The Titanic is a true disaster story. Scientists have recreated the most complete map of the site of the Titanic tragedy

More than 100 years have passed since the terrible disaster of one of the largest liners of its time. But until now, the world does not know all the secrets that the huge, and seemingly indestructible Titanic hides. How the ship sank, the material will tell.

Giants fight

The 20th century was the century of technological progress. Skyscrapers, cars, movies - everything developed at an uncanny pace. The process also affected the ships.

In the market in the early 1900s, there was a lot of competition for customers between the 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 larger, faster and more magnificent.

Why and how the Titanic sank is still a mystery. There are many versions. The most daring of them is a scam. It was held by the aforementioned Star Line company.

But he opened the world of amazing liners "Cunard Line". By their order, two extraordinary steamships "Mauritania" and "Lusitania" were built. The audience was amazed by their grandeur. 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 surpassed these parameters). Two twin giants were launched in 1906 and 1907. They won first places in prestigious competitions and beat all speed records.

For the competitors of "Kunard Line" 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 years of 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 Mauritania were launched, the Star Line engineers were tasked with creating fantastic designs that would surpass the offspring of competitors. The final decision was made in 1909. This is how the idea of ​​three ships of the Olympic class was born. 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" proved not by word but by deed that it cares about customers. So, in 1909, when two liners collided, their ship stood on the water for another two days, which proved its quality. However, the trio of “Olympic” misfortune befell. repeatedly got into accidents. So, in 1911, it collided with the Hawk cruiser, from which it received a 14-meter hole and went for repairs. Misfortune befell the Titanic. He found himself at the bottom of the ocean in 1912. "Britanic" found the First World War, where he played the role of 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 crashed.

The construction of the second of three Olympic-class vessels was not without casualties. 1500 people worked on the project. The conditions were not easy. There was little concern for safety. Due to the fact that they had to work at a height, many builders broke down. About 250 people were seriously injured. The wounds of eight men were incompatible with life.

The dimensions of the Titanic were astounding. 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 an unusually large ship,

The date of the first flight was previously announced. The voyage was scheduled for March 20, 1912. But due to the collision of the first ship in September 1911 with the Hawk cruiser, some of the workers were transferred to the Olympic. The flight was automatically rescheduled for April 10. It is from this date that the fateful story of the Titanic begins.

fatal ticket

Its height was equal to an eleven-story building, and its length was four blocks of the city. Telephones, elevators, its own electrical grid, a garden, a hospital, shops - all this was placed on the ship. Luxurious halls, exquisite restaurants, a library, a swimming pool and a gym - everything was available to high society, first class passengers. Other clients lived more modestly. The most expensive tickets cost, in today's exchange rate, more than $50,000. Economical option from

The history of the Titanic is the history of different layers of the then society. Expensive cabins were occupied by successful, famous personalities. Tickets for the second class were bought by engineers, journalists, representatives of the clergy. The cheapest decks were for expats.

Landing began at 9:30 am on 10 April in London. After several planned 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 they were kept in was missing. The ship followed the safest route. It was chosen according to 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 sailing were quiet. But already on April 14, radio operators received repeated warnings about icebergs, which were largely ignored. In addition, the temperature dropped significantly at night. As you know, the team did without binoculars, and such a grandiose 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 Murdoch gave the order: "Turn left" and "Reverse." This was followed by the command: "To the right." But the clumsy ship was slow to maneuver. The board collided with an iceberg. That is why the Titanic crashed.

Distress signal not heard

The collision happened at 23:40, when people were almost all asleep. On the upper deck, the impact was invisible. But the bottom was pretty shocked. Ice perforated 5 sections, they instantly began to fill with water. In general, the length of the hole was 90 meters. The designer said that with such damage, the ship would last a little more than an hour. The crew was preparing for an emergency evacuation. The radio operators broadcast an SOS signal.

The captain gave the order to put women and children in the boats. The team itself also wanted to survive, so strong sailors took oars in their hands. The wealthy passengers of the Titanic were the first to escape. But there wasn't enough room for everyone.

From the very beginning, the liner was not sufficiently equipped with everything necessary. A maximum of 1,100 people could be 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 heavily, mass panic increased among the passengers.

