Stories about the Titanic not sinking. How did the Titanic sink? The wreck of the Titanic: history

Many decades have passed since that terrible disaster, and no one doubted what exactly sent the magnificent Titanic to the bottom of the ocean. When the “unsinkable” ship, the largest, most luxurious ocean liner of its time, on its very first voyage in 1912 it crashed into an iceberg, taking with it more than 1,500 of all 2,200 passengers to the bottom. As the ship slid deep into the North Atlantic, the secrets of how and why it sank disappeared with it.

Titanic - British transatlantic steamer, the second Olympic class airliner. Built in Belfast at the Harland and Wolfe shipyard from 1909 to 1912 for the White Star Line shipping company. At the time of commissioning it was the largest ship in the world. On the night of April 14-15, 1912, during her maiden voyage, she crashed in the North Atlantic, colliding with an iceberg.

The Titanic was equipped with two four-cylinder steam engines and a steam turbine. The entire power plant had a capacity of 55,000 hp. With. The ship could reach speeds of up to 23 knots (42 km/h). Its displacement, which exceeded the twin steamer Olympic by 243 tons, was 52,310 tons. The ship's hull was made of steel. The hold and lower decks were divided into 16 compartments by bulkheads with sealed doors. If the bottom was damaged, the double bottom prevented water from entering the compartments. Shipbuilder magazine called the Titanic virtually unsinkable, a statement that was widely circulated in the press and among the public. In accordance with outdated rules, the Titanic was equipped with 20 lifeboats, with a total capacity of 1,178 people, which was only a third of the ship's maximum load.

Titanic (left in photo) in port
Titanic in port

Two government investigations that followed the disaster agreed that it was the iceberg, and not the defects and weaknesses of the ship itself, that sank the Titanic. Both commissions of inquiry concluded that the ship sank entirely, and not in parts. That there were no major faults. The blame for the disaster, terrible in its scale, fell solely on the unfortunate captain of the ship, I. Smith, who also died along with the entire crew. Smith was blamed for the fact that the Titanic was rushing at a speed of 22 knots (41 km) across a dangerous ice field well known to sailors - in dark waters, not far from the coast of Newfoundland. The Titanic incident was settled – it seemed once and for all.

Titanic before leaving the ocean
Tail section ship "Titanic"

The answers lay at the bottom of the sea

However, doubts and questions about what could sink the seemingly indestructible ship remained. In 1985, when oceanographer Robert Ballard, after years of searching, finally found the remains of the ship at a depth of about 4 km on the ocean floor, he discovered that the Titanic had actually split in half on the surface of the ocean before sinking.

Why did it split in half? - the experts were perplexed. Was the invincible Titanic weak in design?

Oil painting “The sinking of the Titanic”

Several years have passed since Ballard's discovery, and now the first wreckage of the ship has been raised from the ocean floor. A new hypothesis for the death of the Titanic is the low-grade steel used in the construction of the ship. However, a group of researchers came to the conclusion that it was not the steel that was used to sheath the ship, but low-grade steel. The rivets, the critical metal pins that held the steel plates of the ship's hull together, were of poor quality. Moreover, the recently discovered wreckage of the Titanic's bottom clearly indicates that the ship's stern was never raised high into the air, as many Titanic experts, including Cameron, originally believed. In fact, the ship broke into pieces and sank, remaining relatively level on the surface of the ocean - a clear sign of miscalculations in its design, which were hidden after the disaster.

The construction of the Titanic was rushed

The Titanic was created in a short time - in response to the production of a new generation of high-speed liners by a competing company. The Titanic and its smaller siblings, the Olympic and the Britannic, were the most grandiose ships in the history of shipbuilding. These were real colossi! — 275 meters from bow to stern! – even tall skyscrapers gave in to them. Specially equipped to withstand the threats of the North Atlantic, including huge waves and sudden collisions, these sister ships were also - naturally - the safest. The Titanic could stay afloat even if 4 of its 16 watertight compartments were flooded - a real miracle for a ship of such size. gigantic size!

Titanic at sea

On the night of April 14, 1912, however, just a few days into the Titanic's maiden voyage, the Titanic's Achilles heel played its ominous role. The ship was not nimble enough to avoid colliding with the iceberg, which the lookouts shouted about (the only way to spot an iceberg at that time) at the last minute and in pitch darkness. The Titanic did not collide with the fatal iceberg directly, but drove over it on its right side. The ice punched holes in the ship's steel plates, flooding six "watertight" compartments.
Two hours later, the Titanic overflowed with water and sank.

Still from the film “The Sinking of the Titanic”

Achilles' heel of the Titanic

Experts continued to search for explanations for the death of the ship, which was equipped according to all safety rules. And they came across a potential weak link: more than three million rivets holding the ship's hull together. Taking a sample of 48 of these metal rods raised from the ocean floor, scientists found in them a high concentration of “scale” - sediment from smelting. Because of this scale, the metal becomes brittle and can crack.

Not because of cheapness, but because time was running out, the builders of the Titanic began to use low-grade material. When the Titanic struck an iceberg, weak steel rods in its bow cracked, exposing seams in the hull and hastening the ship's demise. It is no coincidence that the water, having flooded six compartments held together by low-grade steel rods, stopped exactly where the high-grade steel rivets began.
Thus, one of the secrets carried away by the Titanic to the bottom of the ocean was revealed. If all the rivets holding the Titanic were made of high quality steel, the disaster could have been avoided. Not without reason, immediately after the sinking of the Titanic, two other giant ship- The Olympic and Britannic, built at the same shipyard and at the same time as the Titanic, were urgently and comprehensively strengthened: the steel plating of the hull was doubled and they were raised much higher than the bulkhead. The shipbuilding company clearly admitted the defects and unacceptable mistakes in the speed limit - just to keep up with the competitors! - the race to build the Titanic, tried as best she could to correct them and hide them from experts, insurance agents and all inquisitive humanity.

