The ship
RMS Titanic was an ocean liner of the White Star Line, built by Harland and Wolff in Belfast and completed in 1912. She was the second of three sister ships of the Olympic class, designed to offer comfort and size rather than record speed, and she was among the largest moving objects made by people at that time. Her hull was divided by watertight compartments and bulkheads, a standard form of protection. Trade publications described the design as practically unsinkable, but the company itself did not make that claim in any official sense, and the label is better seen as a piece of publicity that was remembered after the event.
She carried first-, second- and third-class passengers, including many emigrants, and the lowest-fare passengers travelling in emigrant steerage made up a large share of those aboard. She was on her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York, calling at Cherbourg and Queenstown, now Cobh.
The night of 14 April 1912
The ship left Southampton on 10 April. In the days that followed, she received a number of radio warnings of ice from other vessels. On the night of Sunday 14 April, the sea was calm and the sky clear, with no moon, and conditions made icebergs hard to see. At about 11:40 pm ship’s time, the lookouts sighted an iceberg directly ahead. The ship altered course but struck the iceberg along her starboard side, opening a series of compartments to the sea.
The design had allowed for the flooding of up to four of the forward compartments. The damage affected more than that, and the bulkheads did not extend high enough to prevent water from spilling over from one compartment to the next as the bow sank lower. Within a few hours it became clear that the ship would founder. She broke apart as she sank and went under at about 2:20 am on 15 April.
Lifeboats and the loss of life
The Titanic carried 20 lifeboats, with a combined capacity of about 1,178 people. There were roughly 2,200 people aboard, so there was space for only about half. The boats were not filled, and many left partly empty during the confusion of the first stages of evacuation. The British Board of Trade regulations in force required lifeboat capacity based on the tonnage of the ship rather than the number of people aboard. The rules had been written for much smaller ships and had not been updated to reflect the growth in size.
Estimates of the dead vary slightly, and a figure of around 1,500 is commonly given, with about 700 survivors. More first-class passengers than third-class passengers survived in proportion. Women and children were given priority in the lifeboats, although how this was applied differed from one side of the ship to another.
Rescue
The Cunard liner Carpathia, steaming from New York to the Mediterranean, received the distress calls and turned toward the position of the wreck, reaching the lifeboats in the early morning. She picked up the survivors and carried them to New York. Another ship, the Californian, was nearby and had stopped for the night because of ice, but her radio operator had gone off duty and her crew did not respond to the Titanic’s distress rockets in any decisive way. The two British and American inquiries later criticised her captain.
The inquiries
Two major investigations followed. In the United States, a Senate inquiry led by Senator William Alden Smith held hearings in New York and Washington. In Britain, a formal investigation presided over by Lord Mersey examined the facts. Both made recommendations on lifeboats, radio and speed in ice waters. They found that the ship was travelling at a speed that was not unusual for the time on that route, but which did not reflect the known risk from ice.
The rules that changed
The inquiries led to a series of changes. The most notable were these.
- Lifeboats for everyone. New rules required enough lifeboat space for every person aboard, with drills and training for crews.
- Continuous radio watch. Ships were required to maintain a radio watch around the clock and to have a backup power supply. Before, radio operators often worked limited hours and the equipment was viewed as a service for passengers.
- Ice patrol. An International Ice Patrol was established in 1914 to monitor icebergs in the North Atlantic and to warn shipping. It continues in some form today.
- International convention. The first International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, usually called SOLAS, was agreed in London in January 1914. It covered construction, subdivision, lifesaving appliances and radio. The outbreak of the First World War delayed its coming into force, but later versions followed and the convention has been revised repeatedly since.
Alongside the formal rules, there was a change in attitude. The idea that a large and modern ship could not be lost was seriously damaged. The sinking also drew attention to the role that existing practice, such as the late-night speed on a busy shipping lane, played in accidents.
The wreck and the legacy
The wreck lies in about 3,800 metres of water in the North Atlantic, and it was not found until 1 September 1985 by an expedition led by Robert Ballard and Jean-Louis Michel. The hull is in two main sections, a short distance apart, with a large field of debris between them. It is subject to continued deterioration, and international agreements and national laws now govern visits to the site and the handling of artefacts. The study of such sites is part of the field of maritime archaeology.
The Titanic remains the most widely remembered of all ship disasters, partly because of the number of prominent passengers, partly because of its timing at a moment of confidence in technology, and partly through books and films. The evidence that survives, from inquiry records to the wreck itself, supports a clear core of fact, even though many popular details have been embellished over the years.