is, of course, an unpleasant phenomenon, but, as a rule, it does not promise any serious troubles for the ship. And certainly not, under any circumstances, capable of causing such monstrous destruction as is attributed to it by supporters of the version of the Titanic’s death from flames. Moreover, the fire on the ship was extinguished even before it left. last flight. The bunker was emptied and inspected by specialists from the shipyard where the Titanic was docked. It seems that the most serious consequence of the fire was a slight deformation of one of the watertight bulkheads, which could not in any way affect the fate of the liner.
But Shenan Meloni still believes that the iceberg is only one of the factors that destroyed the ship. In the process of meticulously studying photographs taken ten days before the Titanic left Southampton, the journalist discovered traces of soot on the inside of the hull. Exactly in the place that was subsequently damaged in the collision. A fire in a fuel storage facility is believed to have started during high-speed testing at a dock in Belfast.
The owners of the ship knew that a fire was raging in the bowels of the Titanic, but they turned out to be so greedy that they decided not to cancel the voyage. To prevent passengers from suspecting anything, the ship was turned around in the port of Southampton. The officers were ordered to keep their mouths shut.
The liner set sail, but the crew of 12 people could not cope with the fire. Gradually the casing heated up to a thousand degrees Celsius. Metallurgy experts consulted by Meloni said steel becomes brittle at this temperature, losing up to 75% of its strength. For this reason, when it hit the iceberg, six holes with a total length of about 90 meters were immediately formed in the bow compartments of the ship. The ship's unsinkability system could not cope with such serious damage.
So Ray Boston, who studied the documents of this disaster for many years, found evidence. According to him, the fireman Dilley, who survived the disaster, testified to the fire, who said: “We could not put out the fire, and there were rumors that as soon as we disembarked the passengers at the port of New York and unloaded the coal bunkers, we would immediately call fire boats to help to put out the fire."
The iceberg tore through the skin of the liner just under bunker number six, where the largest hole was formed, and no one had to put out the fire. But for unknown reasons, the commission investigating the death of the liner did not pay attention to the stoker’s statement.
Fourth version. German torpedo
1912 With the First World War two years away, the prospect of armed conflict between Germany and Great Britain is becoming increasingly likely. Germany owns several dozen submarines, which during the war will launch a merciless hunt for enemy ships trying to cross the ocean. For example, the reason for America’s entry into the war would be that the U-20 submarine would sink the Lusitania in 1915, a twin of the same Mauritania that set the speed record and won the Atlantic Blue Ribbon - remember? We are very detailed.
Based on these facts, some Western publications proposed their own version of the death of the Titanic in the mid-nineties: a torpedo attack by a German submarine secretly accompanying the liner. The purpose of the attack was to discredit British Navy, famous for its power throughout the world. In accordance with this theory, the Titanic either did not collide with the iceberg at all, or received very minor damage in the collision and would have remained afloat if the Germans had not finished off the ship with a torpedo.
What speaks in favor of this version? Honestly, nothing.
Firstly, there was a collision with an iceberg - this is beyond doubt. The deck of the ship was even covered with snow and ice chips. The cheerful passengers started playing football with ice cubes - it would become clear later that the ship was doomed. The collision itself was surprisingly quiet - almost none of the passengers felt it. The torpedo, you must admit, could hardly have exploded completely silently (especially since some claim that the submarine fired as many as six torpedoes at the ship!). Supporters of the theory of the German attack claim, however, that people in the boats heard a terrible roar just before the Titanic sank - well, this was two and a half hours later, when only the stern raised into the sky remained above the water and the death of the ship did not raise any doubts. It’s unlikely that the Germans would have fired a torpedo at an almost sunken ship, would it? And the roar that the survivors heard was explained by the fact that the stern of the Titanic rose almost vertically and huge steam boilers fell from their places. Also, do not forget that at about the same minutes the Titanic broke in half - the keel could not withstand the weight of the rising stern (however, they will learn about this only after the liner is discovered at the bottom: the break occurred below the water level), and this, too, is unlikely to have happened silently . And why would the Germans suddenly start sinking a passenger liner two years before the start of the war? This seems dubious, to put it mildly. And to put it bluntly - absurd.