In 2005, a new expedition went to the site of a long-standing disaster. And very soon I found the answer to everyone’s questions. This time, the divers did not look at the main wreck site on the seabed, but looked a little to the side, where they found two large fragments from the bottom of the ship. When they began to analyze the jagged edges of these bottom fragments, they came to a striking conclusion. It would have been impossible for the ship to break apart in the way that experts had believed for decades, with the stern rising out of the ocean at a 45-degree angle and before the ship's hull split in two. From these significant bottom fragments it can be judged that their split was interrupted in the middle - a sure sign that the ship then tilted at a small angle (about 11 degrees), that its stern still retained buoyancy when it cracked. If the rear of the ship had risen out of the water at a 45-degree angle, as stunningly depicted in Cameron's film, the stern would have quickly broken away from the ship's hull and the solid bottom fragments found at the bottom would have been torn in two.

James Cameron and a team of scientists tried to reconstruct the course of events from the Titanic's collision with an iceberg to its complete sinking:

The tilt of the ship is a matter of life and death

It would seem, what does it matter exactly how the ship split into pieces? For the passengers of the Titanic, it was a matter of life and death. In the movies, the stern of the ship rises up and then goes, along with the entire hull, to the bottom. This is a long dramatic action. In reality, the ship tilted quite a bit while the water was flooding bow,” and the passengers on board were given a false sense of security.

The passengers and many of the crew did not understand the seriousness of the situation. When the water sufficiently flooded the bow of the hull, the ship, while remaining afloat, split in two and sank in minutes.

Interestingly, most of the survivors confirm this unexpected course of events. Charlie Jugin, the Titanic's chef, was standing near the stern as the ship began to sink, but he saw no sign of the hull breaking. There was no suction funnel, no colossal splash. Dzhugin said that he calmly sailed away from the ship, without even getting his hair wet.

Farewell, cinematic romantic “Titanic”!

Unlike Cameron's film, there was no giant wave coming from the scene of the disaster - none of those sitting in the rescue boats noticed it when the stern of the ship disappeared under water. One of the former passengers of the Titanic told how he slipped into the water, turned around and did not see the ship.

So, goodbye to the heartbreaking image of the Titanic with its stern raised high, covered with doomed passengers, their common dying cry, and now the ship plunges into the water at a steep angle! Unfortunately or fortunately, nothing like that actually happened.

Although some in the lifeboats saw the ship's stern high in the air, this may have been an optical illusion. With a tilt of 11 degrees, with propellers sticking out in the air, the Titanic, already the height of a twenty-story building, seemed even taller, and its roll in the water was even steeper.

Could the Titanic have been stronger and more durable? Undoubtedly. High Quality steel rivets and a denser, double-skinned hull could have prevented the disaster, or certainly would have kept the ship afloat many times longer.

More than 100 years have passed since the terrible disaster of one of the largest airliners of its time. But the world still does not know all the secrets that the huge and seemingly indestructible Titanic hides. The material will tell you how the ship sank.

Fight of giants

The 20th century was a century of technological progress. Skyscrapers, cars, cinema - everything developed at supernatural speed. The process also affected ships.

In the market in the early 1900s, there was a lot of competition for customers between two large companies. Cunard Line and White Star Line, two hostile transatlantic carriers, have been competing for the right to be the leader in their field for several years in a row. opened up interesting opportunities for companies, so over the years their ships became bigger, faster and more luxurious.

Why and how the Titanic sank still remains a mystery. There are many versions. The boldest of them is a scam. It was carried out by the above-mentioned Star Line company.

But he discovered the world of amazing Cunard Line liners. By their order, two extraordinary steamships “Mauritania” and “Lusitania” were built. The public was amazed by their greatness. The length is about 240 m, the width is 25 m, the height from the waterline to the boat deck is 18 m. (But after a few years, the dimensions of the Titanic exceeded these parameters). The two giant twins were launched in 1906 and 1907. They won first places in prestigious competitions and broke all speed records.

For Cunard Line's competitors, it became a matter of honor to give a worthy answer.

The fate of the troika

The White Star Line was founded in 1845. During the gold rush, she made money by flying from Britain to Australia. Throughout the years, the company competed with Cunard Line. Therefore, after the Lusitania and Mauretania were launched, Star Line engineers were tasked with creating fantastic designs that would outperform their competitors. The final decision was made in 1909. This is how the idea of ​​three Olympic class ships arose. The order was carried out by Harland and Wolfe.

This maritime organization was famous throughout the world for the quality of its ships, comfort and luxury. Speed ​​was not a priority. Several times Star Line has proven, not in word, but in deed, that it cares about its customers. So, in 1909, when two liners collided, their ship remained on the water for another two days, which proved its quality. However, misfortune befell the Olympic trio. repeatedly got into accidents. So, in 1911, it collided with the cruiser Hawk, from which it received a 14-meter hole and was repaired. Misfortune also befell the Titanic. He ended up at the bottom of the ocean in 1912. "Britanic" found the First World War, where he served as a hospital, and in 1916 he was blown up by a German mine.

Miracle of the Seas

Now we can safely say that great ambitions were the reason why the Titanic sank.

