What ship came to the aid of the Titanic. Indirect causes of the shipwreck. Swimming and crash

What happened on April 14, 1912 at 11:40 pm in the North Atlantic remains a mystery to many. That night, the Titanic, the largest passenger liner in the world at that time, collided with an iceberg, as a result of which it sank. However, this version has often been questioned. It is even rumored that the ship sank not at all because of a collision with an iceberg ...

Unsolved mysteries of the Titanic

Rumors of a fatal liner. According to one of the myths, shortly before the completion of construction, shipbuilders repeatedly heard strange tapping in that part of the Titanic where the second bottom was located. There is an opinion that, since the construction of the vessel was carried out very quickly, one or even several builders remained immured in its hull. This allegedly explains the strange tapping: people tried to escape from the trap they fell into.

It is also widely believed that an anti-Christian code was embedded in the Titanic. The ship's hull serial number is 3909 04. According to the myth, some of the ship's builders, who had a negative attitude towards catholic church, put a secret message in the six-digit number. If you write this number by hand on paper and look in the mirror, then the words "No Pope" will be reflected there (in translation - "No Pope"). Irish Protestants believed that these words meant "No to the Pope", so divine retribution was not long in coming, and the liner sank on its maiden voyage.

According to rumors, modern ships catch the SOS signal from the Titanic to this day. And this happens once every few years with a certain frequency. The matter is not limited to the reception of radio signals from a long-sunken ship. According to some testimonies, decades after the tragedy, ships sailing past the Titanic's flood area periodically caught ... surviving passengers!

So, a middle-aged woman, dressed in the fashion of the early 20th century, was allegedly fished out of the depths of the sea. She claimed that it was now 1912 and she miraculously managed to survive. After the woman was brought ashore and decided to establish her identity, it turned out that the name by which she introduced herself coincided with the real name of one of the Titanic passengers. However, as expected, the further fate of this woman is unknown.

This is not the only case of its kind. Members of the crew of various ships claimed that they were able to pick up a ten-month-old baby in the ocean, who was in a life buoy with the inscription "Titanic", and an elderly man who was dressed in the captain's uniform of the White Star Line. The man claimed that he was none other than the captain of the Titanic, Smith.

Conspiracy theory

Due to the similarities between the Titanic and another White Star Line ship, the Olympic, a conspiracy theory emerged immediately after the disaster, according to which tragic flight in fact, a second ship was sent. This theory is based on the assumption of a possible fraud in order to obtain an insurance payment that could cover all the losses of the White Star Line. According to the proponents of the theory, the stern sheets with the name of the vessel, as well as all household and interior items with the name of the vessel, were replaced, as a result of which no one could suspect substitution.

In 1911, when leaving for voyage 11, the Olympic collided with the British cruiser Hawk. "Olympic" received only minor damage, and they were not enough to pay insurance. The ship needed more damage. Therefore, the ship was subjected to a deliberate risk of colliding with an iceberg - the company was sure that even if it received serious damage, the ship would not sink.

This theory has been tried many times to disprove. For example, it was countered by the fact that many of the Titanic's passengers had previously sailed on the Olympic and could have determined which ship they were actually on. But the conspiracy theory was finally debunked only after the parts were lifted from the ship, on which the number 401 (the building number of the Titanic) was knocked out, and the building number of the Olympic was 400.

Other versions of the crash

According to the official version, the Titanic sank not so much because it collided with an iceberg, but because the ship was sailing with it. But not everyone agrees with this.

For a long time there has been a version that even before sailing, a fire broke out in the coal compartment of the ship, which provoked an explosion first, and then a collision with an iceberg. An expert who has devoted more than 20 years to studying the history of the Titanic, Ray Boston, has put forward new evidence for this theory. According to him, the fire in the sixth hold of the ship broke out on April 2, and it was not possible to extinguish it. The owner of the ship, John Pierpont Morgan, decided that the Titanic would quickly get to New York, disembark the passengers, and then the fire would be extinguished. The ship went to sea with a fire on board, and during the voyage there was an explosion. The high speed of the Titanic at night, when the danger of collision with ice was especially high, can be explained by the fears of Captain Edward John Smith that his ship would fly into the air before arriving in New York. Despite numerous ice warnings from other ships, Smith did not slow down, resulting in the Titanic failing to slow down when the iceberg was spotted.

There is a version that the Titanic sank not at all from the damage that the iceberg inflicted on it, but from a torpedo fired by a German submarine, again in order to receive an insurance payment. And the commander of the submarine, who agreed to be a participant in the scam, was a relative of one of the owners of the Titanic. But this theory does not have strong arguments in its favor. If the torpedo somehow damaged the hull of the Titanic, this would not have gone unnoticed by both passengers and crew members.

It is also known that one of the historians, Lord Canterville, transported on the Titanic in a wooden box a perfectly preserved Egyptian mummy of a priestess-soothsayer. Since the mummy had a fairly high historical and cultural value, it was not placed in the hold, but placed directly next to the captain's bridge. The essence of the theory is that the mummy influenced the mind of Captain Smith, who, despite numerous warnings about ice in the area where the Titanic sailed, did not slow down and thereby doomed the ship to certain death. In favor of this version they say famous cases mysterious death people who disturbed the peace of ancient burials, especially mummified Egyptian rulers.

Particularly noteworthy is the version that appeared after the publication of the novel by the granddaughter of the second mate of the captain of the Titanic C. Lightoller, Lady Patten, "Worth its weight in gold." According to the version put forward by Patten in his book, the ship had enough time to dodge the obstacle, but the helmsman, Robert Hitchens, panicked and turned the helm in the wrong direction. The truth about what really happened on that fateful night was kept secret in the family of Lightoller, the oldest surviving officer of the Titanic and the only survivor who knew exactly what caused the sinking of the ship. Lightoller withheld this information, fearing that the White Star Line would go bankrupt. The only person to whom Lightoller told the truth was his wife Sylvia, who passed on her husband's words to her granddaughter.

Another version appeared in writers' circles. During the time of the Titanic, there was a prestigious shipping award given to ocean liners for the fastest crossing of the North Atlantic, the Blue Ribbon of the Atlantic. This prize was awarded to the ship "Mavritania" of the company "Kunard", which, by the way, was the founder of this award, as well as the main competitor of the company "White Star Line". In defense of this theory, the opinion is advanced that the president of the company that owned the Titanic, Ismay, urged the captain of the Titanic, Smith, to arrive in New York a day ahead of schedule and receive an honorary prize. This allegedly explains the high speed of the ship in the dangerous area of ​​the Atlantic. But this theory has an elementary refutation. "Titanic" simply physically could not develop the speed of 26 knots, at which "Mauritania" set a record that lasted more than 10 years after the disaster in the Atlantic.

105 years ago, on April 15, 1912, the "unsinkable ship", "the largest and most luxurious ocean liner" crashed into an iceberg on its very first flight and took more than 1,500 passengers to the bottom of the ocean. It would seem that for many decades there are no more secrets and secrets about this terrible catastrophe. And yet let's remember how it was.

First official version

Two government investigations that were carried out in the wake of the disaster, decided that it was the iceberg, and not the defects of the ship, that caused the death of the liner. Both commissions of inquiry concluded that the Titanic sank not in parts, but in its entirety - there were no major faults.

The blame for this tragedy was completely shifted to the shoulders of the ship's captain, Edward Smith, who died along with his crew and passengers of the Atlantic liner. Experts reproached Smith for the fact that the ship was moving at a speed of 22 knots (41 km) through a dangerous ice field - in dark waters, not far from the coast of Newfoundland.

Discovery of Robert Ballard

In 1985, oceanographer Robert Ballard, after a long unsuccessful search, still managed to find the remains of the ship at a depth of about four kilometers at the bottom of the ocean. Then he discovered that in fact the Titanic had split in half before sinking.

A couple of years later, the wreckage of the ship was first raised to the surface and a new hypothesis immediately appeared - for the construction " unsinkable ship"used low-grade steel. However, according to experts, it was not steel at all that was low-grade, but rivets - the most important metal pins that bind together the steel plates of the hull of the liner. And the fragments of the Titanic found at all indicate that the ship's stern did not rise high into the air, as It is believed that the "Titanic" was divided into parts, being relatively even on the surface of the ocean - this is a clear sign of miscalculations in the design of the ship, which were hidden after the disaster.

Design miscalculations

"Titanic" was built in a short time - in response to the production of a new generation of high-speed liners by competitors.

The Titanic could keep afloat even if 4 of its 16 watertight compartments were flooded - amazing for a ship of such gigantic size.

However, on the night of April 14-15, 1912, in just a few days of the debut flight of the liner, its Achilles heel was opened. The ship, due to its size, was not nimble enough to be able to avoid the iceberg that the sentinels were screaming about at the last minute. The Titanic did not collide with the fatal iceberg head-on, but drove over it on its right side - the ice punched holes in the steel plates, flooding six "watertight" compartments. And after a couple of hours the ship was completely filled with water and sank.