The third class was left closed in its unit. Riots began, and people in horror tried to escape, as best they could. The guards tried to restore order and frightened the crowd with pistol shots.

At that time, the steamship Californian was passing nearby, but she did not receive a signal for help from a neighboring vessel. Their radio operator overslept messages. How the Titanic sank, and with what speed it went to the bottom, only Carpathia knew, which headed towards them.

Despite the distress signals given, independent attempts to escape did not stop. Pumps pumped out water, there was still electricity. At 2:15 the pipe fell. Then the light went out. Experts believe that the liner was torn in half, because the bow took on water and sank. The stern first rose up, and then, under the pressure of its own weight, the ship broke.

Cold in the abyss

The nose sank quickly. Feed in a few minutes also went under water. But at the same time, its lining, body, furniture floated up. At 2:20 a.m., the great ship Titanic was completely submerged. How the ship sank, dozens of feature films and documentaries are shown today.

Some passengers tried hard to survive. Dozens jumped off in vests into the black abyss. But the ocean was merciless to man. Almost everyone froze to death. After some time, two boats returned, but only a few survived at the scene. An hour later, the Carpathia arrived and picked up those who remained.

The captain went down with the ship. 712 people were saved from all those who bought a ticket for the Titanic. Those who died in 1496 were mostly representatives of the third class, people who, on this journey, wanted to touch something unrealizable and desirable.

Scam of the century

Two vessels of the Olympic class were built according to the same project. After the first ship set sail, all its shortcomings came out. So, the management decided to add some details to the Titanic. They reduced the place for walking, completed the cabins. A café has been added to the restaurant. To protect passengers from bad weather, the deck was closed. As a result, an external difference appeared, although earlier it could not be distinguished from the Olympic liner.

The version that the Titanic was under water was not accidental, was published by Robin Rardiner, an expert in shipping matters. According to his theory, the older and battered Olympic was sent to sail.

Ship change

The first liner was launched without insurance. Having survived several accidents, he became an unpleasant burden for the company. Permanent repairs required enormous funds. After the damage inflicted on him by the cruiser, the ship was again sent on vacation. Then it was decided to replace the old ship with a new one, which was insured and very similar to the Titanic. How the liner sank is known, 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 received a cosmetic overhaul, rebuilt the deck and stuck a new name. 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 magnates and successful, rich people abruptly and for no reason abandoned the long-awaited trip the day before. Among them was the owner of the company, John Pierpont Morgan. A total of 55 first class customers canceled their tickets. 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 still sailed 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, as 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 assistant to the captain, William Murdoch, who ordered to turn to the left and turn on the reverse gear. The correct solution in such a situation would be to go straight and wrinkle your nose. In this case, the Titanic would not have ended up at the bottom.

mummy's curse

For years, stories have circulated that untold treasures were left 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 water and this would happen under the screams of innocent people who died. 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 such a version: the catastrophe was planned to suspend the technical 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, has repeatedly been in the research group.

A century has passed, and the secrets of the Titanic are still of interest and excite humanity.

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

On April 10, 1912, the British liner Titanic left Southampton for her first and last voyage. Four days later, after a collision with an iceberg, the now legendary liner crashed. There were 2208 people on board the ship and only 712 passengers and crew members managed to escape. 3rd class passengers buried alive at the bottom of the ocean, and millionaires choosing the best seats in half-empty lifeboats, an orchestra playing until the last moment and heroes saving their loved ones at the cost of their own lives... All this is not only footage from a Hollywood movie, but also real stories of passengers from the Titanic.

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

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

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

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

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

On the night of the disaster, he was at a party in the restaurant of the first class ship, and after the collision, together with his comrades, he went on deck, where the boats were already being prepared. First, William put his daughter in boat number 4, but when it was his son's turn, they were in trouble.

Right in front of them, 13-year-old John Rison boarded the boat, after which the boarding officer ordered that teenage boys not be taken on board. Lucy Carter resourcefully threw her hat on her 11-year-old son and sat down with him.

