How fast was the Titanic going in knots? Where did the Titanic come from and where did it sail? Starting point, destination and route of the legendary ship
On the night of April 14, 1912, the largest and most luxurious liner in the history of mankind was rushing towards the shores at full speed. North America. Nothing foreshadowed the sinking of the Titanic. An orchestra was playing on the upper deck in a gourmet restaurant. The richest and most successful people drank champagne and enjoyed the beautiful weather.
There were no signs of trouble
A few minutes later the lookout spotted an iceberg. And a little later, the Titanic, the ship gigantic size, will collide with a drifting iceberg, and after some time it will all be over. Thus begins the great mystery of the big ship. The next day the sinking of the Titanic will become a legend, and its history will greatest mystery 20th century.
International sensation
The very next morning, the office of the Titanic owner's company was stormed by dozens of newspaper reporters. They wanted to know where the Titanic sank and demanded clarification. Relatives of passengers ocean liner were indignant. A short telegram from Cape Race reported: “At 11 p.m. local time, the largest ship, the Titanic, transmitted a distress signal.” Company President Luster Whites reassured reporters: “The liner is unsinkable!” But the very next day, all the world's newspapers were full of sensational messages: “The safest Titanic (ship) in the world sank in the icy depths of the Atlantic Ocean. On the fifth day of its tragic voyage, the liner claimed 1,513 human lives.”
Disaster investigation
The sinking of the Titanic shocked both sides of the Atlantic. The question of why the Titanic ended up at the bottom haunts us to this day. From the very beginning, people wanted to know in detail what the cause of the sinking of the Titanic was. But the court’s decision read: “The liner hit an iceberg and sank.”
The Titanic (the size of the ship, by the way, was very impressive) died from a banal collision with an ice floating block. It seemed incredible.
Alleged versions of the tragic death
The end to the history of this disaster has not yet been set. Fresh versions of the death of the Titanic arise even today, a century later. There are several plausible assumptions. Each of them deserves close attention. The first version says that another sunken liner lies on the Atlantic bottom. It sounds like science fiction, but this version of the death of the Titanic has real grounds.
Some researchers argue that ocean floor It is not the sunken ship Titanic that lies at all, but its double, the Olympic liner. The version seems fantastic, but it is not without evidence.
Ocean Monster of Great Britain
On December 16, 1908, the firstborn was laid down in Belfast - the steamship Olympic, later the Titanic (the size of the ship reached almost 270 meters in length) with a displacement of 66 thousand tons.
Until now, representatives of the shipyard consider it the most perfect project that has ever been implemented. The ship was as tall as an eleven-story building and spanned four small city blocks. This ocean monster was equipped with two 4-cylinder steam engines and a steam turbine.
Its power was 50,000 horsepower, to electrical network the liner was connected to 10,000 light bulbs, 153 electric motors, four elevators, each of which was designed for 12 people, there was a large number of phones. The ship was truly innovative for its time. Silent elevators, steam heating, a winter garden, several photo laboratories and even a hospital with an operating room.
Comfort and respectability
The interior was more reminiscent of a fashionable palace than a ship. Passengers dined in a luxurious Louis XVI-style restaurant and drank coffee on a sun-drenched veranda with climbing plants. Bridge games were played in spacious hallways, and high-end cigars were smoked in soft smoking rooms.
The Titanic had a rich library, a gym and even a swimming pool. These days, a business class ticket on the Titanic would cost $55,000. The liner became the flagship of the White Star Line company.
Almost the same in terms of comfort and technical specifications The Olympic liner lost the championship without a fight. It was he who was to become the star of transatlantic flights. But frequent accidents made him an outsider, and endless fines, lawsuits and repair costs only added to the managers' headaches.
Unsolved version
The decision was obvious: to send instead of the battered Olympic, which did not have an insurance policy, a new insured Titanic. The history of the ship "Olympic" was very unrepresentable. However, just by changing the signs on the liners, which were as similar as two peas in a pod, several problems could be solved at once. The main thing is the payment of insurance in the amount of one million pounds, which could improve the financial affairs of the company.
Small accident, big money, job done. People shouldn't have been hurt, because the liner is unsinkable. In the event of an accident, the ship will drift, and ships passing by on the busy ocean route will pick up all the passengers.
Strange behavior of passengers
The main real evidence of this unprecedented scam is considered to be the refusal of travel by 55 first class passengers. Among those who remained ashore were:
- John Morgan, owner of the liner.
- Henry Frick, steel magnate and partner.
- Robert Breccon, US Ambassador to France.
- Famous rich man George Vanderbilt.
The mystery of the sinking of the Titanic has indirect confirmation of the version of the insurance scam, namely strange behavior Captain Edward Smith, who, by the way, was the captain of the Olympic during her first voyages.
The Last Captain
Edward Smith was considered one of the best commanders of his time. Working for the White Star Line, he earned around £1,200 a year. Other captains did not earn even half of this money. However, Smith's career was far from cloudless. Many times the ships he managed got into all sorts of accidents, ran aground or burned.
It was Edward Smith who commanded the Olympic in 1911, when the uninsured ocean liner suffered several serious accidents. But Smith managed not only to avoid punishment, but even get a promotion.
He became the captain of the Titanic. Could the company's management, knowing about the captain's previous mistakes, assign him to the Titanic, and even just for one voyage? Could she use incriminating evidence on the captain in order to fire a man who brought huge losses to the company in case of disobedience with a scandal?
Perhaps the captain was choosing between a shameful write-off just before retirement and participation in a scam invented by his superiors. It was last flight for Edward Smith.
What was the first mate thinking?
Another inexplicable mystery about the sinking of the Titanic is the strange behavior of William Murdoch, the first mate. Murdock was on watch the night of the accident. When he received a message about an approaching iceberg, he gave the order to turn the ship to the left and engage reverse, which is strictly prohibited.
