The Titanic is a true story. Indirect causes of the shipwreck. What does the Titanic look like now?

The Titanic is a British steamship operated by the White Star Line, one of three Olympic-class twin ships. largest passenger liner world at the time of its construction. During the first voyage on April 14, 1912, she collided with an iceberg and sank after 2 hours and 40 minutes. There were 1,316 passengers and 892 crew members on board, for a total of 2,208 people. Of these, 704 people survived, more than 1,500 died. The Titanic disaster became legendary and was one of the largest shipwrecks in history. Several feature films have been shot on its plot.

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

building
Laid down March 31, 1909 at the shipyards of the Harland & Wolf shipbuilding company in Queens Island (Belfast, Northern Ireland), launched on May 31, 1911, passed sea trials on April 2, 1912.

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 steamer had 20 lifeboats, which was enough for landing 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. Deck "B" was interrupted in the bow, forming open space above deck "C", and then continued in the form of a 37-meter bow superstructure with anchor handling equipment and a mooring device. 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 saloon, a dining room for third-class passengers, ship 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 luggage compartment for first class passengers, ship's mail and a ballroom. 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 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, steam turbine and electric generators, all this was firmly fixed on steel plates, the remaining space was used for cargo, coal and tanks with drinking water. 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 most large 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.

Official data on the number of dead and rescued

Category	Percentage rescued	Percentage of dead	Number of rescued	Number of dead	How much was
Children, first grade	100.0	00.0	6	0	6
Children, second grade	100.0	00.0	24	0	24
Women, first class	97.22	02.78	140	4	144
Women, crew	86.96	13.04	20	3	23
Women, second class	86.02	13.98	80	13	93
Women third grade	46.06	53.94	76	89	165
Children, third grade	34.18	65.82	27	52	79
Men, first class	32.57	67.43	57	118	175
men, crew	21.69	78.31	192	693	885
Men, third grade	16.23	83.77	75	387	462
Men, second class	8.33	91.67	14	154	168
Total	31.97	68.03	711	1513	2224

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 Southampton harbor wall and narrowly avoids a collision with American liner"NY".
-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 - 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 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.

On the night of September 1, 1985, an American-French expedition led by oceanologist Robert Ballard discovered the Titanic steam boiler at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. Soon the remains of the ship itself were discovered. Thus ended the long epic search for the sunken ship, which was carried out by several independent researchers, but for a long time was unsuccessful due to incorrect coordinates of the death of the ship, broadcast on the fateful night of 1912. The discovery of the remains of the Titanic opened a new page in its history: the answers to many controversial issues; a number of facts that were considered proven and irrefutable turned out to be erroneous.

The first intentions to find and raise the Titanic appeared immediately after the disaster. The families of several millionaires wanted to find the bodies of their dead relatives in order to properly bury them, and discussed the issue of raising the Titanic with one of the companies that specialized in underwater rescue work. But at that time there was no technical possibility to carry out such an operation. A plan was also discussed to drop charges of dynamite on the ocean floor so that some bodies would rise from the explosions to the surface, but these intentions were eventually abandoned.

Later, a number of crazy projects were developed to raise the Titanic. For example, it was proposed to fill the ship's hull with ping-pong balls or attach helium tanks to it, which would lift it to the surface. There were many other projects, mostly fantastic. In addition, before trying to raise the Titanic, it had to be found first, and this was not so simple.

One of the controversial issues in the history of the Titanic for a long time remained the coordinates broadcast along with the distress signal. They were determined by the fourth assistant captain, Joseph Boxhall, based on the coordinates that were calculated a few hours before the collision, the speed and course of the vessel. There was no time to check them in detail in that situation, and Carpathia, who came to the rescue a few hours later, successfully reached the boats, however, the first doubts about the correctness of the coordinates arose already during the investigation of 1912. At that time, the question remained open and When the first serious attempts to search for the Titanic began in the 80s, the researchers faced a problem: the Titanic was neither at the indicated coordinates, nor near them. The situation was also complicated by the local conditions of the disaster - after all, the Titanic was at a depth of almost 4 km and the search required appropriate equipment.

In the end, luck smiled at Robert Ballard, who, step by step, was preparing for the expedition for almost 13 years. After almost two months of searching, when only 5 days remained until the end of the expedition and Ballard had already begun to doubt the success of the event, some strange shadows appeared on the monitor connected to the video camera on the descent vehicle. This happened at almost one in the morning on September 1, 1985. It soon became clear that this was nothing more than the wreckage of a ship. After some time, one of the steam boilers was discovered and there was no doubt that the wreckage belonged to the Titanic. The next day, the front of the ship's hull was discovered. The lack of a stern turned out to be a big surprise: after an investigation in 1912, it was officially considered that the ship sank entirely.