The very first horror movie about a mummy
Fifth version. Curse of the Egyptian Mummy
In the eighties of the nineteenth century, a perfectly preserved mummy from the time of Amenhotep IV was discovered near Cairo, named either Amen-Otu, or Amen-Ra, or Amennophis (lovers of mysticism, as you know, do not bother with such trifles. Mummy, and mummy ). During her life, the mummy worked as a famous soothsayer, and therefore after death she was awarded a magnificent burial: with jewelry, figurines of gods, and, of course, magic amulets. Among them was an image of Osiris, decorated with the inscription: “Wake up from your swoon, and your gaze will crush everyone who stands in your way.” Others, however, insisted that it was written “Rise from the dust, and one look from your eyes will triumph over any intrigues against you,” but what difference does it really make? When still others timidly suggested that nothing like that was written on the mummy, it was certainly clear that this was nonsense.
Ticket to the Titanic
Finally, our mummy was purchased from a British museum by an American millionaire and sent to his American residence on board a ship. Well, guess which airliner was chosen for this purpose?
The sarcophagus along the way was an ordinary box, either glass or wood (not tin, at least for sure), and it was kept right next to the captain's bridge. Mystics of all stripes enthusiastically claim that Captain Edward Smith, of course, could not resist the temptation and looked into this box with the mummy: their eyes met and... no, they did not fall in love with each other; quite the opposite: a monstrous curse came true. Otherwise, judge for yourself, how to explain that the captain’s head went dark, and with his own intrepid hand he directed the Titanic straight to certain death?
And, in fact, why is it believed that the captain’s head went blank, and with his own hand he directed the Titanic to certain death? Well, how could he not get confused in his head if he met the eyes of the mummy? As you can see, there is nothing to object to.
It's a shame that the mummy died a thousand years before Aristotle was born, so she had trouble with logic. Otherwise, she would have realized that the immediate consequence of the ship ramming the iceberg would be the death of her mummified, precious body - it was unlikely to survive in ocean water for more than a few days. And the destruction of the body is the worst thing that can happen to a mummy: its soul will have nowhere to return. So if the mummy really had magical powers, it would be in her interests to protect the Titanic as the apple of her magical eye. Or maybe she also bought into the advertising rhetoric about an unsinkable ship and did not pay attention to the dangerous icebergs?
Be that as it may, the mummy died in the ocean depths, disappeared without a trace, and cannot stand up for its honest name; The yellow press shamelessly takes advantage of this, regularly publishing accusations against her under monotonous headlines: “Sensation! The Titanic was destroyed by the curse of the pharaohs! Let's leave this to the conscience of journalists.
The mummy, by the way, was not the only historical relic that died on board the Titanic. For art, much more tragic is the death in the Atlantic Ocean of the original manuscript of Omar Khayyam “Rubaiyat” - a relic that truly had no price.
Version six. Steering error and human factor
The recently published book by the granddaughter of the second mate of the Titanic, Charles Lightoller, Lady Patten, “Worth Its Weight in Gold,” about the tragic fate of the Titanic, reveals new sensational aspects of the disaster. It turns out that the Titanic crew discovered the iceberg in advance, which made it possible to avoid a collision. The cause of the collision was the panic of the helmsman, who performed the wrong maneuver.
The revelation, which was hidden for about 100 years by the family of one of the Titanic officers, is published in a new book. Second officer Charles Lightoler, who survived the disaster, hid the mistake from commissions on both sides of the Atlantic for fear of bankrupting the shipowners and putting his colleagues out of work. And even after his death, for fear of damaging his reputation, his relatives hid the truth.
But now his granddaughter, the writer Patten, has opened the curtain of secrecy in a new novel. When first mate William Murdoch spotted an iceberg 2 miles away, his order “To starboard” was misinterpreted in the control room by Robert Hitchins. He first turned the ship to the right, and although he immediately corrected the course, due to the high speed of the Titanic, its starboard side was torn open by an iceberg.
At first glance, it seems astonishing that anyone, especially the man who was at the helm of the maiden voyage of the world's most expensive ocean liner, - could have made such a schoolboy mistake. However, Patten explains, this seemingly incredible error actually had a very specific technical reason.