According to experts studying the Titanic's potential weak spot, the rivets, they found that due to the fact that time was running out, builders began to use low-grade material. When the liner hit the iceberg, the weak steel rods in the ship's bow could not stand it and cracked. It is believed that it is not by chance that the water, having flooded six compartments fastened with low-grade steel rods, stopped exactly where the high-grade steel rivets began.

In 2005, another expedition studying the crash site, using the wreckage of the bottom, managed to establish that during the crash the ship tilted only about 11 degrees, and not at all 45, as was long thought.

Memories of Passengers

Due to the fact that the ship listed quite a bit, the passengers and crew had a false sense of security - many of them did not understand the seriousness of the situation. When the water flooded the bow of the hull sufficiently, the ship, remaining afloat, broke in two and sank in minutes.

Charlie Jugin, the Titanic's chef, was standing close to the stern at the time of the ship's wreck and noticed no sign of the hull breaking. neither did he notice the suction funnel or the colossal splash. According to his information, he calmly sailed away from the ship, without even getting his hair wet.

However, some passengers in the lifeboats claimed to have seen the Titanic's stern high in the air. However, this could only be optical illusion. With an 11-degree tilt, propellers sticking out in the air, the 20-story building Titanic seemed even higher, and its roll into the water even more.

How the Titanic sank: a real-time model

In New York, they sold the menu of the last dinner on wrecked in 1912 on the Titanic. They got 88 thousand dollars (about 1.9 million hryvnias) for it.

The company "Blue Star Line" announced the construction of "Titanic-2". According to the designers, the ship will be an exact copy of the famous liner that sank in 1912. However, the liner will be equipped with modern security features. Australian mining magnate Clive Palmer came to finance the project.

Now this 105-year-old cracker is considered the most expensive in the world.

It turns out that a Spillers and Bakers cracker called "Pilot" was included in the survival kit that was placed on every lifeboat. Later, one of these products went to a man who kept it as a souvenir. It was James Fenwick, a passenger on the Carpathia, which was raising shipwrecked survivors.

REFERENCE

On the night of April 15, 1912, the Titanic collided with an iceberg and sank. He sailed in the Atlantic Ocean on his way from Southampton (England) to New York. Then about 1.5 thousand people died, mostly third-class passengers. In total, it was more than 2.2 thousand people.

The Titanic (RMS Titanic) is a British steamer of the White Star Line, the second of three Olympic-class twin steamers. The largest passenger liner in the world at the time of its construction. During the first voyage on April 14, 1912, she collided with an iceberg and sank at 2:20 am the next day - 2 hours and 40 minutes after the collision. There were 1,309 passengers and 898 crew members on board, for a total of 2,207 people. Of these, 712 people were saved, 1495 died. The Titanic disaster became legendary, several feature films were shot based on its plot.

Laid down on March 31, 1909 at the shipyards of the Harland and Wolf shipbuilding company in Queens Island (English) (Belfast, Northern Ireland), launched on May 31, 1911. In addition to the fact that at the time of its construction, the Titanic was the largest passenger liner, it took a record amount of fat, locomotive oil and liquid soap to lubricate the gangway guides to launch the ship - 23 tons. The ship passed sea trials on April 2, 1912. On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the ship, the Titanic Museum was opened at the Harland and Wolf shipyard.

titanic: the whole truth about the sunken ship

Technical characteristics of the liner

Gross tonnage 46,328 registered tons, displacement 52,310 tons with a draft of 10.54 m (many sources indicate a displacement of 66 thousand tons, but this is not true.

Length 269 m, width 28.19 m, distance from the waterline to the boat deck 18.4 m.

Height from the keel to the tops of the pipes - 52.4 m;
Engine room - 29 boilers, 159 coal furnaces;
The unsinkability of the ship was ensured by 15 watertight bulkheads in the hold, creating 16 conditionally watertight compartments; the space between the bottom and the flooring of the second bottom was divided by transverse and longitudinal partitions into 46 watertight compartments.
Maximum speed 23 knots.

Watertight bulkheads, marked from bow to stern with the letters "A" to "P", rose from the second bottom and passed through 4 or 5 decks: the first 2 and the last 5 reached deck "D", 8 bulkheads in the center of the liner reached only the deck "E". All bulkheads were so strong that they had to withstand significant pressure when getting a hole.

The Titanic was built to stay afloat if any 2 of its 16 watertight compartments, any 3 of the first 5 compartments, or all of the first 4 compartments were flooded.

First 2 bulkheads

In bulkheads "D" - "O

In the ceiling of each compartment was a spare hatch, usually leading to the boat deck. Those who did not have time to leave the room before the doors closed could climb its iron ladder.

British Code of Navigation requirements

In formal accordance with the current requirements of the British Merchant Shipping Code, the ship had 20 lifeboats, which were enough to board 1178 people, that is, for 50% of the people who were on board at that moment and 30% of the planned load. 65 people were placed in one boat, but the sailors of the Titanic in the first minutes after the collision sent boats with only 20 passengers. The chief engineer of the ship, seeing this, told the sailors that 65 people fit in the boat. The team did not agree, fearing that the boat might not withstand the overload. Only after the engineer convinced the team of the reliability of the boats (which, according to the results of all checks, could withstand the weight of 70 adult men), the boats began to fill up completely. There were also "collapsible boats" used by some officers (Charles Lightoller was one of them).

The Titanic had 8 steel decks

Deck "A"

Deck "B"

G-deck

Titanic Size Comparison

Size comparison of the Titanic with the modern cruise ship Queen Mary 2, Airbus A-380, bus, car and person.
One was aft, the other was on the forecastle, each was steel with a teak top. On the front, at a height of 29 m from the waterline, there was a mars platform (“crow's nest”), which could be reached by an internal metal ladder.

Description

In front of the boat deck there was a navigation bridge, 58 m away from the bow. On the bridge there was a wheelhouse with a steering wheel and a compass, immediately behind it was a room where navigation charts were stored. To the right of the wheelhouse were the navigational cabin, the captain's cabin and part of the officers' cabins, to the left - the rest of the officers' cabins. Behind them, behind the front funnel, was the cabin of the radiotelegraph and the cabin of the radio operator. In front of deck "D" there were living quarters for 108 stokers, a special spiral ladder connected this deck directly to the boiler rooms, so that stokers could leave for work and return without passing by the cabins or saloons for passengers. In front of deck "E" there were living quarters for 72 loaders and 44 sailors. In the first part of the "F" deck there were quarters of 53 stokers of the third shift. Deck G contained quarters for 45 stokers and oilers. The abbreviation "RMS" in the name "Titanic" literally means "Royal Mail Ship". The ship had a standard ocean post office (Transatlantic Post Office) and a mail depot on decks F and G, staffed by 5 postal employees who were considered British civil servants. The postmaster was O. C. Woody. The Titanic Post Office had a standard calendar postmark with "Transatlantic Post Office 7" all around. This stamp was used to cancel postage stamps on letters and postcards sent from the Titanic, as well as to register registered letters in transit delivered to the Titanic from Southampton, Cherbourg and Queenstown.

Second bottom

Power of steam engines and turbines

Screws "Olympic" before launching. Identical were on the Titanic
The registered power of steam engines and turbines was 50 thousand liters. With. (actually 55 thousand hp). The turbine was located in the fifth watertight compartment in the stern of the liner, in the next compartment, closer to the bow, steam engines were located, the other 6 compartments were occupied by twenty-four double-flow and five single-flow boilers that produced steam for the main machines, turbines, generators and auxiliary mechanisms. The diameter of each boiler was 4.79 m, the length of the double-flow boiler was 6.08 m, the single-flow boiler was 3.57 m. Each double-flow boiler had 6 fireboxes, and the single-flow boiler had 3. In addition, the Titanic was equipped with four auxiliary machines with generators, each with a capacity of 400 kilowatts, generating electricity at a voltage of 100 volts. Next to them were two more 30-kilowatt generators. High-pressure steam from the boilers went to 2 triple expansion steam engines, which rotated the side propellers. From the machines, the steam then entered the low-pressure turbine, which drove the middle propeller. From the turbine, the exhaust steam entered the condensers, from where fresh water went back to the boilers in a closed cycle. The Titanic developed a decent speed for its time, although it was inferior to the competitor's turbo ships - Cunard Line.

The liner had 4 ellipsoid tubes

10,000 light bulbs, 562 electric heaters were connected to the distribution network, mainly in first-class cabins, 153 electric motors, including electric drives for eight cranes with a total capacity of 18 tons, 4 cargo winches with a capacity of 750 kg, 4 elevators, each for 12 people. In addition, electricity was consumed by the telephone exchange and radio communications, fans in the boiler room and engine rooms, apparatus in the gym, dozens of machines and appliances in the kitchens, including refrigerators.