Is it possible that the first mate made a mistake and this is the reason for the death of the Titanic? But Murdoch had already encountered a similar situation and always did the right thing, pointing the ship's nose at the obstacle. In all navigation textbooks, this maneuver is described as the only correct one in this situation.
On that last voyage for the Titanic, the chief mate acted differently. As a result, the main blow fell not on the bow, where the strongest part of the ship was, but on its side. Almost a hundred meters of the starboard side opened up like a tin can.
The Titanic, whose sinking story is told in less than ten seconds, was practically dead. This is exactly how long it took to pronounce the death sentence on the largest and most beautiful ship in the world. Why did Murdoch make a fatal mistake? If we assume that he, too, was in collusion, then the answer to the death of the Titanic is found by itself.
What were the ship's owners hiding?
Today it is impossible to prove the version of the insurance scam, the White Star Line company was closed, the Olympic ship was scrapped, and all documentation was destroyed. But even if we assume that the sinking of the Titanic was not rigged, then there was probably some human error involved.
Key to the Mystery Box
Many years have passed since the Titanic sank. The ship's story, however, continued in 1997, when the key was sold at a London auction for one hundred thousand pounds sterling. He opened only one box on the Titanic, but it was this key that was not on board the liner that fateful night. A chain of strange circumstances, a series of fatal coincidences and simply human negligence accompanied the superliner from the very beginning to the end of its first and last voyage.
Well, the item sold for fabulous money at a London auction was an ordinary key to an ordinary box. It contained the only equipment with which it was possible to recognize the danger threatening the ship - binoculars.
Forgetful first mate
The thing is that locators appeared only in the 30s of the last century. And at that time its functions were performed by the human eye. From the very high point on the ship, the sailor continuously looked forward as the ship progressed. An airliner weighing 66 thousand tons, traveling at a speed of 45 km/h, has very low controllability, and the sooner the lookout notices the danger, the more chances avoid it. Ordinary binoculars were the only help.
For unknown reasons, Chief Mate Blair was removed from the ship at the last moment. Frustrated, he simply forgot to give his replacement the key to the box where the binoculars were kept.
Meeting with an unusual iceberg
Those looking ahead had to rely only on their own vigilance. They noticed the iceberg too late, when it was almost impossible to change the situation. In addition, this iceberg was different from the others; it was black.
During the drift, a huge block of ice melted and turned over. The iceberg, which had absorbed tons of water, became dark. It was incredibly difficult to notice him. If that fatal iceberg for the Titanic had been white, perhaps the watchmen would have seen it much earlier. Especially if they had binoculars.
"Titanic": the story of the sinking, the beginning of events
But the strangest thing is that the ship’s command could have learned about the possibility of a collision with an iceberg much earlier than the lookouts reported it.
Radio operators, the voice and ear of the Titanic, repeatedly received messages about ice floes drifting in the area. An hour before the lookout noticed the iceberg, the radio operator of the steamer California warned of possible danger. But on the Titanic the connection was rudely cut off.
Even earlier, a few hours before the collision, Captain Edward Smith personally read three telegrams warning about ice floes. But they were all ignored.
Officer Murdoch could have broken the chain of human miscalculations by giving the fatal order: “Full back! Left hand drive." In the event of a head-on collision of the Titanic with an iceberg, there would have been much more time to evacuate passengers. Perhaps the ship could have stayed afloat.
Human negligence
Then the mistakes followed one after another. The evacuation order was given only 45 minutes after the collision. Passengers were asked to put on life belts and gather on the upper deck near the lifeboats. And then it suddenly became clear that the Titanic had only twenty lifeboats that could accommodate no more than 1,300 people, 48 lifebuoys and pith vests for each passenger and crew members.
However, the vests were useless for northern regions Atlantic. A man caught in cold water, died half an hour later from hypothermia.
Prophetic predictions of a science fiction writer
Immediately after the disaster, the whole world was shocked by an incredible coincidence. The date of sinking of the Titanic is April 15, 1912. And fourteen years before the tragedy, the unknown London journalist Morgan Robertson finished his new novel. The science fiction writer spoke about the journey and death of a huge transatlantic liner"Titan": "On a cold April night, at full speed, the steamer ran into an iceberg and sank." Moreover, the science fiction writer pinpointed the exact location of the sinking of the Titanic.
The novel turned out to be prophetic, and the science fiction writer was dubbed the Nostradamus of the 20th century. There really were a lot of coincidences in the book: the displacement of the ship, its maximum speed, and even the number of propellers and lifeboats.
Moreover, a few years later, the writer published his new novel, in which he predicted war in the USA and Japan.
Another coincidence: a copy of the book about the ship “Titan” was on the ship with one of the firemen. The sailor read it during the first days of the voyage, and he was so impressed by the plot that in one of the ports he simply ran away. And this was not the only crew member to escape from the Titanic.
It remains a mystery: either everyone who escaped had read the book before, or they had more compelling reasons.
Testimonies of eyewitnesses to the tragedy
Immediately after the sinking of the Titanic, special commissions were created in England and the United States to investigate its causes. Surviving passengers spoke of a loud bang that they heard after the collision with the iceberg. It was like an explosion. According to one version, a fire was raging in the liner's coal bunker.
Some researchers believe that it started even before the Titanic left port, while others are confident that the fire broke out during the voyage.
A little bit of history
Britain was being transformed by the technological revolution. Beginning in the 30s of the 19th century, steam-powered merchant ships began to cross the Atlantic. The technology proved promising, and the kingdom's admiralty concluded that steam would make the sailing fleet obsolete.