The construction of the second of three Olympic-class vessels was not without casualties. 1,500 people worked on the project. The conditions were difficult. There was little concern for safety. Due to the fact that they had to work at heights, many builders lost their tempers. About 250 people were seriously injured. The wounds of eight men were non-life-threatening.

The size of the Titanic was amazing. Its length was 269 m, width 28 m, height 18 m. It could reach speeds of up to 23 knots.

On the day the liner was launched, 10,000 spectators, including VIP guests and the press, gathered on the embankment to see the unusually large ship,

The date of the first flight was tentatively announced. The voyage was scheduled for March 20, 1912. But due to the collision of the first ship in September 1911 with the cruiser Hawk, some of the workers were transferred to the Olympic. The flight was automatically rescheduled to April 10. It is from this date that the fateful history of the Titanic begins.

Fatal ticket

Its height was equivalent to an eleven-story building, and its length was four city blocks. Telephones, elevators, its own electrical grid, garden, hospital, shops - all this was placed on the ship. Luxurious halls, gourmet restaurants, a library, a swimming pool and a gym - everything was available to high society, first class passengers. Other clients lived more modestly. The most expensive tickets cost, in today's exchange rates, more than $50,000. Economical option from

The history of the Titanic is the history of different layers of society of that time. Expensive cabins were occupied by successful, famous personalities. Tickets for second class were purchased by engineers, journalists, and representatives of the clergy. The cheapest decks were for emigrants.

Boarding began at 9:30 a.m. on April 10 in London. After several scheduled stops, the liner headed for New York. A total of 2,208 people boarded.

Tragic meeting

Immediately after entering the ocean, the team realized that there were no binoculars on the ship. The key to the box in which they were kept was missing. The ship followed the safest route. It was chosen depending on the season. In the spring, the water was full of icebergs, but theoretically they could not seriously damage the liner. Nevertheless, the captain gave the order to drive the Titanic at full speed. How the ship sank, which, according to the owners, could not be sunk, was later told by passengers who were lucky enough to survive.

The first days of the voyage were quiet. But already on April 14, radio operators received repeated warnings about icebergs, which they largely ignored. In addition, by nightfall the temperature had dropped significantly. As you know, the team did without binoculars, and such a grand ship was not equipped with searchlights. Therefore, the lookout noticed the iceberg only 650 meters away. The man signaled to the bridge, where First Officer Murdock gave the order: “Turn left” and “Start reverse.” This was followed by the command: “To the right.” But the clumsy ship was slow to maneuver. The board collided with an iceberg. This is why the Titanic sank.

An unheard distress signal

The collision happened at 23:40, when almost all of the people were already asleep. On the upper deck the impact was unnoticeable. But the bottom was pretty shaken. The ice made holes in 5 sections, they instantly began to fill with water. In total, the length of the hole was 90 meters. The designer stated that with such damage the ship would last a little over an hour. The crew was preparing for an emergency evacuation. Radio operators transmitted an SOS signal.

The captain gave the order to put women and children into the boats. The team itself also wanted to survive, so the strong sailors took up the oars. The rich passengers of the Titanic were the first to be saved. But there weren't enough places for everyone.

From the very beginning, the liner was not sufficiently equipped with everything necessary. At most, 1,100 people could have been saved. In the first minutes, it was completely imperceptible that the ship began to sink, so the relaxed passengers did not understand what was happening and reluctantly climbed into the half-empty boats.

The last moments of the miracle ship

When the nose of the liner tilted strongly, mass panic among passengers increased.

The third grade was left closed in its unit. Riots began, and people in horror tried to escape as best they could. The security tried to restore order and scared the crowd with pistol shots.

At that time, the steamer Californian was passing nearby, but it did not receive a signal for help from a neighboring ship. Their radio operator slept through the messages. How the Titanic sank, and at what speed it went to the bottom, only the Carpathia knew, which headed in their direction.

Despite the distress signals being sent, independent attempts to escape did not stop. Pumps pumped out water, and there was still electricity. At 2:15 a pipe fell. Then the light went out. Experts believe that the plane was torn in half because the bow took on water and sank. The stern first rose upward, and then, under the pressure of its own weight, the ship broke apart.

Cold in the abyss

The nose sank quickly. The stern also went under water within a few minutes. But at the same time, its lining, body, and furniture floated to the top. At 2:20 a.m. the great ship Titanic was completely submerged. How the ship sank is being shown today by dozens of artistic and documentaries.

Some passengers tried hard to survive. Dozens jumped in vests into the black abyss. But the ocean was merciless towards man. Almost everyone froze to death. After some time, two boats returned, but only a few remained alive at the scene. An hour later, Carpathia arrived and picked up those who remained.

The captain went down with the ship. Of all those who bought tickets for the Titanic, 712 people were saved. The dead 1496 were mainly representatives of the third class, people who on this journey wanted to touch something unrealistic and desirable.

Scam of the century

Two Olympic class vessels were built according to the same design. After the first ship set sail, all its shortcomings came out. So, the management decided to add some details to the Titanic. The space for walking has been reduced and cabins have been added. A cafe was added to the restaurant. To protect passengers from bad weather, the deck was closed. As a result, an external difference appeared, although previously it could not be distinguished from the Olympic liner.

The version that the Titanic ended up under water was not accidental was made public by Robin Rardiner, an ace in matters of shipping. According to his theory, the older and battered Olympic was sent sailing.