Ballard's first expedition gave answers to many questions and gave the world a number of contemporary photographs Titanic, but much remained unexplained. A year later, Ballard again went to the Titanic, and this expedition already used a descent deep-sea vehicle, which could deliver three people to the ocean floor. There was also a small robot that allowed research inside the vessel. This expedition clarified many questions that had remained open since 1912, and after it Ballard no longer planned to return to the Titanic. But what Ballard did not do, others did, and new expeditions soon reached the Titanic. Some of them were purely research in nature, some pursued the goal of lifting various objects from the bottom, incl. and for sale at auctions, which caused many scandals about the moral and ethical side of the issue. James Cameron also descended to the Titanic several times; not only for the filming of his 1997 film, but also for research using robotics inside the ship (see the documentary "Ghosts of the Abyss: Titanic"), which revealed many new facts about the condition of the ship and its once magnificent finish.

As for the issue of raising the Titanic, it became clear after Ballard's expeditions that this operation would not only be daunting and expensive; the ship's hull has long been in such a state that it will simply crumble into pieces, if not during lifting, then on the surface.

1. Let's see how the Titanic looks now and how it looked before. The Titanic sank in the Atlantic at a depth of almost 4 km. During the dive, the ship broke into two parts, which now lie on the bottom about six hundred meters apart. A lot of debris and objects are scattered around them, incl. and a pretty big piece of the Titanic's hull.

2. Model of the bow. When the ship fell to the bottom, the nose was very well buried in the silt, which greatly disappointed the first researchers, because it was impossible to inspect the place of impact on the iceberg without special equipment. The ragged hole in the body, which is visible on the layout, was formed from hitting the bottom.

3. Panorama of the bow, assembled from several hundred photographs. From right to left: the winch of the spare anchor sticks out directly above the edge of the bow, behind it there is a mooring device, immediately behind it is an open hatch into hold No. 1, from which the breakwater lines diverge to the sides. A fallen mast lies on the deck between the superstructure, under it there are two more hatches into the holds and winches for handling cargo. In front of the main superstructure, there used to be a captain's bridge, which collapsed during the fall to the bottom and is now guessed now only in separate details. Behind the bridge, a superstructure with cabins for officers, a captain, a radio room, etc., has been preserved, which is crossed by a crack formed at the site of the expansion joint. A gaping hole in the superstructure - a place for the first chimney. Immediately behind the superstructure, another hole is visible - this is a well in which the main staircase was located. To the left is something very torn - there was a second pipe.

4. The nose of the Titanic. The most button accordion object of underwater photographs of the ship. At the end, you can see a loop on which a cable was put on that held the mast.

5. The photo on the left shows the winch of the spare anchor towering over the bow.

6. The main anchor of the port side. It's amazing how he didn't fly down when he hit the bottom.

7. Spare anchor:

8. Behind the spare anchor is a mooring device:

9. Open hatch to hold No. 1. The lid flew off to the side, apparently when it hit the bottom.

10. On the mast there used to be the remains of a "crow's nest", where the lookouts were, but ten or twenty years ago they fell off down and now only the hole in the mast, through which the lookouts got to the spiral staircase, reminds of the "crow's nest". The protruding tail behind the hole is the fastening of the ship's bell.

11. Board of the vessel:

12. Only one of the steering wheels remained from the captain's bridge.

13. Boat deck. The superstructure on it in some places is either uprooted or torn.

14. The preserved part of the superstructure in front of the deck. Below on the right is the entrance to the front staircase of the 1st class.

15. Surviving davits, a bath in Captain Smith's cabin and the remains of a steamship whistle that was installed on one of the pipes.

16. A huge well now gapes in place of the front staircase. There are no traces of the stairs.

17. Staircase in 1912:

18. And the same perspective in our time. Looking at the previous photo, it's hard to believe that this is the same place.

19. Behind the stairs there were several elevators for 1st class passengers. Separate elements have been preserved from them. The inscription, depicted at the bottom right, was placed opposite the elevators and denoted the deck. This inscription belonged to deck A; the bronze letter A has already fallen off, but traces of it remain.

20. 1st class lounge on deck D. This is the bottom of the main staircase.

21. Although almost all the wooden trim of the ship has long been eaten away by microorganisms, some elements are still preserved here.

22. The restaurant and the 1st class lounge on deck D were separated from the outside world by large stained glass windows that have survived to this day.

23. Remains of former beauty:

24. From the outside, the windows are guessed by the characteristic double portholes.

25. Chic chandeliers have been hanging in their places for over 100 years.

26. The once-splendid interiors of 1st class cabins are now littered with debris and debris. In some places you can find preserved elements of furniture and objects.

29. Some more details. The door to the restaurant on deck D and a sign indicating service doors:

30. The stokers had their own "front staircase". In order not to meet passengers, a separate staircase led from the boiler rooms to the cabins of the stokers.