When reports appeared in London that in France, which had also entered the struggle for naval dominance, the steam engine was already being tested, the British had no choice but to accept the challenge. At first, large paddle wheels were used, which were installed on opposite sides of the sides.
The first replacement for the paddle wheel appeared about ten years later, in the 40s of the 19th century. Shipbuilders have come to the conclusion that a propeller is much more efficient than a wheel. It was only after its invention and placement under the bottom of the ship that steam propulsion became a decisive advantage.
But in most cases it remained experimental developments; sometimes the innovation was used on warships. Steam engines became widespread only in the 20th century, and coal was the only fuel for a long time. In the future, the transition from coal to fuel oil will be a step to the next level of development.
But in the days of the Olympic class superliners, ships with an internal combustion engine were as rare as a steam engine in the first half of the 19th century. Be that as it may, the fire on board should not have affected the life of the ship and its passengers. There could be no emergency incidents on the liner, this is the Titanic.
Further developments
Captain Smith ordered the bunker in which the fire was raging to be localized. Due to the lack of oxygen, the fire should have died out, the problem would have resolved itself. A fire on board is a good enough reason to drive the liner with all your might to the nearest port. But when the Titanic hit an iceberg, it ripped open the ship's hull, and oxygen entered the bunker. There was a powerful explosion.
Many years later, after an underwater study of the remains of the ship, this version gained additional arguments. A huge fault runs exactly where the coal compartments were located.
For the first time, a version of the fire appeared on the pages of American newspapers even before the surviving passengers and crew members of the Titanic were delivered to New York. Without factual material, but using only rumors, newspapermen invented the most incredible stories about the tragedy.
In any case, when the stokers were interrogated, they denied that there was a fire, although it would seem that after the disaster they had nothing to hide. On the other hand, according to some accounts, Captain Smith went down to the boiler room and ordered everyone to remain silent about the burning coal.
We don’t yet know what actually happened to the giant liner. The Titanic, the story of whose sinking has become the subject of documentaries and feature films, will always be of interest to future generations.
New version about the death of the liner
The nature of the Titanic's fault not only fuels the theory of a fire in the hold, but also allows some researchers to make an unexpected assumption.
The liner sank another ship. At the beginning of the 20th century, a new secret weapon was tested in the seas. Perhaps the Titanic was hit by a torpedo.
The version seems unusual, but the facts of the fracture and torn edges, which could have resulted from a torpedo attack, force us to take it seriously. If the Titanic was nevertheless torpedoed, one can only hope that someday researchers will get to that part of the ship, the study of which will help shed light on this version.
The date of sinking of the Titanic is April 15, 1912. On this day, but in different years, the following disasters occurred:
- 1989 - stampede at the English Hillsborough stadium.
- 2000 - a plane crash in the Philippines, killing 129 people.
- 2002 - a plane crash in Korea that claimed 129 lives.
What tragic events will life bring us next?
More than 100 years have passed since the terrible disaster of one of the largest airliners of its time. But the world still does not know all the secrets that the huge and seemingly indestructible Titanic hides. The material will tell you how the ship sank.
Fight of giants
The twentieth century has become a century technical progress. Skyscrapers, cars, cinema - everything developed at supernatural speed. The process also affected ships.
In the market in the early 1900s, there was a lot of competition for customers between two large companies. Cunard Line and White Star Line, two hostile transatlantic carriers, have been competing for the right to be the leader in their field for several years in a row. opened up interesting opportunities for companies, so over the years their ships became bigger, faster and more luxurious.
Why and how the Titanic sank still remains a mystery. There are many versions. The boldest of them is a scam. It was carried out by the above-mentioned Star Line company.
But he discovered the world of amazing Cunard Line liners. By their order, two extraordinary steamships “Mauritania” and “Lusitania” were built. The public was amazed by their greatness. The length is about 240 m, the width is 25 m, the height from the waterline to the boat deck is 18 m. (But after a few years, the dimensions of the Titanic exceeded these parameters). The two giant twins were launched in 1906 and 1907. They won first places in prestigious competitions and broke all speed records.
For Cunard Line's competitors, it became a matter of honor to give a worthy answer.
The fate of the troika
The White Star Line was founded in 1845. During the gold rush, she made money by flying from Britain to Australia. Throughout the years, the company competed with Cunard Line. Therefore, after the Lusitania and Mauretania were launched, Star Line engineers were tasked with creating fantastic designs that would outperform their competitors. The final decision was made in 1909. This is how the idea of three Olympic class ships arose. The order was carried out by Harland and Wolfe.
This maritime organization was famous throughout the world for the quality of its ships, comfort and luxury. Speed was not a priority. Several times Star Line has proven, not in word, but in deed, that it cares about its customers. So, in 1909, when two liners collided, their ship remained on the water for another two days, which proved its quality. However, misfortune befell the Olympic trio. repeatedly got into accidents. So, in 1911, it collided with the cruiser Hawk, from which it received a 14-meter hole and was repaired. Misfortune also befell the Titanic. He ended up at the bottom of the ocean in 1912. "Britanic" found the First World War, where he served as a hospital, and in 1916 he was blown up by a German mine.
Miracle of the Seas
Now we can safely say that great ambitions were the reason why the Titanic sank.
The construction of the second of three Olympic-class vessels was not without casualties. 1,500 people worked on the project. The conditions were difficult. There was little concern for safety. Due to the fact that they had to work at heights, many builders lost their tempers. About 250 people were seriously injured. The wounds of eight men were non-life-threatening.
The size of the Titanic was amazing. Its length was 269 m, width 28 m, height 18 m. It could reach speeds of up to 23 knots.