Ship swapping

The first airliner was launched without insurance. Having survived several accidents, he became an unpleasant burden for the company. Constant repairs required enormous amounts of money. After the damage caused by the cruise, the ship was sent on vacation again. Then it was decided to replace old ship new, which was insured and very similar to the Titanic. It is known how the liner sank, but few people know that after the tragedy, the White Star Line company received round compensation.

It wasn't hard to create a disaster. Both ships were in the same place. The Olympic was given a facelift, the deck was rebuilt and a new name was added. The hole was patched with cheap steel, which weakens in icy water.

Confirmation of the theory

An important proof of the veracity of the version is indisputable facts. For example, the fact that the world's tycoons and successful, rich people abruptly and for no reason abandoned their long-awaited trip the day before. Among them was the owner of the company, John Pierpont Morgan. A total of 55 first class customers had their tickets cancelled. Also, all expensive paintings, jewelry, gold reserves and treasures were removed from the liner. The idea arises that the privileged passengers of the Titanic knew some secret.

Interestingly, Edward John Smith, who was still sailing on the Olympic, was appointed captain. He repeatedly noted that this was his last flight in his life. Those around him took the words literally, since the sailor was about to retire. Researchers believe that this was a punishment to the commander for past mistakes on the previous ship.

Many questions also arise because of the first mate William Murdock, who ordered to turn left and engage reverse. The correct solution in such a situation would be to walk straight and squash your nose. In this case, the Titanic would not have ended up at the bottom.

Curse of the Mummy

For years there have been stories of untold treasures remaining on board. Among them is the mummy of the seer of Pharaoh Amenhotep. Even 3000 years ago, a woman predicted that her body would fall under the water and this would happen amid innocent screams dead people. But skeptics do not consider the prophecy to be true, although they do not exclude the possibility that the secrets of the Titanic have not yet been discovered.

There is also this version: the disaster was planned in order to stop the technical progress. But this theory is even less plausible than the myth of the mummy.

The ruins lie at a depth of 3750 meters. Dozens of grandiose dives were carried out to the liner. James Cameron, the film director of the famous film, was also in the group of researchers on several occasions.

A century has passed, and the secrets of the Titanic still interest and excite humanity.

Titanic (RMS Titanic) is a British steamship of the White Star Line, the second of three twin ships of the Olympic class. Largest passenger airliner world at the time of its construction. During its first voyage on April 14, 1912, it collided with an iceberg and sank at 2:20 a.m. the next day - 2 hours and 40 minutes after the collision. There were 1,309 passengers and 898 crew members on board, for a total of 2,207 people. Of these, 712 people were saved, 1,495 died. The Titanic disaster became legendary; several feature films were made based on its plot.

Laid down on March 31, 1909 at the shipyards of the Harland and Wolf shipbuilding company in Queens Island (English) (Belfast, Northern Ireland), launched on May 31, 1911. In addition to the fact that at the time of its construction, the Titanic was the largest passenger liner, launching the ship required a record amount of fat, locomotive oil and liquid soap to lubricate the gangway guides - 23 tons. The ship passed sea trials on April 2, 1912. To mark the 100th anniversary of the ship's sinking, the Titanic Museum opened at the Harland and Wolff shipyard.

Titanic: the whole truth about the sunken ship

Technical characteristics of the airliner

Gross tonnage 46,328 register tons, displacement 52,310 tons with a draft of 10.54 m (many sources indicate a displacement of 66 thousand tons, but this is incorrect.

Length 269 m, width 28.19 m, distance from waterline to boat deck 18.4 m.

Height from the keel to the tops of the pipes - 52.4 m;
Engine room - 29 boilers, 159 coal fireboxes;
The ship's unsinkability was ensured by 15 watertight bulkheads in the hold, creating 16 conditionally watertight compartments; the space between the bottom and the second bottom flooring was divided by transverse and longitudinal partitions into 46 waterproof compartments.
Maximum speed 23 knots.

Watertight bulkheads, designated from stem to stern by the letters "A" to "P", rose from the second bottom and passed through 4 or 5 decks: the first 2 and last 5 reached the "D" deck, 8 bulkheads in the center of the liner reached only the deck "E". All bulkheads were so strong that they had to withstand significant pressure if they were breached.

The Titanic was built so that it could remain afloat if any 2 of its 16 watertight compartments, any 3 of the first 5 compartments, or all of the first 4 compartments were flooded.

First 2 bulkheads

in the bow and the last part in the stern were solid, in all the rest there were sealed doors that allowed the crew and passengers to move between the compartments. On the flooring of the second bottom, in bulkhead “K,” there were only doors that led to the refrigerator compartment. On decks “F” and “E”, almost all bulkheads had hermetic doors connecting the rooms used by passengers; all of them could be sealed either remotely or manually, using a device located directly on the door and from the deck to which it reached bulkhead. To bolt such doors on passenger decks, a special key was required, which was available only to the chief stewards. But on G deck there were no doors in the bulkheads.

In bulkheads "D" - "O"

", directly above the second bottom in the compartments where the machines and boilers were located, there were 12 vertically closed doors; they were controlled using an electric drive from the navigation bridge. In case of danger or accident, or when the captain or watch officer considered it necessary, electromagnets, upon a signal from the bridge, released the latches, and all 12 doors were lowered under the influence of their own gravity and the space behind them was hermetically sealed. If the doors were closed by an electric signal from the bridge, then they could only be opened after removing the voltage from the electric drive.

In the ceiling of each compartment there was an emergency hatch, usually leading to the boat deck. Those who did not manage to leave the premises before the doors closed could climb up its iron ladder.