31. Hundreds of items are scattered across the ocean floor, ranging from ship parts to personal belongings of passengers.

The sinking of the Titanic claimed the lives of 1,517 of the 2,229 passengers and crew (official figures vary slightly) in one of the worst maritime disasters in world history. 712 survivors were brought aboard the RMS Carpathia. After this disaster, a great resonance swept through the public affecting attitudes towards social injustice, radically changed the way passengers were transported along the North Atlantic Passage, the rules for the number of lifeboats carried on board were changed passenger ships and the International Ice Reconnaissance was established (where merchant ships crossing the North Atlantic continue, using radio signals, to transmit accurate information about the location and concentration of ice). In 1985, a major discovery was made, the Titanic was discovered at the bottom of the ocean and became a turning point for the public and for the development of new areas of science and technology. April 15, 2012 marks the 100th anniversary of the Titanic. It became one of the most famous ships in history, her image has remained in numerous books, films, exhibitions and monuments.

Crash of the Titanic in real time

duration - 2 hours 40 minutes!

The British passenger liner Titanic leaves Southampton, England on her maiden voyage on April 10, 1912. The Titanic was called to Cherbourg, France and Queenstown, Ireland, before heading west towards New York. Four days in transit, she hit an iceberg at 11:40 pm, 375 miles south of Newfoundland. Shortly before 2:20 am, the Titanic broke up and sank. More than a thousand people were on board at the time of the accident. Some died in the water within minutes from hypothermia in the waters of the North Antaltic Ocean. (Frank O. Braynard Collection)

The luxury liner Titanic, in this 1912 photo, as she left Queenstown in New York, on her ill-fated last flight. The passengers of this ship were included in the list of the richest people in the world, such as millionaires John Jacob Astor IV, Benjamin Guggenheim and Isidor Strauss, as well as more than a thousand emigrants from Ireland, Scandinavia and other countries seeking new life in America. The disaster was greeted around the world with shock and outrage over the huge loss of life and violation of the regulatory and operational parameters that led to this disaster. The investigation into the sinking of the Titanic began a few days later and led to a significant improvement in maritime safety. (United Press International)

A crowd of workers. Shipyard Harland and Wolf shipyard in Belfast, where the Titanic was built between 1909 and 1911. The ship was designed to be the last word in comfort and luxury and was the most big ship afloat on her first voyage. The ship is visible in the background of this 1911 photograph. (Photo Archive/Harland & Wolff/Cox Collection)

Photo taken in 1912. In the photo, a chic dining room aboard the Titanic. The ship has been designed to be the last word in comfort and luxury, with an onboard gym, swimming pool, libraries, upscale restaurants and luxurious cabins. (Photo archive The New York Times / American Press Association)

1912 photograph. Second class canteen on the Titanic. A disproportionate number of people - over 90% of those in second class - remained on board because of the "women and children first" protocols followed by lifeboat loading officers. (Photo archive of The New York Times / American Press Association)

Photo April 10, 1912, it shows the Titanic leaving Southampton, England. Tragic death The Titanic happened a century ago, one of the causes of death, according to some, weak rivets used by the ship's builders in some parts of this ill-fated liner. (Associated Press)

Captain Edward John Smith, commander of the Titanic. He commanded the largest ship at that time making its first voyage. The Titanic was a massive ship - 269 meters long, 28 meters wide and weighing 52,310 tons. 53 meters separated from the keel to the top, almost 10 meters of which were below the waterline. The Titanic was higher above the water than most city buildings of the time. (The New York Times Archive)

First Mate William McMaster Murdoch, who is regarded as a local hero in his hometown of Dalbeattie, Scotland, but in the movie Titanic was portrayed as a coward and a murderer. At the ceremony, on the 86th anniversary of the ship's sinking, Scott Neeson, executive vice president of film producers 20th Century Fox, presented a check for five thousand pounds (US$8,000) to Dalbeattie School as an apology for the painting to an officer's relative. (Associated Press)

It is believed that it was this iceberg that caused the accident of the Titanic on April 14-15, 1912. The picture was taken aboard the Western Union ship, Mackay Bennett, commanded by Captain DeCarteret. McKay Bennet was one of the first ships to reach the site where the Titanic sank. According to Captain DeCarteret, it was the only iceberg at the site of the sinking when it arrived. It is assumed, therefore, that he was responsible for this tragedy. A glimpse of a collision with an iceberg caused the Titanic's hull plates to buckle inward in a number of places on her board and opened five of her sixteen watertight compartments into which water gushed in an instant. Over the next two and a half hours, the ship gradually filled with water and sank. (United States Coast Guard)

Passengers and some crew members were evacuated in lifeboats, many of which were launched only partially filled. This photo of a lifeboat from the Titanic approaching the rescue ship Carpathia was taken by Carpathia passenger Louis M. Ogden and was on display in 2003, an exhibition of photographs that relate to the Titanic (bequeathed to the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, England, by Walter Lord). (National Maritime Museum / London)