On the day the liner was launched, 10,000 spectators, including VIP guests and the press, gathered on the embankment to see the unusually large ship,
The date of the first flight was tentatively announced. The voyage was scheduled for March 20, 1912. But due to the collision of the first ship in September 1911 with the cruiser Hawk, some of the workers were transferred to the Olympic. The flight was automatically rescheduled to April 10. It is from this date that the fateful history of the Titanic begins.
Fatal ticket
Its height was equivalent to an eleven-story building, and its length was four city blocks. Telephones, elevators, its own electrical grid, garden, hospital, shops - all this was placed on the ship. Luxurious halls, fine dining, library, swimming pool and gym - everything was available high society, first class passengers. Other clients lived more modestly. The most expensive tickets cost, in today's exchange rates, more than $50,000. Economical option from
The history of the Titanic is the history of different layers of society of that time. Expensive cabins were occupied by successful, famous personalities. Tickets for second class were purchased by engineers, journalists, and representatives of the clergy. The cheapest decks were for emigrants.
Boarding began at 9:30 a.m. on April 10 in London. After several scheduled stops, the liner headed for New York. A total of 2,208 people boarded.
Tragic meeting
Immediately after entering the ocean, the team realized that there were no binoculars on the ship. The key to the box in which they were kept was missing. The ship followed the safest route. It was chosen depending on the season. In the spring, the water was full of icebergs, but theoretically they could not seriously damage the liner. Nevertheless, the captain gave the order to drive the Titanic at full speed. How the ship sank, which, according to the owners, could not be sunk, was later told by passengers who were lucky enough to survive.
The first days of the voyage were quiet. But already on April 14, radio operators received repeated warnings about icebergs, which they largely ignored. In addition, by nightfall the temperature had dropped significantly. As you know, the team did without binoculars, and such a grand ship was not equipped with searchlights. Therefore, the lookout noticed the iceberg only 650 meters away. The man signaled to the bridge, where First Officer Murdock gave the order: “Turn left” and “Start reverse.” This was followed by the command: “To the right.” But the clumsy ship was slow to maneuver. The board collided with an iceberg. This is why the Titanic sank.
An unheard distress signal
The collision happened at 23:40, when almost all of the people were already asleep. On the upper deck the impact was unnoticeable. But the bottom was pretty shaken. The ice made holes in 5 sections, they instantly began to fill with water. In total, the length of the hole was 90 meters. The designer stated that with such damage the ship would last a little more than an hour. The crew was preparing for an emergency evacuation. Radio operators transmitted an SOS signal.
The captain gave the order to put women and children into the boats. The team itself also wanted to survive, so strong sailors took up the oars. The rich passengers of the Titanic were the first to be saved. But there weren't enough places for everyone.
From the very beginning, the liner was not sufficiently equipped with everything necessary. At most, 1,100 people could have been saved. In the first minutes, it was completely imperceptible that the ship began to sink, so the relaxed passengers did not understand what was happening and reluctantly climbed into the half-empty boats.
The last moments of the miracle ship
When the nose of the liner tilted strongly, mass panic among passengers increased.
The third grade was left closed in its unit. Riots began, and people in horror tried to escape as best they could. The security tried to restore order and scared the crowd with pistol shots.
At that time, the steamer Californian was passing nearby, but it did not receive a signal for help from a neighboring ship. Their radio operator slept through the messages. How the Titanic sank, and at what speed it went to the bottom, only the Carpathia knew, which headed in their direction.
Despite the distress signals being sent, independent attempts to escape did not stop. Pumps pumped out water, and there was still electricity. At 2:15 a pipe fell. Then the light went out. Experts believe that the plane was torn in half because the bow took on water and sank. The stern first rose upward, and then, under the pressure of its own weight, the ship broke apart.
Cold in the abyss
The nose sank quickly. The stern also went under water within a few minutes. But at the same time, its lining, body, and furniture floated to the top. At 2:20 a.m. the great ship Titanic was completely submerged. How the ship sank is shown today in dozens of feature films and documentaries.
Some passengers tried hard to survive. Dozens jumped in vests into the black abyss. But the ocean was merciless towards man. Almost everyone froze to death. After some time, two boats returned, but only a few remained alive at the scene. An hour later, Carpathia arrived and picked up those who remained.
The captain went down with the ship. Of all those who bought tickets for the Titanic, 712 people were saved. The dead 1496 were mainly representatives of the third class, people who on this journey wanted to touch something unrealistic and desirable.
Scam of the century
Two Olympic class vessels were built according to the same design. After the first ship set sail, all its shortcomings came out. So, the management decided to add some details to the Titanic. The space for walking has been reduced and cabins have been added. A cafe was added to the restaurant. To protect passengers from bad weather, the deck was closed. As a result, an external difference appeared, although previously it could not be distinguished from the Olympic liner.
The version that the Titanic ended up under water was not accidental was made public by Robin Rardiner, an ace in matters of shipping. According to his theory, the older and battered Olympic was sent sailing.
Ship swapping
The first airliner was launched without insurance. Having survived several accidents, he became an unpleasant burden for the company. Constant repairs required enormous amounts of money. After the damage caused by the cruise, the ship was sent on vacation again. Then it was decided to replace the old ship with a new one, which was insured and very similar to the Titanic. It is known how the liner sank, but few people know that after the tragedy, the White Star Line company received round compensation.
It wasn't hard to create a disaster. Both ships were in the same place. The Olympic was given a facelift, the deck was rebuilt and a new name was added. The hole was patched with cheap steel, which weakens in icy water.
Confirmation of the theory
An important proof of the veracity of the version is indisputable facts. For example, the fact that the world's tycoons and successful, rich people abruptly and for no reason abandoned their long-awaited trip the day before. Among them was the owner of the company, John Pierpont Morgan. A total of 55 first class customers had their tickets cancelled. Also, all expensive paintings, jewelry, gold reserves and treasures were removed from the liner. The idea arises that the privileged passengers of the Titanic knew some secret.