British Navigation Code requirements

In formal compliance with the current requirements of the British Merchant Shipping Code, the ship had 20 lifeboats, which were sufficient to board 1,178 people, that is, for 50% of the people on board at that moment and 30% of the planned load. One boat could accommodate 65 people, but the Titanic’s sailors sent boats with only 20 passengers in the first minutes after the collision. The ship's chief engineer, seeing this, told the sailors that the boat could accommodate 65 people. The crew did not agree, fearing that the boat might not be able to withstand the overload. Only after the engineer convinced the crew of the reliability of the boats (which, according to the results of all checks, could withstand the weight of 70 adult men), the boats began to be filled completely. There were also “folding boats”, which were used by some officers (Charles Lightoller was among them).

The Titanic had 8 steel decks

, located above each other at a distance of 2.5-3.2 m. The topmost one was the boat room, below it there were 7 others, designated from top to bottom with letters from “A” to “G”. Only decks "C", "D", "E" and "F" ran the entire length of the ship. The boat deck and deck “A” did not reach either the bow or the stern, and deck “G” was located only in the front part of the liner - from the boiler rooms to the bow and in the stern - from the engine room to the stern. There were 20 lifeboats on the open boat deck, and there were promenade decks along the sides.

Deck "A"

167 m long, almost all of it was intended for first class passengers.

Deck "B"

170 m long, it was interrupted at the bow, forming an open space above the “C” deck, and then continued in the form of a 38-meter bow superstructure with equipment for servicing anchors and mooring gear. At the front of deck “C” there were anchor winches for the 2 main side anchors, there was also a galley and a dining room for sailors and stokers. Behind the bow superstructure there was a promenade (the so-called inter-superstructure) deck for third-class passengers, 15 m long. On deck “D” there was another, isolated, third-class promenade deck. Along the entire length of deck "E" were cabins for first and second class passengers, as well as cabins for stewards and mechanics. In the first part of deck “F” there were 64 cabins for second class passengers and the main living quarters for third class passengers, stretching 45 m and occupying the entire width of the liner. There were 2 large salons, a dining room for third class passengers, a swimming pool and a complex of Turkish baths.

Deck "G"

captured only the bow and stern parts, between which the boiler rooms were located. The bow part of the deck, 58 m long, was 2 m above the waterline; towards the center of the liner it gradually lowered and at the opposite end was already at the waterline level. There were 26 cabins for 106 third class passengers, the rest of the area was occupied by a luggage compartment for first class passengers, post offices and a squash court with a gallery for spectators. Behind the bow of the deck there were bunkers with coal, which occupied 6 watertight compartments around the chimneys, followed by 2 compartments with steam lines for piston steam engines and a turbine compartment. Next came the aft deck, 64 m long, with warehouses, storerooms and 60 four-berth cabins for 186 third-class passengers, which was already below the waterline.

Titanic size comparison

Comparison of the dimensions of the Titanic with the modern one cruise ship Queen Mary 2, an Airbus A-380, a bus, a car and a person.
One was in the stern, the other in the forecastle, each was steel with a teak top. On the front, at an altitude of 29 m from the waterline, there was a top platform (“crow’s nest”), which could be reached via an internal metal ladder.

Description

In the front part of the boat deck there was a navigation bridge, 58 m away from the bow. On the bridge there was a pilothouse with a steering wheel and a compass, immediately behind it was a room where navigation charts were stored. To the right of the wheelhouse were the charthouse, the captain's cabin and part of the officers' cabins, to the left were the remaining officers' cabins. Behind them, behind the forward funnel, was the radiotelegraph cabin and the radio operator's cabin. At the front of Deck D there were living quarters for 108 stokers; a special spiral ladder connected this deck directly to the boiler rooms, so that stokers could go to work and return without passing by cabins or passenger lounges. At the front of E deck were living quarters for 72 stevedores and 44 sailors. In the first part of deck “F” there were quarters of 53 stokers of the third shift. On deck "G" there were quarters for 45 stokers and oilers. The abbreviation "RMS" in the name of the Titanic literally means "Royal Mail Ship". The ship had a standard Transatlantic Post Office and a postal warehouse on decks F and G, staffed by 5 postal staff, considered British civil servants. The postmaster was O. C. Woody. The Titanic post office had a standard calendar postmark with the words "Transatlantic Post Office 7" written around it. This stamp was used to cancel postage stamps on letters and postcards sent from the Titanic, as well as to register registered transit letters delivered to the Titanic from Southampton, Cherbourg and Queenstown.

Second bottom

was located approximately one and a half meters above the keel and occupied 9/10 of the length of the vessel, leaving only small areas in the bow and stern. On the second bottom, boilers, reciprocating steam engines, a steam turbine and electric generators were installed, all of which were firmly mounted on steel plates, the remaining space was used for cargo, coal and drinking water tanks. In the engine room section, the second bottom rose 2.1 m above the keel, which increased the protection of the liner in case of damage to the outer skin.

