Titanic, also translated as RMS Titanic, is an Olympic-class cruise ship under the British White Star Shipping Company. It started construction at Harland and Wolf Shipyard in Belfast on March 3 1 and May 3 1.
Titanic was the largest passenger ship with the most luxurious internal facilities in the world at that time and had the reputation of "unsinkable ship". Ironically, however, the Titanic suffered bad luck on its maiden voyage-starting from Southampton, England, passing through Cherbourg-Octville, France and Queenstown, Ireland, and heading for new york, USA. When she was on board, at about 23: 40 on April 19 12, the Titanic collided with an iceberg, resulting in the starboard bow.
At about 2: 20 the next morning, the Titanic broke in two and sank to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean at 3,700 meters. Of the 2,224 crew members and passengers, more than 1500 people were killed, of which only 333 bodies were recovered. The sinking of Titanic is one of the deadliest shipwrecks in peacetime. Its remains were not discovered again until 1985, and are currently protected by UNESCO.
First of all, maiden voyage
1912 April 10, the "unsinkable" Titanic set sail for new york at the ocean pier in Southampton Port. The captain's name is edward john smith. The dock was crowded with passengers, family members who came to see me off, baggage handlers and customs inspectors. In the morning 1 1, 1 chimney emitted white steam. Twenty-five of the 29 boilers started to fire in turn. At noon 12, Titanic slowly left the dock under the traction of tugboat. Two external propellers began to stir the sea water in Southampton Harbour. Titanic passed by in turn and stopped at
Solemnly (not the original Bismarck that Germany lost to Britain after World War I), new york in Philadelphia, St. Louis, Ocean and Port honked his horn to greet them. This 46,000-ton ship seems to be very attractive to other ships. Just before sailing, another conventional ship, the New York, was moving in the water because of its huge size, which caused the gravity generated by the massive backfilling of the current to almost hit her hull, which was delayed for an hour. Titanic's tugboat Vulcan hijacked the hull of the New York. The world's largest mail ship began its first and last voyage. Titanic divided passengers into three classes. Third class cabin is also the cheapest to get off the hull. Most of these passengers are immigrants who plan to cross the Atlantic to build a new life. The decoration of the second-class cabin and the general guest room was actually the same as that of the first-class cabin of other general ships at that time. Many second-class passengers originally positioned the first class on other ships, but gave up because of the voyage of Titanic. The first class is the most expensive and luxurious part of the whole ship, and some of the richest celebrities in the world were on this journey at that time.
Second, disaster is coming.
19 12 April 14, Sunday night, a calm night, not even a little wind. If there is, the crew will find the waves.
The small scale of waves on icebergs. Titanic sailed in this dark and cold ocean at a speed of 22.3 knots (about 45 kilometers per hour) (the maximum speed was 23 knots). Captain Smith ordered the lookout to observe carefully after receiving ice reports from many ships nearby. Because it is a warm winter this year, icebergs drift farther south than in previous years. But the crew of Titanic couldn't find the telescope (because the only telescope on board was locked in the cupboard by the second mate, and the second mate who kept the key of the cupboard didn't get on board at last), so the lookout had to observe with the naked eye.
At 23: 40, Frederic fleet, a lookout, found a shadow "the size of two tables" in the distance, and it became bigger at an extremely fast speed. He knocked the alarm bell on the bridge three times and grabbed the phone: "There is an iceberg directly ahead!" " ".The six Moody's who answered the phone informed the next Murdoch. Murdoch immediately ordered the bell to ring: "All engines slow down! Left full rudder! Thruster three, reverse! "Just 37 seconds after the lookout found that the iceberg hit the starboard side of the ship, the Titanic was less than 400 meters away from the iceberg.
The first mate immediately ordered the left full rudder and the propeller of the whole ship to retreat urgently. It turned out that the first command was letters.
The mistake of life, just 37 seconds after he gave the order, the Titanic hit an iceberg because its hull was too big, its rudder was too small and its speed was too fast to stop moving and turning in time.
23: 40: Due to the violent impact, the rivets in the bow were loosened, the waterproof partition was partially cracked, and numerous small but narrow cracks appeared in the first five bilges, and seawater kept pouring in. Then close the waterproof gate in time, and all bilges will become 16 independent watertight warehouses.
Third, ask for help.
0: 05: The sea has flooded the 32-foot-high bow. The lifeboat on board can only be used by 1 178 people, and the total number of people on board is 2208.
0: 10: The crew of Titanic began to use the distress rocket for help. From about 10 to 19, the crew of the California on the Titanic could even see the lights on the chimney of her steam engine. They tried to contact her, but the Morse code light didn't work. In addition, more than one crew member later witnessed the Titanic launching a white distress rocket, but the captain of the California, Rod, thought it was not a distress signal.
Fourth, the last moment
At 2: 20, although the stern barely floated, it sank in less than 1 minute because the bottom was filled with seawater until it completely disappeared in the Atlantic Ocean. The huge whirlpool sucked in a large number of passengers and crew who persisted to the end. Of course, many of them had already become stiff bodies. Although many people surfaced, they gradually lost their temperature and froze to death because the sea was cold and they were not rescued in time. The sea soon returned to calm, and a huge ocean liner ended its short and dazzling life here. 1500 passengers who failed to board the lifeboat became their funerary objects. Of the 1500 people, it was finally confirmed that only 6 were still alive.
It took 2 hours and 40 minutes from hitting an iceberg to completely sinking. (The chief designer's initial idea was only 2 hours)
At 3: 30, Canard's passenger ship Carpathia (also known as Carpathian) first arrived at the scene of the accident. At 4 o'clock, the crew of Carpathia found the first lifeboat in the twilight of the North Atlantic. The rescue work continued until 8: 30 in the morning, and the lifeboat 12 tied the rescue cable. Of the 2208 crew and passengers on the Titanic, only 705 survived. The captain and priest of the Carpathia hosted a mourning ceremony in the dining room. Around 8: 50, turn around and return to new york.
After the Carpathian arrived in new york Port. Thousands of people watched them pass the Statue of Liberty on the Waterray coast of Manhattan Island. At Pier 54, about 30,000 people stood in the rain, silently welcoming the survivors of the Titanic. The news of the sinking of Titanic shocked the whole western world. At that time, people were no less shocked than the 9. 1 1 incident in the United States in this century. Flags were flown at half-mast in many places on both sides of the Atlantic. King George V of England and President Taft of the United States exchanged messages of condolence. Kaiser Wilhelm II also sent a message of condolence.
Baidu Encyclopedia-Titanic