In 1912, the Titanic, a steamship in England's White Star Line, set out on its doomed maiden voyage, with 2,227 enthusiastic passengers and crew members on board for the history-making trip from Southampton, England, to New York City. Only 705 would survive the ship's collision with a massive iceberg.The "unsinkable" ocean liner hit an iceberg late in the evening on April 14 and sunk in the early hours of April 15.
Titanic left Queenstown in Ireland on the afternoon of Thursday 11 April 1912. There were 2201 souls on board, but lifeboat space only for 1178. Titanic struck the iceberg at 11.40pm on Sunday 14 April.Titanic was travelling at over 20 knots when she struck the iceberg. In less than 10 seconds her hull was opened below the waterline on the starboard side for a length of 300 ft.
Within 10 minutes the ship's 5 forward compartments were flooded to a height of 14 feet above the keel. Titanic's collision with the iceberg was a freak accident in which 6 compartments were immediately open to the sea. The massive inrush of water, with which the pumps and system of hull subdivision could not cope, doomed the ship.
At 12.20 am on 15 April Titanic's boats were swung out. About 12.30am the order was given to place woman and children in the lifeboats and 15 minutes later the boats began to be lowered to the water 65 feet below. However for various reasons not all lifeboats were filled to capacity.
Many passengers were reluctant to leave Titanic, thinking that the risk was less than in the boats.Titanic's 20 lifeboats were in excess of Board of Trade rules, which required her to carry only 16 boats. In 1912 these rules related to the tonnage of ships, not to the number of people on board. After the Titanic disaster, the rules were quickly changed and enough lifeboats were provided for everyone on board ships at sea.
When the sinking condition of the ship was realised, Captain Smith ordered wireless messages to be sent out to all steamships within reach. At 12.15am, 15 April, the first distress signal CQD was transmitted by Titanic, soon followed by the now familiar SOS. They continued until 2.17am when Titanic's signals abruptly ended. Titanic sank at 2.20am. Titanic went down at 2.20am on 15 April.
The tragedy was not that the ship sank but that there were not enough lifeboats to save all on board. Even of the 20 available boats, not all were filled to capacity. Almost 1500 people, passengers and crew, perished in the freezing waters of the North Atlantic. Only 711 survivors were brought to New York by the rescue ship Carpathia.
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