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

Roberta Mahoney, 21, worked as a servant to the countess and sailed on the Titanic with her mistress in first class.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Two orchestras played on the Titanic: a quintet led by 33-year-old British violinist Wallace Hartley and an additional trio of musicians who were hired to give Café Parisien a continental touch.

Usually, the two members of the Titanic orchestra worked in different parts of the liner and at different times, but on the night of the ship's death, all of them united into one orchestra.

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

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

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

Michel died in 2001, he was the last male survivor on the Titanic.

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

Suddenly met by a member of the crew directed her to the boats. She stumbled on a broken closed gate, but just at that moment another officer appeared, who saved Winnie and her children by giving them his life jacket.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Among the passengers of the Titanic was the famous tennis player Carl Behr and his lover Helen Newsom. After the disaster, the athlete ran to the cabin and brought the women to the boat deck.

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

Edward John Smith is the captain of the Titanic, who was very popular with both crew and passengers. At 2:13 am, just 10 minutes before the ship was completely submerged, Smith returned to the captain's bridge, where he decided to meet his death.

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

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

Benjamin died at the age of 46, his body was not found.

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

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

John Jacob and Madeleine Astor, the millionaire science fiction writer, were traveling first class with their young wife. Madeleine escaped on lifeboat number 4. The body of John Jacob was raised from the depths of the ocean 22 days after his death.

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

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

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

"If the worst happens, I'll swim out," she said, until eventually someone pushed her into the number 6 lifeboat that made her famous.

After Molly organized the Titanic Survivors Relief Fund.

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

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

And this fact is not surprising, because at the time of construction and commissioning, "" was one of the largest liners in the world. His first voyage, which is also the last, took place on April 14, 1912, because the ship, after a collision with an ice block, sank 2 hours and 40 minutes after the impact (at 02.20 on April 15). Such a large-scale catastrophe has become a legend, and in our time the causes and circumstances of its occurrence are being discussed, feature films are being shot, and researchers continue to study the remains of the liner at the bottom and compare them with photographs of the ship taken in 1912.

If we compare the model of the bow shown in the photo and the remains that now lie at the bottom, it is difficult to call them identical, because the front of the ship was heavily immersed in the silt during the fall. Such a spectacle greatly disappointed the first researchers, since the location of the wreckage did not allow to inspect the place where the ship hit the ice block without the use of special equipment. The torn hole present in the case, clearly visible on the layout, is the result of hitting the bottom.

The remains of the Titanic are at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, they lie at a depth of about 4 km. The vessel cracked in the process of submerging under water and now its two parts lie on the bottom, at a distance of about 600 meters from one another. Within a radius of several hundred meters near them are multiple debris and objects, including a huge piece of the ship's hull.

Panorama of the bow of the Titanic, the researchers managed to make by processing several hundred images. If you look at it from right to left, you can see the winch from the spare anchor, which sticks out directly above the bow edge, then the mooring device is noticeable, and next to it is an open hatch leading to hold No. 1, breakwater lines go from it to the sides. The lying mast, under which there are two more hold hatches and winches for lifting cargo, is clearly visible on the superstructure deck. The captain's bridge used to be located on the front of the main superstructure, but now it can only be found at the bottom in parts.

On the other hand, the superstructure with the captain's and officer's cabins and the radio room is well preserved, although it is crossed by a crack that has formed in place of the expansion joint. The visible hole in the superstructure is the location of the chimney. Another hole behind the superstructure is the well, where the Titanic's front staircase is located. A large torn hole located to the left is the place of the second pipe.

Photo of the main anchor on the port side of the Titanic. It remains a mystery how he did not fall down in the process of hitting the bottom.

Behind the Titanic's spare anchor is a mooring device.

Even 10-20 years ago, on the mast of the Titanic, one could see the remains of the so-called "crow's nest", where the lookouts were located, but now they have fallen off. The only reminder of the "crow's nest" is the hole in the mast, through which the sailors-lookout could get to the spiral staircase. The tail behind the hole was once a bell mount.

Comparative photos of the deck of the Titanic, which housed the lifeboats. On the right, you can see that the superstructure on it is torn in places.

The Titanic staircase that adorned the ship in 1912:

Photo of the remains of the ship, taken from a similar angle. Comparing the two previous photos, it's hard to believe that this is the same part of the ship.