Seven hundred and twelve survivors were brought aboard from lifeboats on the RMS Carpathia. This photograph taken by Carpathia passenger Louis M. Ogden shows the Titanic lifeboat approaching the rescue ship, the Carpathians. The photograph was part of an exhibition in 2003 at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, England named after Walter Lord. (National Maritime Museum / London)

Although the Titanic had advanced safety features such as watertight compartments and remotely activated watertight doors, she lacked enough lifeboats to hold all those on board. Due to outdated maritime safety regulations, she carried only enough lifeboats for 1,178 people - a third of her total passenger and crew capacity. This sepia photograph depicting the recovery of the passengers of the Titanic is one of the memorabilia about to go under the hammer at Christies in London, May 2012. (Paul Tracy / EPA / PA)

Members of the press interview Titanic survivors coming off the rescue ship, Carpathians, May 17, 1912. (American Press Association)

Eva Hart is portrayed as seven years old in this photograph taken in 1912 with her father, Benjamin, and mother Esther. Eva and her mother survived the sinking of the British liner Titanic on April 14, 1912, but her father died in the crash. (Associated Press)

People stand on the street waiting for the arrival of Carpathia after the sinking of the Titanic. (The New York Times / Wide World Photo Archive)

A huge crowd gathered in front of Star Line's White Office at Lower Broadway in New York to receive last news on the sinking of the Titanic on April 14, 1912. (Associated Press)

The editors of The New York Times at the time of the sinking of the Titanic, April 15, 1912. (Photo archive of The New York Times)

(Photo archive of The New York Times)

Two messages were sent from America by insurers to Lloyds in London in the mistaken belief that other ships, including Virginia, were coming to the rescue when the Titanic sank. These two commemorative messages are due to go under the hammer at Christies in London in May 2012. (AFP/EPA/Press Association)

Laura Francatelli, and her employers Lady Lucy Duff-Gordon and Sir Cosmo Duff-Gordon, standing on the rescue ship, Carpathians (Associated Press / Henry Aldridge & Son / Ho)

This vintage seal shows the Titanic shortly before leaving for its maiden voyage in 1912. (New York Times Archive)

A photograph released by Henry Aldridge and Son/Ho auctioned in Wiltshire, England on April 18, 2008 shows an extremely rare Titanic passenger ticket. They were auction handling the complete collection of Miss Lilian Asplund's last American Titanic Survivor. The collection consists of a number of important objects including a pocket watch, one of the few remaining tickets for the Titanic's maiden voyage and the only example of a direct emigration order the Titanic thought to exist. Lillian Asplund was a very private person, and because of a terrible event, she became a witness that on a cold April night in 1912, she rarely spoke about the tragedy that claimed the lives of her father and three brothers. (Henry Aldridge)

(National Maritime Museum / London)

Breakfast menu aboard the Titanic, signed by survivors of the disaster. (National Maritime Museum / London)

The nose of the Titanic at the bottom of the ocean, 1999 (Institute of Oceanology)

The image shows one of the Titanic's propellers at the bottom of the ocean during an expedition to the site of the tragedy. Five thousand exhibits planned to be auctioned as a single collection on April 11, 2012, 100 years after the sinking of the ship (RMS Titanic, Inc, via The Associated Press)

Photo August 28, 2010, released for the premiere of the exhibition, Inc-Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, shows the starboard side of the Titanic. (Premier Exhibitions, Inc. Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute)

Dr. Robert Ballard, the man who found the remains of the Titanic almost two decades ago, returned to the site and calculated the damage from visitors and hunters for the "souvenir" of the ship. (Institute of Oceanography and Archaeological Research Center / University of Rhode Island Grad. Schools of Oceanography)

The giant propeller of the sunken Titanic lies on the floor in the North Atlantic in this undated photograph. The propeller and other parts of the famous ship were seen by the first tourists to visit the wreck in September 1998.

(Ralph White/Associated Press)

The 17-ton part of the Titanic's hull rises to the surface during an expedition to the site of the tragedy in 1998. (RMS Titanic, Inc., via The Associated Press)

July 22, 2009, photo of the 17-ton part of the Titanic, which was raised and restored during an expedition to the site of the tragedy. (RMS Titanic, Inc., via The Associated Press)

A gold-plated American Waltham pocket watch, owned by Carl Asplund, in front of a contemporary watercolor painting of the Titanic by CJ Ashford at the Henry Aldridge & Son Auctions in Devizes, Wiltshire, England, April 3, 2008. The clock was recovered from the body of Karl Asplund who drowned on the Titanic, and is part of Lillian Asplund, the last American survivor of the disaster. (Kirsty Wigglesworth Associated Press)