The telephone exchange serviced 50 lines.

radio equipment

Celebrities on the ship

Many celebrities of that time took part in the first trip of the liner, including the millionaire and large industrialist John Jacob Astor IV and his wife Madeleine Astor, businessman Benjamin Guggenheim, the owner of Macy's department store Isidor Strauss and his wife Ida, the eccentric millionaire Margaret Molly Brown, who received the nickname “Unsinkable” after the death of the ship, Sir Cosmas Duff Gordon and his wife, fashion designer Lady Lucy Duff Gordon, popular at the beginning of the century, businessman and cricketer John Thayer, British journalist William Thomas Steed, Countess of Rotskaya, military assistant to US President Archibald Butt , film actress Dorothy Gibson and many others.

Threat to shipping in the North Atlantic

The threat to shipping in the North Atlantic is icebergs breaking off from glaciers in western Greenland and drifting under the influence of currents. Ice fields (huge ice floes or accumulations of ice floes) originating in the Arctic Basin, as well as off the coast of Labrador, Newfoundland and in the Strait of St. Lawrence, and drifting under the influence of winds and currents.

The shortest route from northern Europe to the United States runs along the coast of Newfoundland, directly through the zone of fog and icebergs. In order to streamline navigation in the North Atlantic, in 1898, shipping companies entered into an agreement establishing 2 transatlantic routes, passing much to the south. For each of the routes, separate routes were determined for steamers moving west and east, separated from each other at a distance of up to 50 miles. From mid-January to mid-August, during the season of the greatest ice danger, steamers moved along the South Route. The rest of the year, the Northern route was used. This order usually made it possible to minimize the likelihood of encountering drifting ice. But 1912 turned out to be unusual. WITH Southern route, along the western route of which the Titanic also moved, one after another there were reports of icebergs. In this regard, the US Hydrological Service raised the issue of moving the route to the south, but the corresponding decisions were made belatedly, after the disaster.

The path of the Titanic and the place of its crash.

Wednesday, April 10, 1912
12:00 - The Titanic leaves the Southampton harbor wall and narrowly avoids a collision with American liner"NY". There are 2,060 people on board the Titanic (1,152 passengers).
19:00 - stop in Cherbourg (France) for disembarkation 24 and embarkation of 274 passengers and mail.
21:00 - Titanic left Cherbourg and headed for Queenstown (Ireland).
Thursday, April 11, 1912
12:30 pm stop at Queenstown for disembarkation 8 and disembarkation of 123 passengers and mail; one crew member, 23-year-old fireman John Coffey (John Coffey), deserts the Titanic for unknown reasons. On board, at the same time, he leaves all his documents.
14:00 - The Titanic leaves Queenstown with 1,337 passengers and 908 crew (2,209 people) on board.
Sunday, April 14, 1912
0900 hours - Caronia reports ice at 42°N, 49-51°W.
13:42 - "Baltik" reports the presence of ice in the area of ​​41°51'N, 49°52'W.
13:45 - America reports ice at 41°27'N, 50°8'W.
19:00 - air temperature 43 ° Fahrenheit (6 ° C).
19:30 - air temperature 39 ° Fahrenheit (3.9 ° C).
19:30 - The Californian reports ice at 42°3'N, 49°9'W.
21:00 - air temperature 33 ° Fahrenheit (0.6 ° C).
21:30 - Second Officer Lightoller warns the ship's carpenter and watchmen in the engine room to monitor the system fresh water- water in pipelines can freeze; he tells the lookout to watch the appearance of ice.
21:40 - Mesaba reports ice at 42°-41°25'N, 49°-50°30'W.
22:00 - air temperature 32 ° Fahrenheit (0 ° C).
10:30 p.m. - Sea water temperature dropped to 31° Fahrenheit (-0.56°C).
11:00 p.m. — The Californian warns of ice, but the Titanic's radio operator cuts off the radio before the Californian can give the area's coordinates.
23:39 - At a point with coordinates 41 ° 46 'north latitude, 50 ° 14 ' west longitude (later it turned out that these coordinates were calculated incorrectly), an iceberg was sighted at a distance of about 650 meters straight ahead.
23:40 - Despite the maneuver, after 39 seconds, the underwater part of the vessel touched, the hull received numerous small holes for a length of about 100 meters. Of the 16 watertight compartments of the ship, the first 5 were cut through.

Stages of the sinking of the Titanic

Iceberg

Photo of an iceberg taken by the chief steward of the German ship Prinz Adalbert on the morning of April 16, 1912. The steward was unaware of the disaster at the time, but the iceberg caught his attention because it had a brown streak at its base, indicating that the iceberg had hit something less than 12 hours earlier. It is assumed that it was with him that the Titanic collided.
Recognizing an iceberg in a light haze, the forward looking Fleet warned “there is ice in front of us” and hit the bell three times, which meant an obstacle right on the course, after which he rushed to the telephone connecting the “crow’s nest” with the bridge. Moody's sixth mate, who was on the bridge, responded almost instantly and heard a cry of "ice right on the nose!!!" (English ice right ahead!!!). With a polite thank you, Moody turned to the officer of the watch, Murdoch, and repeated the warning. He rushed to the telegraph, put his handle on the “stop” and shouted “right to board”, at the same time transmitting the order “full back” to the engine room, pressed the lever, which turned on the closing of the watertight doors in the bulkheads of the boiler rooms and the engine room.

Photo of an iceberg taken from the cable-laying ship Mina, which was one of the first ships to find dead passengers and the wreckage of the ship. Presumably, the Titanic could have collided with this particular iceberg, since, according to the crew of the Mine, it was the only iceberg near the crash site.
According to the terminology of 1912, the command "right on board" meant turning the stern of the ship to the right, and the bow to the left (since 1909, Russian ships have already used natural command delivery, for example: "left rudder"). The helmsman, Robert Hitchens, leaned on the handle of the steering wheel and quickly turned it clockwise until it stops, after which Murdoch was told "Right rudder, sir!" At that moment, Alfred Oliver, the helmsman of the watch, and Boxhall, who was in the chart house, came running to the bridge when the bells rang out in the "crow's nest". A. Oliver, in his testimony in the US Senate, however, definitely stated that at the entrance to the bridge he heard the command "left rudder" (corresponding to turning to the right), and this command was carried out. According to Boxhall (British Inquiry Question 15355), Murdoch reported to Captain Smith: "I turned to port and reversed, and was about to turn to starboard to get around him, but he was too close."

It is known that binoculars for lookouts were not used on the Titanic, since there was no key to the safe with binoculars. He was taken in by Captain Blair's second mate when the captain kicked him off the team, taking on board a team member from the Olympic. It is possible that the lack of binoculars was one of the reasons for the crash of the liner. However, the existence of binoculars became known only 95 years after the shipwreck, when one of them was exhibited in auction house"Henry Eldridge and Sons" in Devizes, Wiltshire. The second assistant to the captain of the Titanic was to be David Blair, for which he arrived on April 3, 1912 from Belfast to Southampton. However, the management of the White Star Line replaced him at the last moment with Henry Wild, the first officer from a similar ship, the Olympic, because he had experience in operating such large liners, as a result of which Blair in a hurry forgot to hand over the key to the person who came to his place. However, many historians agree that the presence of binoculars would not have helped to prevent a catastrophe. This is also confirmed by the fact that the lookouts in the "crow's nest" noticed the iceberg before those on the bridge who had binoculars with them.

Lifeboat "Titanic"

But even these boats were only partially filled. Captain Smith gave the order or instruction "women and children first". The officers interpreted this order in different ways. Second mate Lightoller, who was in charge of launching the boats on the port side, allowed men to take places in the boats only if rowers were needed, and under no other circumstances. First mate Murdoch, who commanded the launch of the boats on the starboard side, allowed men to go down into the boats if there were no women and children nearby. So, in boat number 1, only 12 seats out of 65 were occupied. In addition, at first, many passengers did not want to take seats in the boats, because the Titanic, on which there was no visible external damage, seemed safer to them. The last boats filled better, because it was already obvious that the ship would sink. In the very last boat, 44 seats out of 65 were occupied. But in the sixteenth boat that left the side there were many empty seats, there were 1st class passengers in it.

The crew did not even have time to lower all the boats that were on board. The twentieth boat was washed overboard when the front of the steamer went under water, and she floated upside down.