Interestingly, Edward John Smith, who was still sailing on the Olympic, was appointed captain. He repeatedly noted that this was his last flight in his life. Those around him took the words literally, since the sailor was about to retire. Researchers believe that this was a punishment to the commander for past mistakes on the previous ship.
Many questions also arise because of the first mate William Murdock, who ordered to turn left and engage reverse. The correct solution in such a situation would be to walk straight and squash your nose. In this case, the Titanic would not have ended up at the bottom.
Curse of the Mummy
For years there have been stories of untold treasures remaining on board. Among them is the mummy of the seer of Pharaoh Amenhotep. Even 3000 years ago, a woman predicted that her body would fall under the water and this would happen amid innocent screams dead people. But skeptics do not consider the prophecy to be true, although they do not exclude the possibility that the secrets of the Titanic have not yet been discovered.
There is also this version: the disaster was planned in order to stop the technical progress. But this theory is even less plausible than the myth of the mummy.
The ruins lie at a depth of 3750 meters. Dozens of grandiose dives were carried out to the liner. James Cameron, the film director of the famous film, was also in the group of researchers on several occasions.
A century has passed, and the secrets of the Titanic still interest and excite humanity.
The cause of the sinking of the largest ocean liner of its time, the Titanic, could have been a fire in a fuel storage facility.
The tragic legend of the Titanic
According to British journalist Shannon Moloney, who studied the history of the ship for thirty years, the fire on board broke out even before the ship left Southampton, and for several weeks they tried unsuccessfully to put it out. During this time, the skin of the liner heated up, which is why the collision with the iceberg ended so badly.
According to The Independent newspaper, the journalist managed to take pictures taken before the start of the Titanic's voyage. Moloney found traces of soot in the area of the hull, which was subsequently damaged due to a collision with an iceberg. According to experts, they most likely arose due to a fire in one of the airliner’s fuel storage facilities.
According to the researcher, the ship's owners knew about the fire, but hid this fact from passengers. The team was also ordered to remain silent about the fire. According to Shannon Moloney, as a result of the fire, the ship's hull heated to a temperature of about 1000 degrees Celsius, which made the steel, which had lost up to 75 percent of its strength, extremely brittle.
According to the journalist, when the Titanic collided with an iceberg on the fifth day of its voyage, the lining could not stand it and a huge hole appeared in the side. Therefore, the iceberg cannot be considered the sole culprit of the disaster that claimed the lives of more than 1,500 people on April 15, 1912.
Note that " " belonged to the British company White Star Line. At the time of its construction it was considered the largest passenger airliner in the world, and, in addition, was considered unsinkable. On May 31, 1911, the liner was launched. "God himself cannot sink this ship!" - its captain Edward John Smith said about the ship.
A little over a year later, the Titanic set off on its first voyage. There were 2,224 people on board: 1,316 passengers and 908 crew members. On April 14, 1912, the ship collided with an iceberg and sank 2 hours and 40 minutes later. 711 people were saved, 1513 died...
It's not so simple with icebergs either. Typically, Greenland icebergs get stuck in shallow waters off the coast of Labrador and Newfoundland and float further south only after they have been thoroughly thawed, often under the influence of the tides. However, in the case of the Titanic, several large icebergs managed to swim far to the south at once.
Physicist Donald Olson from the University of Texas (USA) and his colleagues investigated the hypothesis of oceanographer Fergus Wood, who argued that the icebergs were refloated by high tide in January 1912, when the Moon was unusually close to the Earth. By mid-April the fatal ice mountain reached the collision site.
Indeed, says Olson, on January 4, 1912, the Moon approached the Earth at its closest close quarters over the last 1400 years. The day before, the Earth came as close as possible to the Sun. The Moon and the Sun found themselves in a position where their mutual gravitational influence on the Earth increased. Obeying the power of the tide, the killer iceberg broke away from Greenland and set off on its way.
At the same time, one of the most big mysteries associated with the death of the Titanic is the more than frivolous behavior of the captain of the liner, Edward Smith. An experienced sea wolf who has plied the waters many times North Atlantic, for some reason did not pay attention to the warning about approaching icebergs. Perhaps he simply did not believe the information about them.
Although the matter may be different. A hypothesis that radically changes the history of the disaster belongs to two researchers - amateur Robin Gardner (a plasterer by profession) and historian Dan Van der Wat. Having studied the archives navy Over the course of 50 years, they came to the conclusion that it was not the Titanic that actually sank, but another ship, the Olympic! The latter was built almost simultaneously with the Titanic and at the same shipyards. But from the very first days this ship was plagued by troubles. When it was launched on October 20, 1910, it crashed into a dam. The owner of the ship, Bruce Ismay, and the owner of the Harland and Wolf shipyards, Lord Pirrie, were forced to pay a considerable amount for repairs and damages, which almost bankrupted them.
While sailing, the Olympic was repeatedly involved in accidents. After that, not a single insurance company undertook to insure the “damned ship.” And then Ismay and Pirri conceived the “scam of the century” - to send the Olympic under the name of the Titanic on a voyage across the Atlantic and, when it crashed, to receive insurance for it - 52 million pounds sterling!
The owners had no doubt that their plan would succeed. To protect the passengers, they planned to send another ship along the same route, which, supposedly by chance, would pick up passengers and crew. But, in order not to arouse any suspicion, the shipowners decided that the “rescue” ship would leave the pier no earlier than a week after the start of the voyage. Alas, I only had to wait three days...
The captain of the imaginary Titanic, Edward John Smith, was ready to carry out any order from his superiors. Thus, a few hours before the tragedy, binoculars were confiscated from the observers on duty. And a few minutes before the crash, Smith allegedly ordered the plane to be turned sideways towards the iceberg. It seemed like he was trying to ensure disaster!