The currency, part of the Titanic Collection, is photographed at a warehouse in Atlanta, August 2008. The owner of the largest trove of artifacts from the Titanic is offering a huge collection for auction in a single lot in 2012, on the 100th anniversary of the most famous shipwreck in the world. (Stanley Leary/Associated Press)

Photographs by Felix Asplund, Selma and Carl Asplund and Lillian Asplund, by Henry Aldridge and Son Auctions at Devizes, Wiltshire, England, April 3, 2008. The photographs were part of Lillian Asplund's collection of Titanic-related items. Asplund was 5 years old in April 1912 when the Titanic hit an iceberg and sank on its maiden voyage from England to New York. Her father and three siblings were among the 1,514 dead. (Kirsty Wigglesworth/Associated Press)

Exhibits at the "Titanic Artifact Exhibition" at the California scientific center: binoculars, comb, dishes and a broken incandescent lamp, February 6, 2003. (Michel Boutefeu/Getty Images, Chester Higgins Jr./The New York Times)

Glasses among the wreckage of the Titanic were among the choicest artifacts of the Titanic. (Bebeto Matthews/Associated Press)

Golden Spoon (Titanic Artifacts) (Bebeto Matthews/Associated Press)

A chronometer from the Titanic Bridge is on display at the Science Museum in London, May 15, 2003. The Chronometer, one of more than 200 items salvaged from the wreck of the Titanic, was on display at the launch of a new exhibit commemorating its ill-fated maiden voyage along with bottles of perfume. The exhibition took visitors on a chronological journey through the life of the Titanic, from its concept and construction, to life on board, and its immersion in Atlantic Ocean in April 1912. (Alastair Grant/Associated Press)

Logo meter to measure the speed of the Titanic and a hinged lamp. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Titanic artifacts displayed in the media for preview purposes only, to announce the historical sale is complete. a collection of artifacts recovered from the wreck of the Titanic and showcasing highlights from the collection at sea by Intrepid, Air & SpaceMuseum January 2012. (Chang W. Lee / The New York Times)

Cups and pocket watches from the Titanic are displayed during a Guernsey auction press conference, January 5, 2012. (Don Emmert/AFP/Getty Images, Brendan McDermid/Reuters Michel Boutefeu/Getty Images-2)

Spoons. RMS Titanic, Inc. is the only company authorized to remove elements from the ocean floor where the Titanic sank. (Douglas Healey/Associated Press)

Gold mesh purse. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

April 2012 edition of National Geographic magazine (on line version available on iPad) you see new images and drawings from the wreck of the Titanic that remains on seabed, gradually breaks up at a depth of 12,415 feet (3,784 m). (National Geographic)

Two propeller blades peek out from the darkness of the sea. This optical mosaic is assembled from 300 s high resolution images. (COPYRIGHT © 2012 RMS Titanic, Inc; Produced by AIVL, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

Making sense of this tangle of metal presents endless challenges to professionals. One says: "If you interpret this material, you must love Picasso." (COPYRIGHT © 2012 RMS Titanic, Inc; Produced by AIVL, WHOI)

The Titanic's two engines lie in a gaping hole in the stern. Wrapped in "rusticles" - orange stalactites made of iron - that eat the bacteria of these massive four-story structures, the largest moving man-made objects on Earth at the time. (COPYRIGHT © 2012 RMS Titanic, Inc; Produced by AIVL, WHOI)

On the night of April 14, 1912, the largest and most luxurious liner in the history of mankind was rushing at full speed to the shores of North America. Nothing foretold the death of the Titanic. On the upper deck, an orchestra was playing in an elegant restaurant. The richest and most successful people drank champagne and enjoyed the beautiful weather.

Nothing foretold trouble

A few minutes later, the sentinel spotted an iceberg. And a little later, the Titanic, the ship giant size, will collide with a drifting iceberg, and after a while it will all be over. Thus begins the great mystery of the great ship. The next day, the sinking of the Titanic will become legend, and its history will be the greatest mystery of the 20th century.

international sensation

Already in the morning of the next day, the office of the owner of the Titanic was stormed by dozens of newspaper reporters. They wanted to know the location of the sinking of the Titanic and demanded clarification. The relatives of the passengers on the ocean liner were outraged. A short telegram from Cape Reis reported: "At 11 p.m. local time, the largest ship, the Titanic, transmitted a distress signal." The company's president, Laster Whites, reassured reporters: "The liner is unsinkable!" But the very next day, all the world's newspapers were full of sensational reports: “The safest in the world, the Titanic (ship) sank in the icy abyss of the Atlantic Ocean. On the fifth day of his tragic flight the liner claimed 1513 human lives.