“The Titanic was launched at a time when the world was transitioning from sailing ships to steam ships. Her grandfather, like the rest of the senior officers on the Titanic, started out as a sailing ships. On sailboats, commands were given “at the tiller.” If you need to turn the ship in one direction, then the tiller is turned in the other (say, if the ship needs to be turned to the left, then the tiller is turned to the right). Now it looks unnatural, but at one time it was customary to give commands this way. The rudder commands used on steam ships are reminiscent of driving a car - the ship is directed in the direction in which it should turn. Further complicating the situation was the fact that although the Titanic was a steamship, the North Atlantic at the time used "tiller" commands. Accordingly, Murdoch gave the command “to the tiller,” but the panicked Hitchins mechanically carried out the command “to the steering wheel,” as he had been taught. They had only four minutes to change course, and by the time Murdoch noticed Hitchins' mistake and tried to correct it, it was too late."
Grandfather Patten, who later set up his own ship repair business in Richmond-upon-Thames (where his small shipyard was located, now has a memorial plaque), shared another, potentially even more damning secret with his wife, whose name was Sylvia. If helmsman Hitchins was simply mistaken, then Bruce Ismay, also the surviving head of the White Star Line, which owned the Titanic, gave the disastrous order.
“The iceberg hit the Titanic in its most vulnerable place,” continues Patten, “but, as my grandfather believed, the liner could remain afloat for a long time. However, then Ismay came to the bridge. He did not want the ship, in which huge amounts of money had been invested, to either slowly sink in the middle of the Atlantic or be towed to port. Too bad advertising! Therefore, he ordered the captain to give a small forward. “Titanic” was considered unsinkable!
Captain of the Titanic Edward Smith
To this we can also add that shortly before this sad anniversary, a letter from a passenger from the Titanic who managed to survive was put up for auction in one of the UK auction houses. This letter had not appeared anywhere before. The passenger writes in her letter that on the day the Titanic sank, she saw the ship's captain drunk.
According to the woman, she also saw how the captain of the Titanic, having handed over control to someone from the crew, sat at the bar and drank whiskey. Thus, it may turn out that the Titanic sank not because of a fatal coincidence, but because of simple criminal negligence.
What versions did we miss besides the official one?
And a little more about the legendary ship: here you go
Many people have heard, many people have read, but many still do not know the real and bitter truth about the death of the world's largest passenger airliner with the mighty name "Titanic". It belonged to the British company White Star Line. In just two years, shipbuilders managed to construct the impossible, and on May 31, 1911, the Titanic was launched. His first cruise voyage turned into a huge tragedy, news of which spread throughout the world within two days. What happened? How did the Titanic sink? How could the most unsinkable ship in the world end up at 4 km depth? The owners of the company stated that God himself could not sink the Titanic. Maybe he got angry at people?
But let's move on to more real facts. So, on April 10, 1912, the greatest ship of all time, the Titanic, set sail from the port of Southampton, on board which at that moment were the most famous people Great Britain. These were businessmen, actors and actresses, scientists and writers, etc. The Titanic set off on a 7-day voyage across the Atlantic Ocean to New York, stopping along the way at small ports to deliver and receive cargo, as well as disembark and embark passengers. The fifth day of an exciting journey became fatal for all passengers on the liner. While crossing the Atlantic, at about 3-00 am, the starboard side of the ship was cut by a small iceberg, which was not immediately noticed by the watching sailor. As many as five lower compartments were flooded in a matter of minutes.
After 2.5 hours, the Titanic disappeared into the depths of the sea. Of the 2,200 people, only 715 were able to escape. Almost 1,500 people tragically died. And now the most intriguing question arises: who is to blame for this tragedy? God? Shipbuilders? or not the professionalism of the ship's captain? But still, after numerous investigations, objective and subjective reasons for the death of the Titanic were collected, but we will talk about them a little later. First, we need to delve into these facts and analyze the broader reasons that influenced the outcome of events and the death of innocent people.