Power of steam engines and turbines

The Olympic's propellers before launching. Identical ones were on the Titanic
The registered power of steam engines and turbines was 50 thousand liters. With. (actually 55 thousand hp). The turbine was located in the fifth waterproof compartment in the aft part of the liner, in the next compartment, closer to the bow, steam engines were located, the other 6 compartments were occupied by twenty-four double-flow and five single-flow boilers that produced steam for the main engines, turbines, generators and auxiliary mechanisms. The diameter of each boiler was 4.79 m, the length of the double-flow boiler was 6.08 m, the single-flow boiler was 3.57 m. Each double-flow boiler had 6 fireboxes, and the single-flow boiler had 3. In addition, the Titanic was equipped with four auxiliary machines with generators, each with a capacity of 400 kilowatts, producing electricity at a voltage of 100 volts. Next to them were two more 30-kilowatt generators. High-pressure steam from the boilers went to 2 triple expansion steam engines, which rotated the side screws. From the machines, steam then entered a low-pressure turbine, which drove the middle propeller. From the turbine, the exhaust steam entered the condensers, from where fresh water went back to the boilers in a closed cycle. The Titanic developed a decent speed for its time, although it was inferior to the turboprops of its competitor, the Cunard Line.

The liner had 4 ellipsoidal tubes

, measuring 7.3 × 6 m, height - 18.5 m. The first three removed smoke from the boiler furnaces, the fourth, located above the turbine compartment, served as an exhaust fan, and a chimney for the ship's kitchens was connected to it. A longitudinal section of the ship is presented on its model, exhibited at the German Museum in Munich, where it is clearly visible that the last pipe was not connected to the fireboxes. The fourth pipe was purely decorative to make the ship look more powerful.

10 thousand light bulbs, 562 electric heaters, mainly in first class cabins, 153 electric motors, including electric drives for eight cranes with a total lifting capacity of 18 tons, 4 cargo winches with a lifting capacity of 750 kg, 4 elevators, each for 12 people, were connected to the distribution network. In addition, electricity was consumed by the telephone exchange and radio communications, fans in the boiler and engine rooms, apparatus in the gymnasium, dozens of machines and appliances in the kitchens, including refrigerators.

The telephone switch served 50 lines.

The radio equipment on the liner was the most modern, the power of the main transmitter was 5 kilowatts, power came from an electric generator. The second, an emergency transmitter, was powered by batteries. 4 antennas, up to 75 m long, were stretched between two masts. The guaranteed range of the radio signal was 250 miles. During the day, under favorable conditions, communication was possible at a distance of up to 400 miles, and at night - up to 2000.

Radio equipment

arrived on board on April 2 from the Marconi company, which by that time monopolized the radio industry in Italy and England. Two young radio officers spent the entire day assembling and installing the station, and test communications were immediately carried out with the coast station at Malin Head, on the north coast of Ireland, and with Liverpool. On April 3, the radio equipment worked like clockwork; on this day, communication was established with the island of Tenerife at a distance of 2000 miles and with Port Said in Egypt (3000 miles). In January 1912, the Titanic was assigned the radio call sign "MUC", then they were replaced by "MGY", which previously belonged to the American ship "Yale". As the dominant radio company, Marconi introduced its own radio call signs, most of which began with the letter "M", regardless of the location of the station and the home country of the ship on which it was installed.

Celebrities on the ship

Many celebrities of the time took part in the first voyage of the liner, including millionaire and major industrialist John Jacob Astor IV and his wife Madeleine Astor, businessman Benjamin Guggenheim, owner of the Macy's department store Isidor Strauss and his wife Ida, eccentric millionaire Margaret Molly Brown, who received the nickname “Unsinkable” after the death of the ship, Sir Cosma Duff Gordon and his wife, popular fashion designer Lady Lucy Duff Gordon at the beginning of the century, businessman and cricket player John Thayer, British journalist William Thomas Steed, Countess of Rotskaya, military assistant to US President Archibald Butt , film actress Dorothy Gibson and many others.

Threats to shipping in the North Atlantic

A threat to shipping in the North Atlantic is represented by icebergs breaking off from glaciers in western Greenland and drifting under the influence of currents. Ice fields (huge ice floes or accumulations of ice floes) originating in the Arctic Basin, as well as off the coast of Labrador, Newfoundland and in the St. Lawrence, and drifting under the influence of winds and currents.

Shortest route from northern Europe in the USA it lies near the coast of Newfoundland, directly through the zone of fog and icebergs. In order to streamline navigation in the North Atlantic, in 1898, shipping companies entered into an agreement establishing 2 transatlantic routes, passing much further south. For each route, separate routes were determined for steamships moving west and east, spaced up to 50 miles from each other. From mid-January to mid-August, during the season of greatest ice danger, ships moved along the Southern Route. During the rest of the year, the Northern Route was used. This order usually made it possible to minimize the likelihood of encountering drifting ice. But 1912 turned out to be unusual. From the Southern Highway, along the western route of which the Titanic also moved, reports of icebergs came one after another. In this regard, the US Hydrological Service raised the issue of moving the route to the south, but the corresponding decisions were made belatedly, after the disaster.

The route of the Titanic and the place of its wreck.