Rescue of passengers and crew

The CS Mackay-Bennett team pulls passengers' bodies out of the water
The report of the British Commission on the results of the investigation into the circumstances of the sinking of the Titanic states that "if the boats had been delayed a little longer before launching, or if the doors of the passage had been opened for passengers, more of them could have got on the boats." The reason for the low survival rate of class 3 passengers with a high degree of probability can be considered obstacles placed by the crew for the passage of passengers to the deck, closing the doors of the passage. People in boats, as a rule, did not save those who were in the water. On the contrary, they tried to sail as far as possible from the wreck, fearing that those in the water would capsize their boats or be sucked into the funnel from a sinking ship. Only 6 people were picked up alive from the water.

"Californian"

Evidence from a British investigation showed that at 22:10 the Californian observed the ship's lights to the south. Captain Stanley Lord and third officer S. W. Groves (who was released by Lord at 11:10 p.m.) later decided it was a passenger liner. , and that a port light appeared. By order of the Lord, Morse light signals were sent to the ship between 23:30 and 01:00, but no response was received.

Captain Lord retired to his cabin at 11:00 pm for a night's rest, but Second Officer Herbert Stone, while on duty, notified Lord at 01:10 am that an unknown ship had fired 5 missiles. Lord asked if they were company signals, i.e. colored flashes used for identification. Stone replied that he did not know and that the missiles were white. Captain Lord instructed the crew to continue signaling the ship with a Morse lamp and went to bed. Three more rockets were seen at 01:50 am, and Stone noted that the ship looked strange in the water, as if it was tilted. At 02:15 am, Lord was notified that the ship was no longer in sight. Lord asked again if the rocket lights had any color and was informed that they were all white.

The Californian eventually decided to react. At approximately 05:30 a.m., Chief Officer George Stuart woke up wireless operator Cyril Farmstone-Evans and informed him that rockets had been seen during the night and asked to contact the ship. In response, he received news of the sinking of the Titanic; Captain Lord was notified of this, and the ship went to provide assistance. It arrived much later than the Carpathia, which had already picked up the survivors.

As a result of the investigation, it turned out that the ship seen by the Californian was the Titanic, and that the Californian could have come to his aid if not for the actions of Captain Lord. Nevertheless, Lord declared his innocence until the end of his life, and many researchers still argue that the well-known relative position of the Titanic and the Californian make it impossible for the former to be the very “mysterious ship”, the theme of which “caused ... millions of words and… hours of heated debate”

In the early days, newspapers reported false information about the number of victims, based on conflicting rumors.
Almost all the women and children from cabins 1 and 2 were saved. More than half of the women and children in Class 3 cabins died as they had difficulty finding their way up through the maze of narrow corridors. Nearly all of the men also died. The tragedy of the Polsson family claimed the lives of Alma's mother and all her four young children, whom Father Niels was waiting in vain for in New York.

The fate of the passengers

338 men (20% of all adult men) and 316 women (74% of all adult women) survived, including Violet Jessop, Dorothy Gibson, Molly Brown, Lucy Duff Gordon, the Countess of Rothes and others. Of the children, 56 survived (slightly more than half of all children).

In May 2006, at the age of 99, the last American eyewitness who survived the crash of the Titanic died. This was reported by the Boston funeral home. She died yesterday at her home. Swedish-born Lillian Gertrud Asplund (Swed. Lillian Gertrud Asplund), who was five years old at the time of the disaster, lost her father in her and three brothers. Her mother and brother, who was then three years old, survived. They were third-class passengers and escaped in boat number 15. Asplund was the last to remember how the tragedy happened, but she avoided publicity and rarely spoke about this event.

The last passenger on the Titanic, Millvina Dean, who was two and a half months old at the time of the ship's sinking, died on May 31, 2009 at the age of 97. Her ashes were scattered to the wind on October 24, 2009 in the port of Southampton, from where the Titanic began its only voyage.

A kind of record belongs to the maid Violet Jessop, who survived the accident on all 3 ships of the Olympic class. She worked on the Olympic when it collided with the cruiser Hawk; escaped from the Titanic, and subsequently survived when the Britannic sank by hitting a mine during the First World War.

Distribution of victims by social status

Vessel Country Tonnage Year Number of casualties Cause of death
Goya Flag of German Reich (1935–1945).svg Germany 5 230 1945, April 16 ~ 7 000 Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Attack of the submarine L-3
Junyo-maru Flag of Japan.svg Japan 5 065 1944, September 18 5 620 United Kingdom Attack of the submarine HMS Tradewind
Toyama Maru Flag of Japan.svg Japan 7 089 1944 June 29 5 600 United States of America USS Sturgeon submarine attack
Cap Arkona Flag of German Reich (1935–1945).svg Germany 27 561 1945, May 3 5 594 Great Britain Air attack
Wilhelm Gustloff Flag of German Reich (1935–1945).svg Germany 25 484 1945, January 30 ~ 5 300…9 300 Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
Armenia Flag of the Soviet Union (1923-1955).svg USSR 5 770 1941, November 7 ~ 5 000 Germany Air attack
Ryusei-maru (eng. SS Ryusei Maru) Flag of Japan.svg Japan 4 861 1944, February 25 4 998 United States of America Attack of the submarine USS Rasher
Doña Paz Flag of the Philippines (navy blue).svg Philippines 2 602 1987 December 20 4 375 Tanker collision and fire
Lancastria Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Great Britain 16 243 1940, June 17 ~4 000 Germany Air attack
General Steuben Flag of German Reich (1935–1945).svg Germany 14 660 1945, February 10 3 608 Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Attack of the submarine S-13
Tilbeck War Ensign of Germany 1938-1945.svg Germany 2 815 1945, May 3 ~ 2 800 Great Britain Air attack
Salzburg Flag of German Reich (1935–1945).svg Germany 1 759 1942, October 1 2 086 Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Attack of the submarine M-118
Bismarck War Ensign of Germany 1938-1945.svg Germany 50 900 1941, 27 May 1995 Great Britain battle with British ships
Titanic Flag of the United Kingdom.svg UK 52310 1912 April 15 1495 Iceberg impact
Hood, battlecruiser Naval Ensign of the United Kingdom.svg Great Britain 41 125 1941, 24 May 1 415 Germany battle with German ships
Lusitania Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Great Britain 31 550 1915, May 7 1 198 Germany U-20 submarine attack
Among the disasters that occurred outside of hostilities, the Titanic ranks third in terms of the number of victims. The sad leadership is behind the Doña Paz ferry, which collided with an oil tanker in 1987. More than 4,000 people died in the collision and subsequent fire. Second place holds a wooden paddle steamer"Sultana", which sank on April 27, 1865 on the Mississippi River near Memphis due to the explosion of a steam boiler and fire. Total number more than 1,700 people died on the ship, this is the largest disaster on river ships.

Looking for the wreckage

In 1994, a piece of ship plating was transferred to the laboratory of the Canadian Department of Defense in Halifax. The laboratory workers decided to subject it to the so-called impact test on Charpy samples, which determines the brittleness of steel. The essence of the test was as follows: a prototype, fixed in a special clamp, had to withstand the impact of a 30-kilogram pendulum. For comparison, a similar piece of steel used in modern courts was tested. Before testing, both samples were kept in an alcohol bath at a temperature of 1.7 °C (the same temperature was sea ​​water at the site of the wreck). Modern steel passed the test with honor: as a result of the impact, the metal plate only bent in a V-shape, and the fragment of the Titanic was broken into two parts. Perhaps he became so fragile after lying at the bottom of the Atlantic for 82 years. Canadian researchers managed to get a sample of 80-year-old steel from the Belfast shipyard, where the Titanic was built at one time. He endured the impact test on Sharpy samples no better than his sunken brother.

The experts concluded that the steel used to cover the Titanic's hull was of poor quality, with a large admixture of phosphorus, which made it very brittle at low temperatures. If the skin had been made of high quality, tough, low phosphorus steel, it would have softened the force of impact to a great extent. The metal sheets would have simply bent inward and the damage to the hull would not have been 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 data, the susceptibility of steel sheathing in cold waters to brittle rupture was revealed, which also accelerated the sinking of the vessel.

On the other hand, this test only proves that modern steel is much better than the one used at the beginning of the 20th century. It does not prove that the steel used to build the Titanic was of poor quality (or not the best) for its time.

In the first years of the 21st century, in a number of mass media, with reference to latest research ship's hull by deep-sea submersibles, the opinion was expressed that in a collision with an iceberg, the steamer did not receive a hole, and its skin withstood the blow. The cause of death was that the hull rivets could not prevent the divergence of its sheets, and outboard water began to flow into the resulting long gap.

Research and tests

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 poor quality, they contained a lot of third-party impurities, in particular coke, during forging, this coke collected in the heads, further increasing fragility. During the impact of the iceberg, the heads of cheap rivets simply broke, and sheets of 2.5-centimeter steel diverged under the pressure of ice.