Disaster investigation

The sinking of the Titanic shook both sides of the Atlantic. The question of why the Titanic ended up at the bottom is haunted to this day. From the very beginning, people wanted to know in detail what was the reason for the sinking of the Titanic. But the court's decision read: "The liner hit an iceberg and went to the bottom."

The Titanic (the dimensions of the ship, by the way, were very impressive) died from a banal collision with a floating block of ice. It seemed incredible.

Alleged versions of the tragic death

The point in the history of this catastrophe has not yet been set so far. Fresh versions of the death of the Titanic arise even today, a century later. There are several possible hypotheses. 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 it is this version of the death of the Titanic that has real grounds.

Some researchers claim that the ocean floor lies not the sunken ship "Titanic" at all, but its twin, the liner "Olympic". The version seems fantastic, but it is not without evidence.

Great Britain ocean monster

On December 16, 1908, the firstborn was laid in Belfast - the Olympic steamer, later - the Titanic (the dimensions 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 advanced project that has ever been implemented. The ship was as tall as an eleven-story building and spanned four small city blocks in length. Equipped with this ocean monster was 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 were a large number of telephones. The ship was truly innovative for its time. Silent elevators, steam heating, a winter garden, several photo labs and even a hospital with an operating room.

Comfort and respectability

The interior decoration looked more like a fashionable palace than a ship. Passengers dined in a sumptuous Louis XVI-style restaurant and drank coffee on a sun-drenched veranda lined with climbing plants. Bridge parts were played in spacious halls, and elite cigars were smoked in soft smoking rooms.

The Titanic had a rich library, a gym and even a swimming pool. A business class ticket to the Titanic would cost $55,000 these days. The liner became the flagship of the White Star Line.

Almost the same in terms of comfort and technical characteristics, the Olympic liner lost the championship without a fight. It was he who was supposed to become the star of transatlantic flights. But frequent accidents made him an outsider, and endless penalties, litigation and repair costs only added to the headaches for managers.

Unsolved version

The decision was obvious: to send instead of the battered "Olympic", which had no insurance policy, the new insured Titanic. The history of the ship "Olympic" was very unpresentable. However, just by changing the plates on the liners, similar as two drops of water, several problems could be solved at once. The main thing is the payment of insurance in the amount of one million pounds sterling, which could improve the financial affairs of the company.

Small accident, big money, it's done. People should not have suffered, because the liner is unsinkable. In the event of an accident, the ship will drift, and ships passing by along the busy ocean route will pick up all the passengers.

Strange passenger behavior

The main real evidence of this unprecedented scam is the refusal of 55 first-class passengers to travel. Among those who remained on the shore were:

John Morgan, owner of the liner.
Henry Frick, steel magnate and partner.
Robert Breccon, US Ambassador to France.
The famous rich man George Vanderbilt.

The mystery of the death of the Titanic has an indirect confirmation of the version of the insurance scam, namely the strange behavior of Captain Edward Smith, who, by the way, was the captain of the Olympic during its first voyages.

The last captain

Edward Smith was considered one of the best commanders of his time. Working for the White Star Line, he received about 1,200 pounds a year. Other captains did not earn even half of this money. However, Smith's career was far from rosy. Many times the ships that 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 had several serious accidents. But Smith managed not only to escape punishment, but even to get promoted.

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 one flight? Could she use compromising evidence on the captain, so that in case of disobedience with a scandal, she could fire the person who brought the company huge losses?

Perhaps the captain chose between a shameful write-off on the shore just before retirement and participation in a scam invented by his superiors. This was the last flight for Edward Smith.

What was the first mate thinking?

Another inexplicable mystery of the death of the Titanic is the strange behavior of William Murdoch, the first mate. Murdoch was on duty the night of the accident. When he received a message about an impending iceberg, he gave the order to direct the ship to the left and 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 has already encountered similar situation and he always did the right thing, directing the ship with his bow to an obstacle. In all sailing 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 ship has the strongest place, but on its side. Almost a hundred meters of the starboard side opened like a tin can.

The Titanic, whose death story is described in less than ten seconds, was practically dead. That is how long it took to pass 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 by itself.

What were the owners of the liner 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 the documentation was destroyed. But even if we assume that the death of the Titanic was not rigged, it certainly was not without human error.

Mystery box key

Many years have passed since the sinking of the Titanic. The history of the ship, however, was continued in 1997, when a key was sold at a London auction for one hundred thousand pounds. He opened only one box on the Titanic, but it was this key that was not on board 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 flight.

Well, the item sold for fabulous money at the London auction was the usual key to an ordinary box. It contained the only equipment with which it was possible to recognize the danger threatening the ship - binoculars.

Forgetful XO

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 constantly looked forward along the course of the ship. The liner 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 likely it is to avoid it. Ordinary binoculars were the only help.

Starpom Blair, for unknown reasons, was removed from the ship at the last moment. Frustrated, he simply forgot to give the shifter the key to the box where the binoculars were kept.

