the turn of the 20th century saw a
golden age of Industry and prosperity in
many Western countries one aspect of
this era came to epitomize its grandeur
commissioned by the British shipping
company White Star Line the Titanic was
created to satiate demand for luxury
travel between Europe and North America
the ship’s construction began in March
1909 in Belfast Ireland by the time it
was sent to England for provisions
Titanic was one of the largest ships of
its time it was about 92 feet wide and
880 2.5 feet long the length of nearly 3
football fields with a height of about
175 feet the ship above water was taller
than most buildings the Titanic also
included new safety features such as 16
compartments designed to prevent the
hull from flooding this caused many to
believe that the ship was unsinkable
such confidence led to the unfortunate
decision to cut the number of lifeboats
on board in half in order to make the
deck look clean and elegant on April 10
1912 Titanic left port in Southampton
England and embarked on its first and
last voyage it first stopped over in
France in Ireland and by the time it set
out on the long stretch of sea toward
New York City it had about 2,200 people
on board unbeknownst to all misfortune
would arise just a few days into their
voyage
on April 14 at approximately 940 and
10:55 p.m. warnings were sent to the
titanic’s radio operators of ice fields
but they were never relayed to the
bridge at about 11:40 p.m. nearly 500
miles off the coast of Newfoundland
Canada lookout crew on the Titanic
spotted an iceberg in the ship’s path
and sent word to the bridge but it was
too late the iceberg raised the right
side of the ship causing its
compartments originally deemed
watertight to fill with water
Titanic’s radio operators began sending
out distress signals at 12:20 a.m. one
signal reached the ship Carpathia which
began making its way to the Titanic at
maximum speed around the same time crew
began loading women and children into
the few lifeboats on board in addition
to the shortage of lifeboats some of the
ones used were not being filled to
capacity
stranding even more people on the
sinking ship for the next two hours
the front compartments of the Titanic
filled with water causing the bow to
sink and the stern to rise out of the
water
at around 2:18 a.m. the ship snapped
into two the bow sank first followed by
the stern a couple minutes later
those who went down with the ship were
left in the freezing waters over an hour
later at about 3:30 a.m. the Carpathia
arrived to pick up passengers of the
2,200 people on the Titanic only 705
soon after the disaster both the United
States and Great Britain conducted
investigations and developed new safety
measures for ships they required ships
to maintain a 24-hour radio watch and
have enough lifeboats for all on board
they also helped establish the
International Ice patrol which monitors
icebergs in the North Atlantic and
warned ships of potential dangers for
decades Titanic was lost to the sea
existing only as a ghost from a decadent
past in 1985 nearly 75 years after the
ships sank a team led by National
Geographic Explorer at-large Bob Ballard
discovered the shipwreck off the coast
of Canada little by little
scientists have reconstructed the ship
and its encounter with the iceberg
giving us a better understanding of what exactly happened on that fateful day
golden age of Industry and prosperity in
many Western countries one aspect of
this era came to epitomize its grandeur
commissioned by the British shipping
company White Star Line the Titanic was
created to satiate demand for luxury
travel between Europe and North America
the ship’s construction began in March
1909 in Belfast Ireland by the time it
was sent to England for provisions
Titanic was one of the largest ships of
its time it was about 92 feet wide and
880 2.5 feet long the length of nearly 3
football fields with a height of about
175 feet the ship above water was taller
than most buildings the Titanic also
included new safety features such as 16
compartments designed to prevent the
hull from flooding this caused many to
believe that the ship was unsinkable
such confidence led to the unfortunate
decision to cut the number of lifeboats
on board in half in order to make the
deck look clean and elegant on April 10
1912 Titanic left port in Southampton
England and embarked on its first and
last voyage it first stopped over in
France in Ireland and by the time it set
out on the long stretch of sea toward
New York City it had about 2,200 people
on board unbeknownst to all misfortune
would arise just a few days into their
voyage
on April 14 at approximately 940 and
10:55 p.m. warnings were sent to the
titanic’s radio operators of ice fields
but they were never relayed to the
bridge at about 11:40 p.m. nearly 500
miles off the coast of Newfoundland
Canada lookout crew on the Titanic
spotted an iceberg in the ship’s path
and sent word to the bridge but it was
too late the iceberg raised the right
side of the ship causing its
compartments originally deemed
watertight to fill with water
Titanic’s radio operators began sending
out distress signals at 12:20 a.m. one
signal reached the ship Carpathia which
began making its way to the Titanic at
maximum speed around the same time crew
began loading women and children into
the few lifeboats on board in addition
to the shortage of lifeboats some of the
ones used were not being filled to
capacity
stranding even more people on the
sinking ship for the next two hours
the front compartments of the Titanic
filled with water causing the bow to
sink and the stern to rise out of the
water
at around 2:18 a.m. the ship snapped
into two the bow sank first followed by
the stern a couple minutes later
those who went down with the ship were
left in the freezing waters over an hour
later at about 3:30 a.m. the Carpathia
arrived to pick up passengers of the
2,200 people on the Titanic only 705
soon after the disaster both the United
States and Great Britain conducted
investigations and developed new safety
measures for ships they required ships
to maintain a 24-hour radio watch and
have enough lifeboats for all on board
they also helped establish the
International Ice patrol which monitors
icebergs in the North Atlantic and
warned ships of potential dangers for
decades Titanic was lost to the sea
existing only as a ghost from a decadent
past in 1985 nearly 75 years after the
ships sank a team led by National
Geographic Explorer at-large Bob Ballard
discovered the shipwreck off the coast
of Canada little by little
scientists have reconstructed the ship
and its encounter with the iceberg
giving us a better understanding of what exactly happened on that fateful day
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