Internal communication system

The radio log from the Titanic did not survive

On the other hand, on April 14, in addition to this message, several more iceberg warnings were received from other ships. The captain took certain measures, in particular, the officers were warned of the danger verbally and in writing, and those looking ahead were ordered to look for the presence of icebergs. Therefore, it cannot be said that Captain Smith did not know about them.

The news about the absence of binoculars from the lookout was received with criticism (according to many testimonies, the binoculars were only on the Belfast-Southampton segment, after this stop Hogg, on the orders of the captain, for some reason folded them in his cockpit). There is an opinion that having binoculars looking ahead, despite a moonless night, would notice an iceberg not a quarter of a mile (450 m), but 2 or 3 miles (4-6 km). On the other hand, binoculars narrow the field of view, so they are used only after the lookout has noticed something, for a more detailed study of the alleged object. At the same time, lookouts without binoculars discovered the iceberg earlier than the watch officer who had binoculars. On the other hand, on the Titanic there was a special group of lookouts who had some experience. On many other ships, random sailors from the crew were placed as lookouts.

If there were even a slight wave or swell in the ocean, he would see white lambs at the “waterline” of the iceberg. As it later became known, the Titanic collided with a “black” iceberg, that is, with one that had recently turned over in the water. The side facing the liner had a dark blue color, because of this there was no reflection (an ordinary white iceberg under such a condition could be seen from a mile away).

The question of what prevented the senior on the bridge, the first assistant W. Murdoch, whose immediate duty was to constantly monitor the situation, to discover the iceberg himself in a timely manner, remains open: Murdoch died in a shipwreck. The captain of the Carpathia, Rostron, said that 75% of the objects in the sea are detected from the bridge earlier than from the "crow's nest". When his ship sailed at night to the site of the accident of the Titanic, all the icebergs on their way were seen from the bridge before they were discovered by the lookouts.

There is an opinion that if Murdoch had not given the order to reverse immediately after the command "left rudder", the Titanic would certainly have avoided a collision, since the reverse negatively affects the effectiveness of the rudder. In this case, however, the time required to execute the command is overlooked. This takes at least 30 seconds and the command was probably received with a delay; - commands for the engine room are rarely given along the route of the liner (the last one was given three days before), so no one is standing at the engine telegraph. The team simply did not have time to execute, otherwise the Titanic would have experienced a strong vibration, but no one mentions it. According to the testimonies of the survivors, the cars stopped and reversed after the collision, so this command had no practical significance.

There is also an opinion that the most correct decision would be to start only the left car in reverse. Running the propellers apart, that is, in opposite directions, would help speed up the turn and slow down the speed. The middle propeller was driven by a steam turbine that ran on the residual steam from the onboard machines; this turbine had no reverse gear. Thus, the stopped screw, behind which there was a single rudder of a very small area, created a turbulent flow in which the already inefficient rudder almost completely lost its effectiveness. Perhaps even, in order to avoid a collision, it would be necessary, on the contrary, to increase the speed of the middle propeller to increase the efficiency of the steering wheel. Moreover, the reverse takes a considerable time, and, therefore, there were practically no chances to quickly reduce the speed.

Attention should be paid to the fact that the accident occurred on the first flight.

There are also suggestions that the Titanic would have remained afloat if the rudder had not been shifted and the ship would have “rammed” the iceberg, taking a hit on the stem. The device of partitions was just aimed at the "survival" of the ship in a head-on collision, while the sides of the ship were not protected. “Wilding, a shipbuilder from Belfast, calculated that the bow of the ship would be indented by 25-30 meters, but the ship would not die. It would be instant death for those who were at the bow of the vessel at that time, but the inertia of the course would be rather slow, comparable to a car traveling at this speed, which had its brakes instantly pressed to the stop,” says Barnaby. However, Murdoch is justified by the fact that he did not have the ability to measure the distance to the iceberg and could not know that the maneuver he had taken would not succeed. Therefore, he can hardly be reproached for the fact that he did not give a command that would obviously kill people.

The liner was not designed to flood all the first five compartments. Such a design, although possible, is extremely expensive - the only ship built this way, the Great Eastern, was unprofitable. The unprofitability of this giant ship is confirmed by the fact that it was not found possible to use it for its intended purpose, and it went down in history as a cable ship used in laying the transatlantic telegraph cable. It is also impossible not to take into account the likelihood of risk. After all, apart from the Titanic, in peacetime, not a single ship suffered such damage.

High liner speed

Despite warnings about icebergs, the captain of the Titanic did not slow down or change route. But that was standard practice at the time. So, during the investigation into the death of the Titanic, Captain Gerard C. Affeld, who commanded 5 transatlantic ships, testified that, having received warnings about icebergs, he never changed the route and reduced speed only in case of fog or bad weather. He studied the logbooks of the ships entrusted to him. According to these logs, other captains, having received warnings about icebergs, also did not change their route and, as a rule, did not slow down. On the other hand, not everyone followed this practice: the ship Californian closest to the Titanic, having reached the iceberg field, stopped at its border (and gave the Titanic a warning that was ignored).

Lookout Reginald Lee testified that he spotted the iceberg from a distance of "half a mile (926 m) maybe more, maybe less." The Titanic would cover half a mile in 80 seconds. Helmsman Hichens testified that by the time of the collision the ship had managed to turn 2 points. Since the windows of the wheelhouse were darkened so that the light did not interfere with the observation from the bridge, Hichens could not see the iceberg. An experiment on the twin steamer Olympic showed that a turn of 2 points would take 37 seconds, counting from the moment the command was given. The authors of the book Report into the Loss of the SS Titanic: A Centennial Reappraisal, published on the occasion of the centenary of the shipwreck, restore the timing of the accident, and put forward a version of “missed 30 seconds” after the signal of the lookouts, who left Murdoch for then to visually detect an iceberg, assess the situation and make a decision.

The main subjective cause of death

The owners of the Titanic, formally fulfilling the instructions (and even slightly overfulfilling them, since the Titanic's boats had 1,178 seats, not 962), provided the ship with an insufficient number of boats. Despite the fact that there were enough lifeboats to board 1178 people, only 704 were saved. There were certain subjective reasons for this. For example, second mate Charles Lightoller, who commanded the launching of the boats on the port side, followed Captain Smith's order "women and children first" literally: he allowed men to take places in the boats only if rowers were needed and under no other circumstances.

Based on the stories of Charles Lightoller, his granddaughter Lady Patten put forward new version death transatlantic liner. According to the writer, the Titanic did not sink because it was sailing too fast, because of which it simply did not have time to avoid a collision with an iceberg. Time to dodge ice block there was plenty, but the helmsman, Robert Hitchens, panicked and turned the helm the wrong way. The ship received a hole, due to which it eventually sank. However, passengers and crew could have been saved if the Titanic had stopped immediately after the collision. In addition, the nearest ship was only a few miles from the liner. The manager of the company that owned the huge ship, Joseph Bruce Ismay, convinced the captain to continue sailing, fearing that the incident could cause him considerable material damage. He wanted to save the Titanic, but he thought only about the financial side of the matter. The rate of water entering the holds of the liner has increased exponentially. Water entered the hull at a rate of approximately 400 tons per minute. As a result, the ship sank in a matter of hours. About why the liner went down, Lightoller told only his relatives. According to Patten, her relatives feared for their reputation and therefore did not want to disclose the true causes of the 1912 disaster. “My relatives died a long time ago, and I realized that I was the only one in the world who knows about the true cause of the sinking of the Titanic,” the writer said.

A set of adverse factors

The cause of the collision and loss of the vessel was a combination of adverse factors:

The iceberg began to melt and, as a result, turned over and became almost transparent, due to which it was noticed too late.
The night was windless and moonless, otherwise the lookout would have noticed the "lambs" around the iceberg.
The speed of the steamer was too high, due to which the impact of the iceberg on the hull was of maximum force. If the captain had ordered in advance, when entering the iceberg belt, to reduce the speed of the ship, then perhaps the impact force on the iceberg would not have been enough to break through the Titanic's hull.
The non-transmission of several telegrams from neighboring ships by members of the radio room, busy sending private telegrams from wealthy passengers for money, about the dangerous proximity of icebergs to Captain Smith, which lowered his vigilance.
The best steel of the time, from which the Titanic was made, became brittle at low temperatures. The water temperature that night was +2 ... +4 ° C, which made the ship's hull very vulnerable.
The poor quality of the rivets that connected the plating sheets of the side of the ship, when an iceberg hit, the heads of forged iron rivets, which replaced the originally provided steel rivets, crumbled due to their “porosity” due to the inclusion of foreign impurities in them.
The arrangement of partitions between the compartments was made based on a frontal impact, and the doors between the partitions simply could not withstand the pressure of water and broke under its pressure.
Lack of binoculars for the lookout.
The absence of red signal flares that indicated danger.