Encounter with an unusual iceberg

Forward looking 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. An iceberg that has absorbed tons of water has turned dark. It was incredibly difficult to spot him. If that fatal iceberg for the Titanic had been white, perhaps the sentinels would have seen it much earlier. Especially if they had binoculars.

"Titanic": the story of death, the beginning of events

But the strangest thing is that the command of the ship could have learned about the possibility of a collision with an iceberg much earlier than the forward lookers reported it.

Radio operators, the voice and hearing of the Titanic, repeatedly received reports of ice floes drifting in the area. An hour before the lookout spotted the iceberg, the radio operator of the steamship California warned of the 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 of ice floes. But they were all ignored.

Officer Murdoch could interrupt 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 be much more time for the evacuation of passengers. Perhaps the ship could keep afloat.

human negligence

Further errors followed one after another. The evacuation order was issued only 45 minutes after the collision. Passengers were asked to put on life belts and gather on the upper deck near the boats. And then it suddenly turned out that there were only twenty boats on the Titanic, which could accommodate no more than 1300 people, 48 lifebuoys and cork vests for each passenger and crew members.

However, the vests were useless for northern regions Atlantic. The person who got into cold water died of hypothermia in half an hour.

Prophetic predictions of a science fiction writer

Immediately after the disaster, the whole world was shocked by an incredible coincidence. The date of the sinking of the Titanic is April 15, 1912. And fourteen years before the tragedy, an unknown London journalist Morgan Robertson finished his new novel. The science fiction writer spoke about the journey and the death of the 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 accurately indicated the place of the sinking of the Titanic.

The novel turned out to be prophetic, and the science fiction writer was dubbed Nostradamus of the 20th century. Indeed, there were many 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 a war in the United States and Japan.

Another coincidence: a copy of the book about the ship "Titan" was on the ship with one fireman. The sailor read it in the first days of the voyage, and the plot impressed him so much that he simply ran away in one of the ports. And this was not the only crew member who escaped from the Titanic.

It remains a mystery whether everyone who escaped had read the book before, or whether they had better reasons.

Eyewitness accounts of the tragedy

Immediately after the sinking of the Titanic, special commissions were set up in England and the United States to investigate its causes. The surviving passengers talked about the loud bang that they heard after the collision with the iceberg. It was like an explosion. According to one version, a fire raged in the coal bunker of the liner.

Some researchers believe that it started even before the Titanic left the port, others are sure that the fire broke out during the voyage.

A bit of history

Britain was being transformed by the technological revolution. Starting from the 30s of the 19th century, steam-powered merchant ships began to cross the Atlantic. The technology proved promising, and the admiralty of the kingdom concluded that steam would render the sailing fleet obsolete.

When reports appeared in London that in France, which also entered the struggle for maritime 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.

For the first time, a replacement for the paddle wheel appeared about ten years later, in the 40s of the 19th century. Shipbuilders came to the conclusion that the propeller is much more efficient than the wheel. Only after its invention and placement under the bottom of the ship did steam traction become 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 powered by internal combustion engines were as rare as the steam engine of 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 not be any emergencies on the liner, this is the Titanic.

Further developments

Captain Smith ordered to localize the bunker in which the fire was raging. 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 to the nearest port with all your might. But when the Titanic hit the iceberg, it ripped open the skin of the ship, and oxygen got into the bunker. There was a powerful explosion.

Many years later, after an underwater study of the remains of the ship, this version had additional arguments. A huge fault passes exactly where the coal compartments were.

For the first time, the version of the fire appeared on the pages of American newspapers even before the surviving passengers and crew members of the Titanic were taken to New York. Not having factual material, and using only rumors, newspapermen composed the most incredible stories about tragedy.

In any case, when the stokers were interrogated, they denied the fact of 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 be silent about the burning coal.

What really happened to giant liner we don't know yet. The Titanic, whose sinking story has become the subject of documentaries and feature films, will always be of interest to future generations.

New version of the death of the liner

The nature of the Titanic's fault not only fuels the version of the 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 break and torn edges that could result from a torpedo attack make it serious. If the Titanic was torpedoed after all, 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 the sinking of the Titanic is April 15, 1912. On this day, but in different years, the following disasters occurred:

1989 - stampede at the English stadium "Hillsborough".
2000 - a plane crash in the Philippines, 129 people became victims.
2002 - a plane crash in Korea that claimed 129 lives.

What tragic events will life bring us next time?