Those responsible for the sinking of the Titanic
Shipbuilders
Let's start, perhaps, with the shipbuilders, namely with the ship's hull itself. In 1994, a study was conducted with a piece of the plating of the sunken Titanic. The results were very disastrous, because... the plating was so thin that even the smallest piece of ice could have caused enormous damage to it, and if we take into account the huge Iceberg, the damage was not very great, thanks to the actions of the ship’s captain. The blow caused by the iceberg was tragic because the ship's hull hull contained phosphorus, which caused the hull to break at low temperatures. The inability of shipbuilders to create high-quality steel at that time, as well as ship designs, makes them also guilty of this tragedy. It was also known that the design of the Titanic's structure included the use of necessary materials, but most of them were of poor quality or were absent altogether. This is proven by the fact that some people made a lot of money from this and the shipbuilders may not be to blame for this.
Radio operators
Now about the equally important workers of the ship - the radio operators. In 1912, radio communication on the high seas was a novelty, and not every ship could install it. The point is that radio operators, not known reason were not part of the ship’s crew, but worked for the Marconi company, which was engaged in the transmission of paid messages in the form of Morse code. These days they can be matched with SMS messages over the phone.
Based on the surviving records, the radio operators managed to transmit on April 14, more than 250 radio telegrams, and the signals that came from other ships that were also sailing across the Atlantic were simply ignored by the radio operators, because. It was important for them to earn money. According to the records of the radio operators, which were not taken into account by them, it became known that the Titanic was notified of the danger with exact coordinates already from 20-00 on the evening of April 14. There were even messages sent personally to the captain, in which it was written about nearby icebergs, but the radio operators were too lazy to deliver this information to the captain and continued to send paid messages. But the entire crew of the ship was briefed in advance about possible glaciers, because... the route passed through them.
Iceberg
Video - Titanic. Mysteries of the death of the liner
As you can see, the Titanic was still able to sink, and not only for the above reasons, there are several more. Perhaps the most important of them is the lack of binoculars from the watching sailor, who was on the ship, but was locked in a safe, and the key was in the hands of the second mate. It was David Blair, who was removed from the flight for unknown reasons. He simply forgot to give this key to his replacement, so the lookout sailor could not see the danger. Having binoculars, trouble could be foreseen 6 km away, but without binoculars the sailor could notice it just 400 meters away. It was calm and the night was moonless. Even weather that night they were against the ship, because In any case, the light of the moon was able to reflect on the iceberg and give it away in advance.
It was also known that the iceberg was black, which means that it had turned upside down shortly before. It is possible that even under the moon the shine of the iceberg might not be noticeable, because... its white side was under water.
It is unclear that the senior officer did not notice the iceberg first, because... You can always see better on the bridge than from the sailor’s “eagle’s nest.”
About the maneuver
It should be clarified that the captain of the ship was not on the bridge at the time of the crash; he was replaced by first mate Murdoch. The results of the research indicate that the first officer gave the order “Left Handle” and immediately after that gave the order “Reverse”. But the second command was carried out late and the reverse was made after a collision with an iceberg. There is an opinion that if Murdoch had ordered the opposite, to increase the speed, then the turn of the ship would not have been smooth, but sharp. Perhaps the team’s experience let us down in this situation, because... they did not participate in testing the ship after launching, and it is very difficult to maneuver such a huge ship without preparation. Some believe that if the Titanic had not changed course, but had rammed the iceberg, it would have remained unharmed, because... the bow of the ship was protected and could, at most, only receive a small dent.
Having considered the expanded picture of the circumstances of that night, we should return to the objective and subjective reasons for the sinking of the Titanic.
Subjective reasons for the sinking of the Titanic
1. The rules of the British Merchant Shipping Code were outdated. They stated that lifeboats were placed on a ship depending on its tonnage, and not on the number of passengers. This means that there were not enough lifeboats on the Titanic, so about 500 more people were not saved.
2. There is information that the helmsman, at the command “Take to the left,” turned the steering wheel to the right.
3. The director of the company, J. Ismay, was sailing on board the ship, but he ordered the captain to sail further and not take any action so as not to incur losses. The captain complied with his order, but water entered the compartments at a speed of 350 tons per minute.
4. To date, there is no one left alive after the crash. Those who escaped died a natural death. Last passenger Titanica died in 2009. This was a woman who was on the Titanic as a 5 year old child. Only she knew the true truth of the ship's death, which her relatives told her, but the secret died with her.
