All About Sinking

First class accommodations on the RMS Titanic; undated

I finally went to the history section in my library, which to say the least, was pathetic. But I was able to get a few good books, including The Wreck and Sinking of the Titanic, The Ocean's Greatest Disaster. Now I've only just begun reading it, but it is rather interestingly written. It was originally published in 1912, so not long after the sinking. The wording is interesting, and a little rough to understand at times. It just goes to show how much our language was changed in a mere decade.

Let's start off with a few simple facts that I've learned thus far. Now many people know at least a little bit about the RMS Titanic. Before I started reading I just new that the Titanic hit an iceberg and lots of people died because of lack of boats. I don't know if this is true, but I somehow learned that they didn't put on enough life boats because it cluttered up the side of the ship and made her not look as nice.

RMS Titanic

One thing I've learned is that all the Titanic's passengers had great faith in her, and didn't believe they were in any danger until the boilers exploded, causing the ship to tilt so steeply that people started to fall to their deaths. It's kind of funny. People thought it was impossible for the Titanic to sink, and yet on her maiden voyage she did just that. Rather ironic, don't you think?

Until I started reading about the Titanic I never though of it as a story of hero's. I was reading that when they started getting into the life boats there was no chaos, or pushing to the front. They loaded all the woman and children first, and brave hero's stayed behind, sacrificing themselves for the lives of others. They didn't know these people, and yet they chose to stay. That is a hero in my mind, and so it should be.

Recent photo of the Titanic

At the time, the Titanic was the largest ship ever built. I suppose that is a factor in why people though she wouldn't, or couldn't, sink. The ship was 883 feet long, and left on her first and last trip on April 10th, 1912, only two years before the start of World War I. It was four days later, at 11:40PM ships time, that she struck the iceberg. It tore a hole in her, and the water crept up to the boilers. If the icy water had not reached the boilers, causing them to explode, then it's quite possible that the Titanic would have survived, and a great many lives would have been spared. Alas, it was not to be.