The Sinking of the Titanic

by Marcus Cox

The Titanic was owned by The White Star Line and built between 1909 and 1911 in Belfast by the Harland and Wolff shipyard; it was declared “unsinkable”. Titanic left Southampton, on its maiden voyage to New York, carrying 2,224 people; however, there were only enough lifeboats for 1,178 people because the owners wanted to leave more room for passengers to enjoy a promenade on deck during the voyage.

Titanic hit an iceberg on the 14^th April 1912 about 375 miles into its journey at 11:40pm, which breached five of the Titanic’s watertight compartments (the ship could only survive with a maximum of four breached). The ship took two and a half hours to sink into the Atlantic at 2:20am on the 15^th April 1912. 1,514 of the 2,224 passengers died; only 710 passengers survived (almost none of the lifeboats were full).

The survivors from the Titanic were picked up by the Carpathia a few hours later. While the Titanic was sinking there was a second ship, The Californian, which saw the Titanic’s distress flares but thought they were a firework display, therefore failing to assist the sinking ship. The wreck of the Titanic was rediscovered in 1985 and still remains on the seabed of the Atlantic Ocean, 3,784 meters below sea level (see Titanic 1912 Original Video Footage below)

 

See also a commemoration of the centenary of the sinking of Titanic, at:

http://portsmouthpoint.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/titanic-centenary.html