Objective reasons for the sinking of the Titanic
1. Due to the fact that the iceberg turned over, because. At that time it was melting, it was not visible from the ship.
2. The speed of the ship was very high. As a result, the blow was as strong as possible. The fault here lies solely with the captain of the ship.
3. Radio operators busy sending paid messages did not convey to the captain important information about danger. Considering that they were not part of the team, this does not relieve them of responsibility.
4. The steel of the Titanic was not at that time best quality. The pressure on it from low temperatures led it to fragility and brittleness. The shipbuilders are not to blame here, because... they carried out work with the raw materials that were purchased by the management of the shipbuilding company.
5. All compartments of the ship were fenced with iron doors, but the water pressure was so strong that they simply shattered into small pieces. Thus, compartment after compartment was filled with water.
6. The lookout did not have binoculars, which reduced the radius of his vision from the “eagle’s nest.”
7. The ship did not have red flares, the launch of which meant a signal of danger. As a result of this, white missiles were launched, which had no meaning for neighboring ships.
This article did not discuss the ships that came to the aid of the Titanic on that fateful night, but it is worth noting the fact that the closest ship that was near the Titanic was a ship with poachers who were hunting seals that night, but after seeing the launch white rockets, they thought that this was a signal that they needed to stop and the captain of this ship ordered his crew to sail as quickly as possible in the opposite direction. Perhaps, thanks to these poachers, if they had not swam away, a lot of people would have been saved more people, but there was no radio communication on their ship.
Thus, having analyzed the most truthful facts about how the Titanic sank, one can only guess which reason is still the most truthful.
The sinking of the Titanic scientific facts video
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Hi all! Today I am with you again, Vladimir Raichev, and today I would like to discuss with you some interesting and mystical facts related to the transatlantic liner Titanic, which sank in 1912.
The Titanic was positioned as the most reliable liner of its time, it had the following characteristics:
Owner: British shipping company White Star Line
Date of construction: 1911
Construction cost: £3 million
Number of decks - 8
Length - 269 m
Width - 30 m
Displacement - 52310 t
Maximum speed - 42 km/h
Capacity - 3547 passengers + crew
Design features- double bottom, hull material - steel, hold and lower decks were divided into 16 compartments by bulkheads with sealed doors.
These are just some of the characteristics of the ship; among other things, there were 20 boats on board with a total capacity of 1,178 people. The Titanic was the standard of reliability, wealth, and nothing foreshadowed its collapse. On April 12, 1912, the Titanic set sail on its maiden voyage from Southampton.
History of the disaster
On April 14, the captain and his crew received 7 messages from other ships that floating ice was encountered along the way. For some reason, the team completely ignored these warnings and flew their liner at full speed towards New York.
Closer to midnight, the one looking ahead reported approaching an iceberg, this message was transmitted to the first mate, who was on duty on the bridge that night. William Murdoch, contrary to all instructions, tried to go around the iceberg.
Any inexperienced captain knows that under no circumstances should the ship be turned or put into reverse. As a result of the collision with the iceberg, the Titanic received a large hole on the starboard side below the waterline.
Captain Edward Smith climbed onto the bridge a little later; he felt the collision while in his cabin. Having assessed the damage to the liner, he consulted with the chief designer of the ship and decided to prepare for the evacuation of people.
The radio operators were given the command to transmit distress signals. The sailors knew very little about the procedure for their actions in an emergency, although the plan for these actions was posted in several places, but the sailors did not bother to study this plan.
The fact is that each boat had its own sailor. And it took a lot of work for the officers to organize the preparation of life-saving equipment. No one could even imagine the sinking of the Titanic, so there is nothing strange in the fact that such self-confidence reigned around.
The passengers, who were directed to the lifeboats, were in no hurry at all, as they did not imagine that a disaster had occurred: the people on the upper deck did not even feel the collision.
Untrained sailors lowered the first boats not completely filled. And if you remember, at the very beginning of the article I mentioned the capacity of the ship and the number of seats in life-saving equipment. There were 3 times fewer seats in the boats than there were passengers.
The ensuing panic also complicated the evacuation of passengers. The Titanic had it all: manifestations of cowardice and cowardice, and courage and perseverance, the inept actions of the crew bordered on the help of women in the boats, who told some men how to handle the oars.