The further history of the Titanic (or the false Titanic) is known to us. What happened to the real Titanic? According to Gardner and van der Wat, he sailed safely under a different name, first as part of the Royal Naval Forces, then he was acquired by the White Star Line. The ship was decommissioned in 1935.
Was it “his own” death (or the ship that everyone mistook for the Titanic)? Or was he “helped” to crash? We will most likely never know. Of course, both the “conspiracy theory” and the “lunar hypothesis” are nothing more than versions. But the fact remains: the Titanic sank. And, no matter what led to his death, change tragic fate We are no longer capable of this vessel...
Did the Titanic (or the ship that everyone mistook for the Titanic) die “its own” death? Or was he “helped” to crash? We will most likely never know. Of course, both the “conspiracy theory” and the “lunar hypothesis” are nothing more than versions. But the fact remains: the Titanic sank. And, no matter what led to its death, we are no longer able to change the tragic fate of this ship...
On April 14, 1912, the world was still well-fed, insolent and unsinkable. Humanity had mastered the power of steam and electricity—it no longer needed God. Therefore, by the end of Black Saturday on April 14, rock reminded itself. Heavy salty waves closed over the most ambitious after Tower of Babel the dream of mankind - the luxurious Titanic. No one was supposed to survive. It was an execution.
Studying the details of the shipwreck, researchers cannot get rid of a strange feeling: everything that happened was built into an endless stream of absurd, inexplicable and tragic misunderstandings. Thousands of small human mistakes merged into one monstrous absurdity, as if everyone around was consciously working to bury giant liner in the black Atlantic depths.
Literally a week before the disaster, when the liner was sailing from Southampton to Sherba, all the watchmen had binoculars. And when the four-pipe ship rushed at full speed into the ice-clogged Atlantic, no one had binoculars except the captain, but he had no intention of being the lookout.
Second-class passenger Miss Mary Young had opera glasses and saw the fatal iceberg half an hour before the collision, but did not tell anyone. A sailor in the observation “nest” on the mast noticed him two and a half minutes before the edge of the ice floe cut through the side of the Titanic and water rushed into the “watertight” compartments of the hold.
But even without binoculars, an experienced watchman is able to see much earlier - unless, of course, we are talking about a “black” iceberg. They occur extremely rarely, violating all the laws of physics, ice blocks for some reason they turn over in the water, exposing to the surface not the white, frost-covered crown of the iceberg, but a translucent dark green part. It is believed that the chance of encountering a “black iceberg” is approximately one in a thousand. Of course, Titanic got this chance.
Meanwhile, the black ice killer was spotted by one of the ships ahead of the Titanic on the busy route to New York. Usually, information about dangerous ice floes is immediately transmitted to the ships behind. But... it was on April 14 that the Titanic's ship's radio station went out of order. Radiotelegraphists Phillips and Bride spent seven hours straight fiddling with the Marconi apparatus and repaired it a few hours before the disaster.
However, in seven hours, 250 telegrams accumulated at once, which had to be sent to New York. They were paid for in advance by passengers rushing to tell their relatives that the Titanic had arrived at its destination a day ahead of schedule, setting a new record for the speed of crossing Atlantic Ocean. Therefore, telegraph operators simply did not have time to receive warning messages coming from other ships.
A thousand absurdities! For some reason, out of 32 boats, only 20 were on the liner. But these 20, in turn, left the ship only half loaded, which is why 473 more people remained on the sinking ship. The third class passengers did not have life jackets. Moreover, none of the crew members were trained to use the vests until they left Queenstown for the ocean.
The captain of the ship had no direct telephone communication with a radio room, although there were telephones in 50 first-class passenger cabins. At the same time, in the tragedy of absurdities and mistakes there are several fatal scenes that cannot be explained from the point of view of human logic. Twelve miles from the sinking ship was the steamer Californian, frozen overnight, whose crew watched with interest as white flares flashed on the horizon above the unfamiliar ship.
"Falling stars?" - suggested the Californian's watch officer. “No - crackers!” — the cabin boy answered with a smile. In vain, the fourth officer Boxhall, barely holding on to the tilting deck of the Titanic, fired his “crackers” eight times into the starry sky. After all, signal flares, meaning a call for help, are red. Everyone at sea knows this. And if the officer from the Titanic had fired a red rocket, the Californian would have managed to bring on board 1,400 people frozen in the icy water among the wreckage.
But he released white ones. Because on board the ship there were Turkish baths and swimming pools, palm trees and chapels, parrots in cages and boxes of first-class Burgundy, but there were no red flares. By whose will the radio operator of the Californian turned off his receiver and went to bed just a few minutes before the first help signal was broadcast from the nearby Titanic.
“CQD” - the then analogue of “SOS” - was heard even in... Egypt, in Port Said, 3000 miles from the site of the tragedy, but not on the Californian, in the line of sight. An impenetrable magical wall grew between the two ships that night - they were close, but forever far from each other. And therefore, on the sinking steamer, they did not even notice the signals that the Californian officer was giving with a lantern.
And he submitted them just in case, but did not receive an answer. Of the two thousand people rushing along the heaving deck of the liner, no one noticed the flashes of light on the horizon.
Bitter coincidences the very next day after the tragedy gave rise to persistent rumors about the mystical doom of the Titanic. They remembered the “bad sign” - in the very first minutes of the voyage, leaving the port of Southampton, the Titanic almost collided with the New York ship, which was standing at the neighboring pier.
The powerful propellers of the Titanic created underwater currents of such strength that the New York was uncontrollably pulled towards the giant liner - a collision was barely avoided. Then the surviving passengers began to talk about more and more mysterious signs that did not bode well for the Titanic from the very first minutes of its voyage.