Wednesday, April 10, 1912
12:00 - The Titanic departs from the quay wall of the port of Southampton and narrowly avoids a collision with the American liner New York. There are 2060 people (1152 passengers) on board the Titanic.
19:00 - stop in Cherbourg (France) to disembark 24 and pick up 274 passengers and mail.
21:00 - The Titanic left Cherbourg and headed for Queenstown (Ireland).
Thursday 11 April 1912
12:30 - Stop at Queenstown to disembark 8 and pick up 123 passengers and mail; One crew member, 23-year-old fireman John Coffey, deserts the Titanic for unknown reasons. At the same time, he leaves all his documents on board.
14:00 - Titanic departs Queenstown with 1,337 passengers and 908 crew on board (2,209 people).
Sunday, April 14, 1912
09:00 - Caronia reports ice in the area of ​​42° north latitude, 49-51° west longitude.
13:42 - Baltic reports the presence of ice in the area of ​​41°51′ north latitude, 49°52′ west longitude.
13:45 - "America" ​​reports ice in the area of ​​41°27′ north latitude, 50°8′ west longitude.
19:00 - air temperature 43° Fahrenheit (6 °C).
19:30 - air temperature 39° Fahrenheit (3.9 ° C).
19:30 - Californian reports ice in the area of ​​42°3′ north latitude, 49°9′ west longitude.
21:00 - air temperature 33° Fahrenheit (0.6 ° C).
21:30 - Second Mate Lightoller warns the ship's carpenter and those on watch in the engine room that it is necessary to monitor the fresh water system - the water in the pipelines may freeze; he tells the lookout to watch for the appearance of ice.
21:40 - Mesaba reports ice in the area of ​​42°-41°25′ north latitude, 49°-50°30′ west longitude.
22:00 - air temperature 32° Fahrenheit (0 °C).
22:30 - sea water temperature dropped to 31° Fahrenheit (−0.56 °C).
23:00 - The Californian warns of the presence of ice, but the Titanic's radio operator interrupts the radio exchange before the Californian manages to report the coordinates of the area.
23:39 - At a point with coordinates 41°46′ north latitude, 50°14′ west longitude (later it turned out that these coordinates were calculated incorrectly), an iceberg was spotted at a distance of about 650 meters straight ahead.
23:40 - Despite the maneuver, after 39 seconds the underwater part of the vessel touched down, the hull received numerous small holes over a length of about 100 meters. Of the ship's 16 watertight compartments, the first 5 were cut through.

Stages of the sinking of the Titanic

Monday, April 15, 1912
00:05 - The trim on the bow became noticeable. The order was given to uncover the lifeboats and call crew members and passengers to their assembly points.
00:15 - the first radiotelegraph signal for help was transmitted from the Titanic.
00:45 - the first flare is fired and the first lifeboat (No. 7) is launched. The bow deck goes under water.
01:15 - 3rd class passengers are allowed on deck.
01:40 - the last flare is fired.
02:05 - the last lifeboat (collapsible lifeboat D) is lowered. The bow of the boat deck goes under water.
02:08 - The Titanic shudders sharply and moves forward. A wave rolls across the deck and floods the bridge, washing passengers and crew members into the water.
02:10 - the last radiotelegraph signals were transmitted.
02:15 - The Titanic lifts its stern high, exposing the rudder and propellers.
02:17 - the electric lights go out.
02:18 - The Titanic, quickly sinking, breaks into two parts.
02:20 - Titanic sank.
02:29 - At a speed of about 13 miles per hour, the bow of the Titanic crashes into the ocean floor at a depth of 3,750 meters, burrowing into the sedimentary rocks of the bottom.
03:30 - the lifeboats notice flares fired from the Carpathia.
04:10 - Carpathia picked up the first boat from the Titanic (boat No. 2).
08:30 - Carpathia picked up the last (No. 12) boat from the Titanic.
08:50 - Carpathia, taking on board 710 people who escaped from the Titanic, heads for New York.
Thursday 18 April 1912
Carpathia arrives in New York

Iceberg

Photo of an iceberg taken by the chief steward of the German ship Prinz Adalbert on the morning of April 16, 1912. The steward did not know about the disaster at the time, but the iceberg attracted his attention because it had a brown streak at its base, indicating that the iceberg had collided with something less than 12 hours earlier. It is believed that this is what the Titanic collided with.
Recognizing an iceberg in the light haze, the lookout Fleet warned “there is ice in front of us” and rang the bell three times, which meant an obstacle straight ahead, after which he rushed to the telephone that connected the “crow’s nest” to the bridge. Sixth Officer Moody, who was on the bridge, responded almost instantly and heard the cry of “ice right on the nose!!!” (eng. ice right ahead!!!). After politely thanking him, Moody turned to the officer of the watch, Murdoch, and repeated the warning. He rushed to the telegraph, put its handle on “stop” and shouted “starboard”, at the same time transmitting the order “full back” to the engine room, and pressed the lever that turned on the closing of the watertight doors in the bulkheads of the boiler room and the engine room.

Photo of an iceberg taken from the cable-laying ship Mina, which was one of the first ships to discover the bodies of passengers and the wreckage of the ship. Presumably, the Titanic could have collided with this particular iceberg, since, according to the crew of the Mina, it was the only iceberg near the site of the disaster.
According to the terminology of 1912, the command “starboard” meant turning the stern of the ship to the right, and the bow to the left (on Russian ships, since 1909, natural commands were already used, for example: “left rudder”). Helmsman Robert Hitchens put his weight on the handle of the steering wheel and quickly turned it clockwise as far as it would go, after which Murdoch was told, “Rudder right, sir!” At that moment, the helmsman on duty, Alfred Oliver, and Boxhall, who was in the chart room, came running to the bridge when the bell rang out in the crow’s nest. A. Oliver, in his testimony in the US Senate, however, definitely stated that upon entering the bridge he heard the command “left rudder” (corresponding to a turn to the right), and this command was carried out. According to Boxhall (British Inquiry, question 15355), Murdoch reported to Captain Smith: "I turned left and reversed, and was about to turn right to get around him, but he was too close."