The sinking of the Titanic claimed the lives of 1,517 of the 2,229 passengers and crew (official figures vary slightly) in one of the worst maritime disasters in world history. 712 survivors were brought aboard the RMS Carpathia. After this disaster, a great resonance swept through the public affecting attitudes towards social injustice, radically changed the way passengers were transported along the North Atlantic Passage, the rules for the number of lifeboats carried on board passenger ships were changed and the International Ice Reconnaissance was created (where merchant ships crossing the North Atlantic are still, with the help of radio signals, they transmit accurate information about the location and concentration of ice). In 1985, a major discovery was made, the Titanic was discovered at the bottom of the ocean and became a turning point for the public and for the development of new areas of science and technology. April 15, 2012 marks the 100th anniversary of the Titanic. It became one of the most famous ships in history, her image has remained in numerous books, films, exhibitions and monuments.

Crash of the Titanic in real time

duration - 2 hours 40 minutes!

The luxury liner Titanic, pictured in this 1912 photograph, left Queenstown for New York on her ill-fated last voyage. The passengers of this ship were included in the list of the richest people in the world, such as millionaires John Jacob Astor IV, Benjamin Guggenheim and Isidor Strauss, as well as more than a thousand immigrants from Ireland, Scandinavia and other countries seeking a new life in America. The disaster was greeted around the world with shock and outrage over the huge loss of life and violation of the regulatory and operational parameters that led to this disaster. The investigation into the sinking of the Titanic began a few days later and led to a significant improvement in maritime safety. (United Press International)

A crowd of workers. Shipyard Harland and Wolf shipyard in Belfast, where the Titanic was built between 1909 and 1911. The ship was designed to be the last word in comfort and luxury, and was the largest ship afloat during her maiden voyage. The ship is visible in the background of this 1911 photograph. (Photo Archive/Harland & Wolff/Cox Collection)

Photo April 10, 1912, it shows the Titanic leaving Southampton, England. The tragic sinking of the Titanic took place a century ago, one of the causes of the death, according to some, of the weak rivets used by the ship's builders in some parts of this ill-fated liner. (Associated Press)

Members of the press interview Titanic survivors coming off the rescue ship, Carpathians, May 17, 1912. (American Press Association)

People stand on the street waiting for the arrival of Carpathia after the sinking of the Titanic. (The New York Times / Wide World Photo Archive)

A huge crowd gathered in front of Star Line's White Office on Lower Broadway in New York City to get the latest news about the sinking of the Titanic on April 14, 1912. (Associated Press)

The editors of The New York Times at the time of the sinking of the Titanic, April 15, 1912. (Photo archive of The New York Times)

(Photo archive of The New York Times)

Laura Francatelli, and her employers Lady Lucy Duff-Gordon and Sir Cosmo Duff-Gordon, standing on the rescue ship, Carpathians (Associated Press / Henry Aldridge & Son / Ho)

This vintage seal shows the Titanic shortly before leaving for its maiden voyage in 1912. (New York Times Archive)

(National Maritime Museum / London)

Breakfast menu aboard the Titanic, signed by survivors of the disaster. (National Maritime Museum / London)

The nose of the Titanic at the bottom of the ocean, 1999 (Institute of Oceanology)

(Ralph White/Associated Press)

The 17-ton part of the Titanic's hull rises to the surface during an expedition to the site of the tragedy in 1998. (RMS Titanic, Inc., via The Associated Press)

July 22, 2009, photo of the 17-ton part of the Titanic, which was raised and restored during an expedition to the site of the tragedy. (RMS Titanic, Inc., via The Associated Press)

Exhibits at the "Titanic Artifact Exhibition" at the California Science Center: binoculars, comb, dishes and a broken incandescent light bulb, February 6, 2003. (Michel Boutefeu/Getty Images, Chester Higgins Jr./The New York Times)

Glasses among the wreckage of the Titanic were among the choicest artifacts of the Titanic. (Bebeto Matthews/Associated Press)

Golden Spoon (Titanic Artifacts) (Bebeto Matthews/Associated Press)

A chronometer from the Titanic Bridge is on display at the Science Museum in London, May 15, 2003. The Chronometer, one of more than 200 items salvaged from the wreck of the Titanic, was on display at the launch of a new exhibit commemorating its ill-fated maiden voyage along with bottles of perfume. The exhibition took visitors on a chronological journey through the life of the Titanic, from its concept and construction, to life on board, and its plunge into the Atlantic Ocean in April 1912. (Alastair Grant/Associated Press)

Logo meter to measure the speed of the Titanic and a hinged lamp. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Spoons. RMS Titanic, Inc. is the only company authorized to remove elements from the ocean floor where the Titanic sank. (Douglas Healey/Associated Press)

Gold mesh purse. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

The April 2012 edition of National Geographic magazine (on-line version available on iPad) sees new images and drawings from the Titanic wreck as it remains on the seafloor, gradually disintegrating at a depth of 12,415 feet (3,784 m). (National Geographic)

Two propeller blades peek out from the darkness of the sea. This optical mosaic is assembled from 300 high resolution images. (COPYRIGHT © 2012 RMS Titanic, Inc; Produced by AIVL, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)