The ceremony of launching the Titanic on May 31, 1911 was organized with great pomp: thousands of guests and journalists were invited, special postcards and souvenirs were issued, 23 tons were used to lubricate the “sleigh” on which the monstrous carcass of the steamship slid from the slipway into the water locomotive oil and liquid soap. Rockets were launched into the sky, dozens of bottles of champagne were broken... For some reason, the organizers forgot only one thing - they did not consecrate the ship according to Christian maritime custom.
Maybe it all started when the ship was named? The Titans, children of the earth goddess Gaia, in Hellenic mythology personified the blind, uncontrollable and aggressive forces of nature. The Titans challenged the Olympian celestials, intending to seize power over the world, and each time they were defeated and driven back into the deep bowels of their mother earth.
The creators of Titanic are the bosses transatlantic company White Star Bruce Ismay and Lord James Pirrie conceived their brainchild as a kind of ultra-modern challenge to nature, thrown at it by the scientific and technological revolution. Like Eiffel Tower, the ship was designed to demonstrate the triumph of the daring human mind. It was a hundred feet longer than the previous Atlantic champion, the Lusitania, owned by rival Cunard, and 1,004 tons heavier than its younger brother, the Olympic.
An attack of gigantomania took hold of the creators so much that they built four chimneys on the Titanic, although in reality only three worked (that’s why the scenes from films where smoke pours out of all four chimneys of the Titanic make you smile). The owner of the holding, multimillionaire Pierson Morgan, ordered the addition of a fourth.
The maiden voyage of the Titanic was conceived as an event comparable in scale to the main super shows of the century. A first class ticket cost about $50,000 in today's money. Hundreds of people paid money not because they needed to go to New York. They bought tickets to the show. They got it.
All newspapers wrote about the “unsinkability” of the Titanic: a system was created that put an end to the centuries-old struggle of man with the elements. Even icebergs are no longer scary, because not for the first time, having encountered ice floes, steamships remained afloat - in 1879 this happened with the Arizona, in 1879 with the Concordia, in 1911 with the Columbia. All ships were hit below the waterline, but none of them sank. The Titanic was much better prepared for the iceberg than any of these ships.
It sank in an hour and a half. When news of his death reached London, one of the warlock masters there figured out that ship number liner - 390904 - after the operation of “transforming” numbers into letters, it reads like a short blasphemous phrase “No Pope”. This observation became another argument in the collection of “facts” and “prophecies” that, in the opinion of many, predetermined the fate of the Titanic.
Among the first, by the way, a version arose about a mysterious “cursed diamond” that was allegedly in the possession of one of the passengers (information about the diamond could not be verified, but it is known for certain that the pearl necklace of the safely escaped Mrs. Widener was then worth 16 million). They also talked about a certain “universal villain” who was on board the liner: as if providence, sending one and a half thousand people to the bottom, actually pursued the goal of killing only one of the passengers. The search for the villain is still ongoing.
The list of famous personalities is very long - Colonel Archibald Butt, military adviser to US President Taft, millionaire Gutenheim, who, according to legend, managed to change into a tailcoat in order to meet his death like a gentleman in a flooded cabin, died along with the Titanic. Another millionaire, 21-year-old Asley Widener, became a victim of the Titanic (his mother came to the port of New York to meet the Titanic on own train from four Pullman cars).
The ocean floor became the grave of the Strauss, owners of the Macy's chain of stores that is still thriving in the United States. The death of these people is also inexplicable. If we think logically, anyone but millionaires and aristocrats would find places in the lifeboats first of all.
There were almost three times as many people of lower classes among the dead - statistics show. And the controversy still rages: is it true that third-class passengers were locked in the holds. This forces some scientists to put forward their version of the fatal doom of the ship. In their opinion, the fatal purpose of the disaster was to intensify the class struggle in the Old and New Worlds.
Indeed, the total wealth of first class passengers on the Titanic exceeded $500 million. And more men from first class survived than women and children from third class. And this despite the strict maritime rules “Places in boats are for women and children!” “Using the example of the Titanic, the poor were convinced that if the world was dying, only the rich would survive,” said a surviving third-class passenger in an interview...
However, if you follow this logic, among the 705 survivors there must have been John Jacob Astor, one of the richest people of his Time. He was returning with his young wife (his second and already pregnant) from a trip to Egypt. A day after the death of the liner, the secular publication American published a 4-page article about the deceased Mr. Astor and only at the end mentioned the other victims of the disaster.
Astor’s wife escaped, but her husband’s disfigured body could only be identified by the monogram on his shirt—he was caught from the water a week later. Astor had to be saved, the amazed New York rich people repeated to each other in shock. Many things should not have happened that night, but providence had its own view of the Titanic. Isn’t every word dictated by pride in the book of the deceased John Jacob Astor, in which he tells how man in the year 2000 will live on Mars and Saturn, and giant steamships “will cross the Atlantic in four and a half days” and “will be as stable as a fortress?” "?
When the Titanic sank ocean depth, the eight musicians on the mangled deck continued to play - they died, all eight, when the waves washed them overboard overnight. When the bow of the ship broke away and went deep into the depths, they played “Autumn.” And then they started the last song. It was called "God is getting closer."
The dead carcass of the Titanic fell into the depths, and now the people in the lifeboats were slowly freezing to death. The Californian standing nearby, as if in the grip of an obsession, was still unable to notice them and come to their aid. The rest of the ships were terribly far away - the Russian steamer Burma heard the “SOS” and hurried to the rescue, but even at full speed it could only make it in the morning.