Contrary to engineering calculations, the liner stayed on the water for more than 3 hours. Desperate people, who did not have enough space on the boats, jumped into the icy water. The water temperature reached -2 degrees - borderline freezing temperature.
Ultimately, only 705 passengers managed to escape, and over 1,500 died in this disaster. This disaster was one of the largest in the last century.
Causes of the disaster
A collision with an iceberg was the main reason for the death of the liner. But why did this happen? Why did the captain and his crew so neglect reports of drifting ice? Why did the first officer act so unprofessionally? Why did the person looking ahead report the approach to the iceberg so late? Why was the evacuation so disorganized?
There are many more questions related to this incident than answers. After a long time, many alternative versions of the crash began to appear. For example, one of them says that the White Star Line company sent another ship, the Olympic, instead of the Titanic, as if the plan was simple: to initiate a disaster, sink the ships and receive insurance compensation for a cheaper ship.
Captain Edward Smith, before he was appointed captain of the Titanic, managed to take part in some disasters with his other ships, for example, the Republic and Adriatic ran aground, the Majestic and Baltic caught fire, and the liner " Olympic collided with the British war cruiser Hawk in 1911.
However, some members of the crew were also flawed, such as First Officer Murdoch, who was unable to avoid a collision with a block of ice, or Chief Radio Operator Jack Phillips, who responded very harshly to warnings about drifting ice.
It is noteworthy that just before leaving for the flight, Smith's team was replaced by the one looking forward. And the sailor removed from the ship forgot to give his colleague only one key, which opened the doors of the box where the binoculars were located.
Mystical consequences of the tragedy
But it is interesting that now other explanations for the disaster have begun to appear - mystical ones. Over the course of a century, this story has acquired details and guesses. More than once artistic and documentaries spilled with different sides light on this story.
In 1994, right at the site of the sinking of the liner, fishermen caught a 10-month-old baby alive, tied to a life preserver with the words “Titanic” written on it. Also, information has repeatedly surfaced about a girl who appeared in our time and claimed that she was a passenger on this ship.
Surprisingly, both the baby and the girl were documented to exist at the beginning of the century, and the girl was declared sane by psychiatrists. There is nothing left but to connect the mysterious events taking place with the emergence of a certain “time portal” at the site of the sinking of the Titanic.
The stories of eyewitnesses about luminous circles under water, shortly before the disaster, are also suggestive.
The appearance of the captain
There was another interesting case. On August 9, 1991, near Iceland, a Norwegian research vessel picked up a man adrift on a boat. Imagine the surprise of the crew when it turned out that this was the captain of the Titanic, Edward John Smith.
This man was somewhat dazed, but overall he was healthy, and what was most striking was that he looked as if the year on the calendar was still 1912. For 80 years he was considered dead, but he looked great, smoked a pipe and was dressed in a clean White Star Shipping Company uniform.
Of course, they didn’t take this man’s word for it. He was taken to Sweden, and there, in the city of Oslo, he was sent to psychiatric clinic. They also took his fingerprints there. The results of the fingerprint examination shocked the researchers. It was confirmed that the man from the boat was indeed Captain Edward John Smith.
Of course, both the girl who “rescued” from the Titanic and the captain of the ship remained within the walls of specialized institutions, isolated from the world.
It is amazing that all these people at the time of discovery looked the age they were at the time of the disaster, as if these 80 years did not exist for them. Scientists explain the phenomena occurring in the Atlantic by formation in this anomalous zone space-time holes.
There is documented evidence from a Norwegian ship that on the day of the disaster, a giant funnel, in other words, a whirlpool, was seen in the Atlantic. A few hours later, the Titanic shipwrecked in this area. Perhaps the crater and the crash are somehow connected.
Scientists are working to study the mechanisms of the appearance of “space-time portals,” and in the meantime we can only guess what other mysteries the Atlantic Ocean holds, and how many secrets the famous superliner Titanic took with it.
This is where I want to end my article today. Share this with your friends interesting story, subscribe to updates, we still have a lot of interesting things ahead. See you soon, take care of yourself.
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 at different parts vessel.
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