At the time of the sinking, the ships closest to the Titanic were: the Carpathia, the fishing vessel Samson and the Californian. Of these, the telegraph was installed on the Carpathia and the Californian.
The Carpathia was 49 miles from the Titanic. And it was this ship that was the first to arrive at the crash site 4 hours later and took all the surviving passengers from the boats.
The fishing schooner Samson was 17 miles from the Titanic. Fishermen were engaged in illegal catching of seals on this vessel. At the sight of white flares (they indicated attention) and because of the bright light of the liner, the captain of the Samson thought it was a coast guard signal and hurried to take the ship away. There were no red signal flares on the Titanic (they indicated danger and the captain who sees them is obliged to go there). If there were red flares on the liner, then the victims could have been avoided.
The ship "Californian" was 26 miles from the "Titanic" and at the sight of flares, the captain thought that fireworks were being set off there. At the same time, the ship's radio station did not function, since the only radio operator was resting after the watch. The next morning the captain told the story of the missiles to the telegrapher. The telegraph operator began to check incoming messages, and five minutes was enough for him, and he understood everything about the sinking of the Titanic. For this, the captain of the Californian lost his rank for failing to provide assistance to a sinking ship.

Flood depth

The distance between the remains of the bow and stern of the Titanic is about 600 meters.

The remains of the ship were discovered 13 miles west of the coordinates that the Titanic transmitted in its SOS signal.

In April 2012, one hundred years after the shipwreck, the remains of the ship acquired the protection of the 2001 UNESCO Convention for the Protection of the Underwater cultural heritage. From now on, the states parties to the Convention have the right to prevent the destruction, looting, sale and unauthorized distribution of objects found at the shipwreck. They can take all necessary measures to protect the wreckage of a sunken ship, as well as to ensure that the human remains resting in them are properly treated.

Investigation of the site of the sinking of the Titanic

In addition, 12 dives on the same vehicles were carried out in September 1995 in preparation for the filming of the film Titanic. Footage of the exterior and interior of the wreck was used in the film.

Conspiracy theory

The theory is based on the assumption of fraud in order to obtain insurance. In 1911, when leaving for voyage 11, the Olympic collided with the British cruiser Hawk. At the same time, the latter miraculously remained afloat, while the Olympic escaped with minor damage. By that time, the White Star Line company was already suffering serious financial losses. The insurance for the ship could well cover all the losses, but the damage received in the collision with the cruiser was not enough to pay the insurance. It was necessary that the ship received even more damage (which, however, would not affect its buoyancy). Therefore, when passing through dangerous area the ship was subjected to a deliberate risk of colliding with an iceberg - the owners of the White Star Line company were confident that, even if they received serious damage, the ship would not sink.

Despite the seemingly obvious absurdity of this version, it has become widespread, and it turned out to be very difficult to refute it. Against her, for example, was the fact that many passengers of the Titanic had previously sailed on the Olympic and would hardly have noticed the substitution. In addition, the presence on board the top officials of the White Star Line also testified not in favor of the conspiracy theory. Supporters of the conspiracy theory explained the presence of Bruce Ismay on board by his desire to divert suspicion from himself and confidence in the "unsinkability" of the ship. Actually, the conspiracy theory was debunked only after the parts were lifted from the ship, on which the number 401 (the building number of the Titanic) was knocked out, since the building number of the Olympic was 400. However, despite numerous counterarguments, the version of the conspiracy is still still continues to exist - evidence of this is a number of modern popular science articles and documentaries defending this point of view.

The Titanic II will set sail in 2016
Australian billionaire Clive Palmer announced his intention to build a copy of the ship, cruise ship"Titanic-2".

It will be built on Chinese shipyard and, recreating the appearance of the legendary ship (there will be the same four steam pipes), will at the same time be equipped with modern navigation and propulsion equipment, including a diesel power plant, a bow bulb, side thrusters (thrusters) and an enlarged steering wheel. The vessel is expected to be ready for its maiden voyage in April 2016.

Monument to the crew of the Titanic in Southampton

The film "Titanic"

The film Titanic, released in 1997 by James Cameron, was the world box office leader for 13 years ($1,845,034,188, including $600,788,188 in the US), but in 2010, the Titanic record was broken by the film Avatar ”, released by the same director; In April 2012, on the centenary of the disaster, Cameron released his old film in 3D.

In honor of the centenary of the sinking of the liner, the mini-series "Titanic" directed by Jon Jones was filmed. World premiere March 21, 2012.

"Titanic: Blood and Steel" is a 12-episode film, where the main characters will be the actual creators of the liner, previously called unsinkable, forced to work in an atmosphere of political and financial pressure. The world premiere took place on April 15, 2012.

The death of the ship was dedicated to many songs of performers and groups playing in different genres. In particular, in the song of the same name by the Austrian artist Falco (1992), the Titanic is considered as a symbol of decadence, the end of an era, in the song of the Russian group Nautilus Pompilius from the album of the same name Titanic (1994), the floating ship appears as a symbol of death and doom.

Manufacturers "Revell" and "Zvezda" produce prefabricated plastic models-copies of the "Titanic".

Statistics

Common data:

• Port of registry - Liverpool.
• Board number - 401.
• The call sign is MGY.
• Ship dimensions:
• Length - 259.83 meters.
• Width - 28.19 meters.
• Weight - 46328 tons.
• Displacement - 52310 tons.
• The height from the waterline to the boat deck is 19 meters.
• From the keel to the top of the pipe - 55 meters.
• Draft - 10.54 meters.

Technical data:

• Steam boilers - 29.
• Waterproof compartments - 16.
• Maximum speed - 23 knots.

Rescue equipment:

• Standard boats - 14 (65 places).
• Collapsible boats - 4 (47 seats).

Passengers:

• I class: 180 men and 145 women (including 6 children).
• II class: 179 men and 106 women (including 24 children).
• III class: 510 men and 196 women (including 79 children).

Team members:

• Officers - 8 people (including the captain).
• Deck crew - 66 people.
• Engine room - 325 people.
• Service staff - 494 people (including 23 women).
• In total, there were 2201 people on board.

officers

• Captain - Edward J. Smith
• Chief Officer – Henry F. Wild
• First Mate – William M. Murdoch
• Second Officer – Charles G. Lightoller
• Third Mate - Herbert J. Pitman
• Fourth Mate – Joseph G. Boxhall
• Fifth Mate – Harold P. Lowe
• 6th Mate – James P. Moody

Specifications
height from the keel to the tops of the pipes - 53.3 m;
engine room - 29 boilers, 159 coal furnaces;
The unsinkability of the ship was ensured by 15 watertight bulkheads in the hold, creating 16 conditionally "watertight" compartments; the space between the bottom and the flooring of the second bottom was divided by transverse and longitudinal partitions into 46 watertight compartments.

Bulkheads
Watertight bulkheads, marked from bow to stern with the letters "A" to "P", rose from the second bottom and passed through 4 or 5 decks: the first two and the last five reached deck "D", 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 when getting a hole.
The Titanic was built to stay 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.
The first two bulkheads in the bow and the last 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 the bulkhead "K", there were the only doors that led to the cooling chamber. On decks "F" and "E" in almost all bulkheads there were airtight doors connecting the rooms used by passengers, all of them could be battened down both remotely and manually, using a device located directly on the door and from the deck that reached bulkhead. To batten down such doors on the passenger decks, a special key was required, which was available only to the senior stewards. But on deck "G" 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 by an electric drive from the navigation bridge. In case of danger or accident, or when the captain or the watch officer deemed it necessary, the electromagnets, on a signal from the bridge, released the latches and all 12 doors fell under the influence of their own gravity and the space behind them turned out to be hermetically closed. If the doors were closed by an electric signal from the bridge, then it was possible to open them only after removing the voltage from the electric drive.
In the ceiling of each compartment was a spare hatch, usually leading to the boat deck. Those who did not have time to leave the room before the doors closed could climb its iron ladder.

boats
In formal accordance with the current requirements of the British Merchant Shipping Code, the ship had 20 lifeboats, which were enough to board 1178 people, that is, for 50% of the people who were on board at that moment and 30% of the planned load. This was taken into account with the expectation of increasing the walking space on the deck of the passengers of the ship.