Behind the stairs were equipped with elevators for 1st class passengers. Only individual elements remind of them. The inscription, which can be seen in the photo on the right, was opposite the elevators and pointed to the deck. It is this inscription - a pointer directing to deck A (the letter A, made of bronze, has disappeared, but traces still remain).

Deck D, 1st class lounge. Despite the fact that most of the wooden trim has been eaten away by microorganisms, some elements reminiscent of the front staircase have been preserved.

The 1st class lounge and the Titanic restaurant, located on deck D, had large stained glass windows that have survived to this day.

This is exactly what "" would look like along with the largest modern passenger liner, which is called "Allure of the Seas".

It was put into operation in 2010. A few comparative values:

• Allure of the Seas has 4 times the displacement of the Titanic;
• a modern liner - the record holder has a length of 360 m, which exceeds "" by 100 m;
• maximum width of 60 m compared to 28 m of shipbuilding legend;
• the draft is almost the same (almost 10 m);
• the speed of these ships is 22-23 knots;
• the number of command staff of "Allure of the Seas" - more than 2 thousand people (attendants "" - 900 people, mostly they were stokers);
• the passenger capacity of the giant of our time is 6.4 thousand people (y - 2.5 thousand).

a ”Frederick Fleet noticed an iceberg right on the course about 650 m from the liner. Striking the bell three times, he reported to the bridge. The first assistant commanded the helmsman: "Left aboard!" - and moved the handles of the machine telegraphs to the "Full back" position. A little later, so that the liner did not hit the iceberg with the stern, he commanded: “Right on board!”. However, the Titanic was too large for a quick maneuver, and continued to move by inertia for another 25-30 seconds, until her nose began to slowly deviate to the left.

At 23:40, the Titanic tangentially collided with an iceberg. On the upper decks, people felt a slight 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 were formed in the starboard plating with a total length of about 90 meters. At 00:05, Captain Smith ordered the crew to prepare the lifeboats for launch, then went into the radio room and ordered the radio operators to broadcast a distress signal.

Around 0:20 children and women were put into the boats. At 1:20 the water began to flood the forecastle. At this time, the first signs of panic appeared. The evacuation went faster. After 1:30 a.m., panic broke out on board. At about 2:00 the last boat was lowered, at 2:05 the water began to flood the boat deck and the captain's bridge. The remaining 1,500 people on board rushed towards the stern. The trim began to grow before our eyes, at 2:15 the first chimney collapsed. At 2:16 the power went out. At 02:18, with a bow trim of about 23°, the liner broke. The bow, falling off, immediately went to the bottom, and the stern filled with water and sank two minutes later.

At 2:20, the Titanic completely disappeared under the water. Hundreds of people swam to the surface, but almost all of them died from hypothermia. On two collapsible boats that did not have time to launch from the liner, about 45 people were saved. Eight more were rescued by two boats returning to the crash 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 crash.

Reasons for the crash

After the tragedy, commissions were held to investigate the causes of this incident, and, according to official documents, the collision with the iceberg was the cause, and not the presence of defects in the ship's structure. The commission based its conclusion on how the ship sank. As noted by some survivors, the ship went to the bottom as a whole, and not in parts.

As the commission concluded, all the blame for the tragic catastrophe was placed on the captain of the ship. In 1985, oceanographer Robert Ballard, who had been searching for a 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 broke in half on the surface of the ocean before it sank. This fact again drew 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 on a tight schedule.

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 low-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 miscalculations in the design of the ship, and this is evidenced by the nature of the sinking of the ship. It was finally established that the stern of the ship did not rise high into the air, as previously believed, and the ship broke into pieces and sank. This indicates clear miscalculations in the design of the ship. However, after the disaster, this data was hidden. And only with the help of modern technology it was found that it was these circumstances that led to one of the most terrible tragedies of mankind.

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

First official version

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

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

Discovery of Robert Ballard

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

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

Design miscalculations

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

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

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

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

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

Memories of Passengers

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

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

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

How the Titanic sank: a real-time model

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

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

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

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

REFERENCE

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