Mount Temple is 60 miles away, Baltic is 55 miles away, Olympic is 70 miles away... Salt water does not freeze at minus one degree Celsius. The crests of cold waves rolled over the low sides of the boats, which were mostly women and children, many of them in hysterics trying to jump overboard to share the fate of their loved ones.
In boat “A” people sat waist-deep in icy water, and after half an hour they had to throw the corpses of two women overboard - they froze right in the boat. Rescue boat number 12 was covered twice by waves - it was only a miracle that it did not sink. As doctors later calculated, any of the 705 surviving passengers had no chance of surviving more than 12 hours...
The small, underpowered ship Carpathia was 58 miles southeast of the disaster site when the ship's radio operator, Francis Cottam, heard a hysterical "CQD" from the sinking Titanic. He later recalled that he caught the signal at the very last moment, already taking off his headphones and getting ready to sleep. Cottam did not have a replacement. If he had fallen asleep five minutes earlier, the captain of the Carpathia would never have known that the Titanic was already sinking. The captain's name was Arthur Rostron. He never drank, smoked or cursed. Even in the age of steam and electricity, in the era of the most ambitious dreams of mankind, he did not forget how to pray.
Rostron was nicknamed “electric spark” by his subordinates for his ability to instantly make strong-willed decisions. The man's willpower was well known. At the age of 23, when Rostron joined the Cunard company, he once and for all banned himself from drinking alcohol. Two years later I stopped smoking. He swore extremely rarely—exactly once a month, as one of the officers counted—and every time then he loudly asked the Lord for forgiveness for the foul language that escaped his tongue.
Arthur Rostron first went to sea as a boy, at the age of 13, with his father. They say that it was during the boy’s “sea baptism” that a certain incident occurred that had a strong impact on his psyche - since then Rostron prayed every day.
When radio operator Cottam, his face contorted with horror, burst onto the captain's bridge and confusedly muttered something about the sinking Titanic, Arthur Rostron, as usual, made a decision instantly. First, he turned to the crucifix hanging on the wall and whispered a few words. Then he turned to his subordinates. “We’re turning the ship around,” he said. This was a very risky decision - there were already eight hundred passengers on board the Carpathia.
Rushing to help the victims of the disaster, the captain directed the ship to a terrible area of iceberg accumulation, one of which turned out to be fatal for the Titanic. "Carpathia" with its only pipe developed a speed of only 14 knots - so Rostron ordered all additional steam resources to be transferred to the boilers, hot water and electricity. At full speed, the small and unprepossessing ship flew into the kingdom of icebergs. Needless to say, the watchmen, alas, also did not have binoculars? Providence took a lot into account; it did not take into account the will of Arthur Rostron.
The owners of the Titanic were going to bring the liner to New York a day ahead of schedule so that there would be a record. The record was set by "Carpathia" - it arrived at the scene of the disaster almost an hour earlier than it could and than everyone expected. Captain Rostron won only an hour of time from fate, but an hour turned out to be more valuable than a whole day. They made it in time. 705 passengers were boarded.
“Carpathia” now really resembled an overcrowded Noah’s Ark: dining rooms and corridors were hastily converted into hospital wards, tables were turned into beds, and yet dozens of people only had room on the floor.. All doctors from among the passengers of “Carpathia” were mobilized for treatment sick and wounded, all healthy women were sent to the kitchen to cook hot broth and coffee...
When the overloaded Carpathia slowly and carefully entered the New York port and moored at Pier 41, when the crowd on the pier sobbed and the flashbulbs flashed, the second officer of the Carpathia recalled one detail in a conversation with journalists: throughout the entire four-hour raid to at the site of the sinking of the Titanic, Captain Rostron... prayed.
“His lips were moving,” the officer said, “this is quite understandable: at such speed, we also had almost no chance of noticing the iceberg in time.” A few days later, Rostron himself admitted to one of the journalists: “I still can’t get rid of a strange feeling.
When we walked among the ice, it seemed to me that someone else's hand was on the steering wheel. She was the one who steered the ship.” It is possible that it was this feeling that led him to order a short church service to be held on board the Carpathia immediately after the last of the victims was brought on board. Only after the end of the service did Rostron give the order to move on to New York.
Arthur Rostron overcame the will of providence. Or maybe it was just crowded out. After all, the main thing has already been done: a terrible blow has been dealt to the pride of humanity. That's enough... And in honor of Arthur Rostron, a special medal of the US Congress was issued.
He was knighted by British royal decree. After some time, Sir Arthur headed the entire passenger fleet of the Cunard company. There are monuments to him in many cities in England, the USA, France and Ireland. On one of them, in the vicinity of Southampton, there is an inscription: “To Sir Arthur Rostron. Who transformed the “age of steam” into the “age of spirit.”
Noah's Ark, called "Carpathia", sank quietly and unnoticed by everyone on July 1, 1918. The old 13,600-ton ship was hit by three torpedoes fired by a German submarine. Of the 75 people, five died from the explosion, the remaining 70 safely reached the nearby British warship Snowdrop. "Carpathia" disappeared under water very quickly in just 15 minutes. However, she never claimed the title “unsinkable”.
And what happened to the other captain, Stanley Lord, who stole his Californian from under the very nose of trouble? Both the British and American commissions investigating the circumstances of the sinking of the Titanic found him indirectly guilty of this. He was removed from naval service and died in obscurity. Stanley Lord's son persistently tried to rehabilitate his father's name. In the 50s, he repeatedly appealed to both commissions with requests for a re-investigation. But it was all in vain. Stanley Lord fulfilled the will of providence. It no longer needed him and rewarded him with oblivion.
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 upper decks people felt a weak push 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 lifeboats to the descent, 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 lies with tragic accident was entrusted to the captain of the ship. 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 modern technologies it was found that it was these circumstances that led to one of the most terrible tragedies humanity.