Decks
On the Titanic there were 8 steel decks located one above the other at a distance of 2.5-3.2 m. The uppermost one was a boat deck, under it there were seven others, indicated from top to bottom with letters from “A” to “G”. Only decks "C", "D", "E" and "F" stretched along the entire length of the vessel. The boat deck and the "A" deck did not reach either the bow or the stern, and the "G" deck was located only in the front of the liner - from the boiler rooms to the bow and in the aft - from the engine room to the stern cut. On the open boat deck there were 20 lifeboats, along the sides there were promenade decks.
Deck "A" with a length of 150 m was almost entirely intended for first-class passengers. B Deck was interrupted at the bow to form an open space above C Deck, and then continued as a 37-meter bow superstructure with anchor handling equipment and mooring arrangements. In front of deck "C" there were anchor winches for the two main side anchors, there was also a galley and a dining room for sailors and stokers. Behind the bow superstructure there was a promenade (the so-called inter-superstructure) deck for third-class passengers 15 m long. On deck “D” there was another, isolated, third-class promenade deck. Along the entire length of deck "E" were the cabins of passengers of the first and second classes, as well as the cabins of the stewards and mechanics. In the first part of deck "F" there were 64 cabins for passengers of the second class and the main living quarters for passengers of the third, stretching for 45 m and occupying the entire width of the liner.
There were two large salons, a dining room for third-class passengers, ship's laundries, a swimming pool and Turkish baths. Deck "G" captured only the bow and stern, between which the boiler rooms were located. The forward part of the deck, 58 m long, was 2 m above the waterline, gradually lowered towards the center of the liner and at the opposite end was already at the level of the waterline. There were 26 cabins for 106 third class passengers, the rest of the area was occupied by the luggage compartment for first class passengers, the ship's mail and the ball room. Behind the bow of the deck there were coal bunkers, which occupied 6 watertight compartments around the chimneys, followed by 2 compartments with steam pipes for reciprocating steam engines and a turbine compartment. This was followed by the aft part of the deck 64 m long with warehouses, pantries and 60 cabins for 186 third-class passengers, which was already below the waterline.

Masts
One was aft, the other was on the forecastle, each was steel with a teak top. On the front, at a height of 29 m from the waterline, there was a mars platform (“crow's nest”), which could be reached by an internal metal ladder.

Service premises
In front of the boat deck there was a navigation bridge, 58 m away from the bow. On the bridge there was a wheelhouse with a steering wheel and a compass, immediately behind it was a room where navigation charts were stored. To the right of the wheelhouse were the navigational cabin, the captain's cabin and part of the officers' cabins, to the left - the rest of the officers' cabins. Behind them, behind the front funnel, was the cabin of the radiotelegraph and the cabin of the radio operator. In front of deck "D" there were living quarters for 108 stokers, a special spiral ladder connected this deck directly to the boiler rooms, so that stokers could leave for work and return without passing by the cabins or saloons for passengers. In front of deck "E" there were living quarters for 72 loaders and 44 sailors. In the first part of the "F" deck there were quarters of 53 stokers of the third shift. Deck G contained quarters for 45 stokers and oilers.

Size comparison of the Titanic with the modern cruise ship Queen Mary 2, A-380 aircraft, bus, car and person

Second bottom
The second bottom was located about one and a half meters above the keel and occupied 9/10 of the ship's length, not capturing only small areas in the bow and stern. On the second day, boilers, reciprocating steam engines, a steam turbine and electric generators were installed, all firmly fixed on steel plates, the remaining space was used for cargo, coal and drinking water tanks. In the engine room section, the second bottom rose 2.1 m above the keel, which increased the protection of the liner in case of damage to the outer skin.

Power point
The registered power of steam engines and turbines was 50 thousand liters. With. (actually 55 thousand hp). The turbine was located in the fifth watertight compartment in the stern of the liner, in the next compartment, closer to the bow, steam engines were located, the other 6 compartments were occupied by twenty-four double-flow and five single-flow boilers that produced steam for the main machines, turbines, generators and auxiliary mechanisms. The diameter of each boiler was 4.79 m, the length of the double-flow boiler was 6.08 m, the single-flow boiler was 3.57 m. Each double-flow boiler had 6 fireboxes, and the single-flow boiler had 3. In addition, the Titanic was equipped with four auxiliary machines with generators, each with a capacity of 400 kilowatts, producing a current of 100 volts. Next to them were two more 30-kilowatt generators.

Pipes
The liner had 4 tubes. The diameter of each was 7.3 m, height - 18.5 m. The first three removed smoke from the boiler furnaces, the fourth, located above the turbine compartment, served as an exhaust fan, a chimney for ship kitchens was connected to it. A longitudinal section of the vessel is presented on its model exhibited at the Deutsches Museum in Munich, where it is clearly seen that the last pipe was not connected to the fireboxes. There is an opinion that when designing the vessel, the widespread opinion of the public was taken into account that the solidity and reliability of the vessel directly depends on the number of its pipes. It also follows from the literature that in the last moments of the ship leaving the water almost vertically, its fake pipe fell off its place and, falling into the water, killed a large number of passengers and crew members in the water.

Electrical supply
10,000 light bulbs, 562 electric heaters were connected to the distribution network, mainly in first-class cabins, 153 electric motors, including electric drives for eight cranes with a total capacity of 18 tons, 4 cargo winches with a capacity of 750 kg, 4 elevators, each for 12 people, and lots of phones. In addition, electricity was consumed by fans in the boiler and engine rooms, apparatus in the gym, dozens of machines and appliances in the kitchens, including refrigerators.

Connection
The telephone exchange serviced 50 lines. The radio equipment on the liner was the most modern, the power of the main transmitter was 5 kilowatts, the power came from an electric generator. The second, an emergency transmitter, was powered by batteries. 4 antennas were strung between the two masts, some up to 75 m high. The guaranteed range of the radio signal was 250 miles. During the day, under favorable conditions, communication was possible at a distance of up to 400 miles, and at night - up to 2000.
Radio equipment came on board on April 2 from Marconi, which by that time had monopolized the radio industry in Italy and England. Two young radio officer officers assembled and installed the station all day, for verification, a test connection was immediately made with the coast station at Malin Head, on the north coast of Ireland, and with Liverpool. On April 3, the radio equipment worked like clockwork, on this day a connection was established with the island of Tenerife at a distance of 2000 miles and with Port Said in Egypt (3000 miles). In January 1912, the Titanic was assigned radio call signs "MUC", then they were replaced by "MGY", previously owned by the American ship Yale. As the dominant radio company, Marconi introduced its own radio call signs, most of which began with the letter "M", regardless of its location and the country of residence of the vessel on which it was installed.

clash

The iceberg believed to have hit the Titanic

Recognizing an iceberg in a light haze, the forward looking Fleet warned “there is ice in front of us” and struck the bell three times, which meant an obstacle straight ahead, after which he rushed to the telephone connecting the “crow’s nest” with the bridge. Moody's sixth mate, who was on the bridge, responded almost immediately and heard a cry of "ice right ahead". With a polite thank you, Moody turned to the officer of the watch, Murdoch, and repeated the warning. He rushed to the telegraph, put his handle on "stop" and shouted "rudder right", at the same time transmitting the order "full back" to the engine room. According to the terminology of 1912, "rudder right" meant turning the ship's stern to the right, and the bow to the left. The steersman, Robert Hitchens, leaned on the handle of the steering wheel and quickly turned it counterclockwise to the stop, after which Murdoch was told "rudder to the right, sir." At that moment, Alfred Oliver, the helmsman of the watch, and Boxhall, who was in the chart house, came running to the bridge when the bells rang out in the "crow's nest". Murdoch pulled the lever, which included the closing of watertight doors in the bulkheads of the boiler rooms and the engine room, and immediately gave the order "left rudder!"

lifeboats
There were 2,208 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 then in force, the total capacity of lifeboats depended on the tonnage of the ship, and not on the number of passengers and crew members. The rules were drawn up in 1894, when the largest ships had a displacement of about 10,000 tons. The displacement of the Titanic was 46,328 tons.
But even these boats were only partially filled. Captain Smith gave the order or instruction "women and children first". The officers interpreted this order in different ways. Second mate Lightoller, who commanded the launching of the boats on the port side, allowed the men to take places in the boats only if rowers were needed and under no other circumstances. First mate Murdoch, who commanded the launch of the boats on the starboard side, allowed the men to go down if there were no women and children. So, in boat number 1, only 12 seats out of 40 were occupied. In addition, at first, many passengers did not want to take seats in boats, because the Titanic, which had no external damage, seemed safer to them. The last boats filled better, because it was already obvious to the passengers that the Titanic would sink. In the very last boat, 44 seats out of 47 were occupied. But in the sixteenth boat that left the side there were many empty seats, passengers of the 1st class were saved in it.
As a result of the analysis of the operation to rescue people from the Titanic, it is concluded that with adequate actions by the team of victims, there would have been at least 553 fewer people. The reason for the low survival rate of passengers on the ship is the installation given by the captain to save, first of all, women and children, and not all passengers; the interest of the crew in this order of boarding the boats. By preventing male passengers from accessing the boats, the men from the crew got the opportunity to take places in the half-empty boats themselves, covering their interests with the “noble motives” of caring for women and children. In the event that all passengers, men and women, took their places in the boats, the men from the crew would not get into them and their chances of salvation would be equal to zero, and the crew could not help but understand this. The men from the crew occupied part of the seats in almost all boats during the evacuation from the ship, on average 10 people from the crew per 1 boat. 24% of the crew were saved, about the same as 3rd class passengers were saved (25%). The team had no reason to consider their duty fulfilled - most of the passengers remained on the ship without hope of salvation, even the order was not fulfilled to save women and children in the first place (several dozen children, and more than a hundred women did not get into the boats).
The report of the British Commission on the results of the investigation into the circumstances of the sinking of the Titanic states that "if the boats had been delayed a little longer before launching, or if the doors of the passage had been opened for passengers, more of them could have got on the boats." The reason for the low survival rate of class 3 passengers with a high degree of probability can be considered obstacles placed by the crew for the passage of passengers to the deck, closing the doors of the passage. Comparison of the results of the evacuation from the Titanic with the results of the evacuation from the Lusitania (1915) shows that the evacuation operation on ships like the Titanic and the Lusitania can be organized without a disproportion in the percentage of survivors depending on the sex or class of passengers.
People in boats, as a rule, did not save those who were in the water. On the contrary, they tried to sail as far as possible from the wreck, fearing that those in the water would capsize their boats or be sucked into the funnel from a sinking ship. Only 6 people were picked up alive from the water.

The path of the Titanic and the place of its crash.

Chronology
The path of the Titanic and the place of its crash.

April 10, 1912
- 12:00 - "Titanic" departs from the quay wall of the Southampton port and narrowly avoids a collision with the American liner "New York".
-19:00 stop in Cherbourg (France) to pick up passengers and mail.
-21:00 - The Titanic left Cherbourg and headed for Queenstown (Ireland).

April 11, 1912
-12:30 - stop in Queenstown to pick up passengers and mail; one member of the crew deserts from the Titanic.
-14:00 - The Titanic departs Queenstown with 1,316 passengers and 891 crew members on board.

April 14, 1912
-09:00 - "Caronia" reports ice in the region of 42 ° north latitude, 49-51 ° west longitude.
-13:42 - "Baltik" reports the presence of ice in the area of ​​41°51' north latitude, 49°52' west longitude.
-13:45 - "America" ​​reports ice in the region of 41°27'N, 50°8'W.
-19:00 - air temperature 43 ° Fahrenheit (6 ° C).
-19:30 - air temperature 39 ° Fahrenheit (3.9 ° C).
-19:30 - Californian reports ice at 42°3'N, 49°9'W.
-21:00 - air temperature 33 ° Fahrenheit (0.6 ° C).
-21:30 - the second officer Lightoller warns the ship's carpenter and watchmen in the engine room that it is necessary to monitor the fresh water system - the water in the pipelines may freeze; he tells the lookout to watch the appearance of ice.
-21:40 - "Mesaba" reports ice in the region of 42°-41°25' north latitude, 49°-50°30' west longitude.
-22:00 - Air temperature 32° Fahrenheit (0 °C).
-22:30 - the sea water temperature dropped to 31 ° Fahrenheit (-0.56 ° C).
-23:00 - The Californian warns of the presence of ice, but the Titanic's radio operator cuts off the radio traffic before the Californian manages to report the coordinates of the area.
-23:40 - At a point with coordinates 41 ° 46' north latitude, 50 ° 14' west longitude (later it turned out that these coordinates were calculated incorrectly), an iceberg was noticed at a distance of about 450 meters straight ahead. Despite the maneuver, after 39 seconds, the underwater part of the ship touched, and the ship's hull received numerous small holes for a length of about 100 meters. Of the 16 watertight compartments of the vessel, 6 were cut through (in the sixth, the leak was extremely insignificant).
April 15, 1912
-00:05 - an order was given to uncover the lifeboats and convene crew members and passengers to the muster points.
-00:15 - the first radiotelegraph signal for help was transmitted from the Titanic.
-00:45 - the first flare was fired, and the first lifeboat (No. 7) was launched.
-01:15 - Class 3 passengers are allowed on deck.
-01:40 - the last flare was fired.
-02:05 - the last lifeboat is launched.
-02:10 - the last radiotelegraph signals were transmitted.
-02:17 - Electric lighting goes out.
-02:18 - "Titanic" breaks into three parts
-02:20 - Titanic sank.
-03:30 - flares fired from the Carpathia are noticed in lifeboats.
-04:10 - "Carpathia" picked up the first lifeboat from the "Titanic" (boat number 2).

Lifeboat "Titanic", filmed by one of the passengers of the "Carpathia"

-08:30 - Carpathia picked up the last (No. 12) lifeboat from the Titanic.
-08:50 - Carpathia, taking on board 704 people who escaped from the Titanic, heads for New York.

Exactly 100 years have passed since 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 maritime disasters that occurred in peacetime, in terms of the number of victims, the Titanic ranks third - 1,517 people.

We recall the events of 100 years ago.

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

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

In April 1912, the largest passenger liner in the world left the English port of Southampton for New York. in 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 of the time. (AP Photo):

Titanic was not only the largest, but also the most luxurious liner of its time: there were gyms, swimming pools, libraries, upscale restaurants and luxurious cabins. In the Foto: one of the restaurants

There were three classes on the Titanic: 1st, 2nd and 3rd. This photo of 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 kept watch and could not prevent a collision with an iceberg. William Murdoch died with the Titanic.

In the film of the same name by James Cameron, Murdoch takes money from a wealthy passenger for the right to board the boat, shoots two passengers, and then shoots himself. All this is not true. In fact, William Murdoch honestly fulfilled his duty and did everything in order to save as many people as possible. 75% of all those rescued from the Titanic were evacuated from the starboard side, where the rescue operation was commanded by William Murdoch. (AP Photo):

Photo of the 30-meter-high iceberg that the Titanic is believed to have collided with. The picture was taken from the cable-laying ship Mina, which was one of the first ships to find the wreckage of the Titanic. According to the Mina crew, it was the only iceberg near the crash site.

The iceberg belonged to a rare type of "black icebergs", i.e. turned over so that their dark underwater part hits the surface. Because of this, he was seen too late. At the time of the collision of the iceberg with the Titanic, a pressure of 2.5 tons per sq.cm arose. Thick metal would have withstood, but the rivets holding the metal sheets of the Titanic's hull did not. The seams parted to a length of about 90 meters, immediately damaging 5 of the 16 conditionally watertight compartments of the ship. (Photo by United States Coast Guard):

Almost all the women and children from cabins 1 and 2 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 labyrinths of narrow corridors. Also, almost all the men died. Total at the sinking of the Titanic 1,517 people died.

In the photo: the lifeboat "Titanic", taken by one of the passengers of the steamer "Carpathia", it was "Carpathia" who took it off the boats survivors of the Titanic (712 people). (Photo by National Maritime Museum | London):

Another photo taken by a passenger of the steamship Carpathia, showing the lifeboats with the rescued passengers of the Titanic. (Photo by National Maritime Museum | London):

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

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

Survivors disembark from the rescue ship Carpathia, New York, April 17, 1912. (Photo by American Press Association):

Greeting survivors from 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):

On the street in New York, they hang out the latest news about the number of survivors and deaths. (Photo by The New York Times Photo Archives):

The very first articles from the Ogonyok magazine published in April 1912. So in Russia they learned the details at a time when there was no Internet, television and 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 with the Titanic, 1912. (Photo by New York Times Archives):

The rarest 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 Professor of Oceanology Robert Duane 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 the fact that the Titanic broke in two during the dive.

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

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

Sad 1st place belongs to the Philippine ferry "Dona Paz", which collided in 1987 with an oil tanker. More than 4,000 people died in the collision and subsequent fire.

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

The 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 propellers of the ship, lying at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. (Photo by Ralph White | AP):

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

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

A huge number of different items were scattered on the seabed, among which were parts of the ship, interior items and personal belongings of passengers. At an auction in April 2012, timed to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, 5,000 items were sold in a single lot.

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

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

Photographs from the collection of Lillian Asplund (right), survivor of the sinking of the Titanic. Then she was 5 years old. (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):

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

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

Starboard. When diving into the ocean, the Titanic first hit the bottom of the bow. (Photo by COPYRIGHT© 2012 RMS TITANIC, INC; Produced by AIVL, WHOI). (Clickable, 2400×668 px):

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

Broken stern. View from above. (Photo by COPYRIGHT© 2012 RMS TITANIC, INC; Produced by AIVL, WHOI):

(Photo by COPYRIGHT© 2012 RMS TITANIC, INC; Produced by AIVL, WHOI). (Clickable, 2400×1516 px):

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

An interesting fact: the last of the surviving passengers of the Titanic, Millvina Dean, who at the time of the crash of the liner was 2.5 months old, died on May 31, 2009 at the age of 97 years.