It is known that the Titanic did not use binoculars for lookouts because the key to the safe with binoculars was missing. He was picked up by Second Mate Blair when the captain kicked him off the team, taking on board a crew member from Olympic. It is possible that the lack of binoculars was one of the reasons for the crash of the liner. However, the existence of binoculars became known only 95 years after the shipwreck, when one of them was exhibited at the Henry Eldridge and Sons auction house in Devizes, Wiltshire. David Blair was to become the second mate of the Titanic, for which he arrived on April 3, 1912 from Belfast to Southampton. However, the management of the White Star Line company at the last moment replaced him with Henry Wild, the first mate from a similar ship, the Olympic, since he had experience in managing such big liners, as a result of which Blair, in his haste, forgot to give the key to the person who came to take his place. However, many historians agree that the presence of binoculars would not have helped prevent the disaster. This is also confirmed by the fact that the lookouts in the “crow’s nest” noticed the iceberg earlier than those on the bridge, who had binoculars with them.

Titanic lifeboat

D, taken by one of the Carpathia passengers
There were 2,207 people on board the Titanic, but the total capacity of the lifeboats was only 1,178. The reason was that, according to the rules then in force, the total capacity of lifeboats depended on the tonnage of the ship, and not on the number of passengers and crew members. The rules were drawn up in 1894, when the most large ships had a displacement of about 10,000 tons. The displacement of the Titanic was 52,310 tons.

But these boats were only partially filled. Captain Smith gave the order or instruction "women and children first." Officers interpreted this order in different ways. Second Mate Lightoller, who commanded the launch of the boats on the port side, allowed men to occupy places in the boats only if oarsmen were needed, and under no other circumstances. First Officer Murdoch, who commanded the launch of the boats on the starboard side, allowed men to enter the boats if there were no women or children nearby. Thus, in boat number 1, only 12 seats out of 65 were occupied. In addition, at first many passengers did not want to take seats in the boats, because the Titanic, which had no noticeable external damage, seemed safer to them. The last boats were filled better, because it was already obvious that the ship would sink. In the very last boat, 44 of the 65 places were occupied. But in the sixteenth boat that departed from the side there were many free seats, it contained 1st class passengers.

The crew did not even have time to lower all the boats that were on board. The twentieth boat was washed overboard when the front part of the steamer went under water, and it floated upside down.

Rescue of passengers and crew

The crew of CS Mackay-Bennett pulls the bodies of passengers from the water
The British commission's report into the Titanic's sinking stated that "if the lifeboats had been delayed a little longer before being launched, or if the passage doors had been opened to passengers, more of them might have gotten onto the lifeboats." The reason for the low survival rate of 3rd class passengers can most likely be attributed to the obstacles caused by the crew to allow passengers to get onto the deck and the closing of the passage doors. People in boats, as a rule, did not save those in the water. On the contrary, they tried to sail as far as possible from the site of the wreck, fearing that their boats in the water would capsize or that they would be sucked into the crater of the sinking ship. Only 6 people were picked up alive from the water.

"Californian"

Serious criticism fell on the crew of the SS Californian and personally on the ship's captain, Stanley Lord. The ship was only a few miles from the Titanic, but did not respond to its distress signals. The Californian warned the Titanic by radio about the accumulation of ice - this was the reason for the Californian's stop for the night - but the warnings were ignored by the Titanic's senior wireless operator Jack Phillips.

Evidence from the British investigation showed that at 22:10 the Californian observed the lights of a ship to the south. Captain Stanley Lord and a third officer, S. W. Groves (who was released by Lord at 11:10 p.m.) later determined that it was a passenger liner. At 11:50 p.m., the officer saw the ship's lights flicker as if they had been turned off or turned sharply. , and that the port light appeared. By order of the Lord, Morse light signals were sent to the ship between 23:30 and 01:00, but no response was received.

Captain Lord went to his cabin at 23:00 on night rest, however, second officer Herbert Stone, while on duty, notified Lord at 01:10 that an unknown ship had fired 5 missiles. Lord asked if these were company signals, that is, colored flashes used for identification. Stone replied that he did not know and that the missiles were white. Captain Lord instructed the crew to continue signaling the ship with a Morse lamp and went to bed. Three more missiles were spotted at 01:50 am, and Stone noted that the ship looked strange in the water, as if it was tilted. At 02:15 am Lord was notified that the ship was no longer visible. The Lord asked again if the flare lights were any color and was informed that they were all white.

The Californian finally decided to react. At approximately 05:30 am, Chief Officer George Stewart woke wireless operator Cyril Farmstone-Evans and informed him that missiles had been sighted during the night and asked him to contact the ship. In response, he received news of the sinking of the Titanic; Captain Lord was notified and the ship set out to render assistance. It arrived long after the Carpathia, which had already picked up survivors.

As a result of the investigation, it turned out that the ship seen by the Californian was the Titanic, and that the Californian could have come to its aid if not for the actions of Captain Lord. However, Lord maintained his innocence until the end of his life, and many researchers still argue that the known relative positions of the Titanic and Californian make it impossible for the former to be the “mysterious ship” whose theme “has inspired ... millions of words and... hours of heated debate"

In the early days, newspapers reported incorrect information about the number of victims, based on conflicting rumors
Almost all the women and children from the 1st and 2nd class cabins were saved. More than half of the women and children from the 3rd class cabins died because they had difficulty finding their way up through the labyrinth of narrow corridors. Almost all the men also died. The tragedy of the Polsson family claimed the lives of Alma's mother and all her four young children, for whom father Nils waited in vain in New York.

The fate of the passengers

338 men (20% of all adult men) and 316 women (74% of all adult women) survived, including Violet Jessop, Dorothy Gibson, Molly Brown, Lucy Duff Gordon, Countess Rothes and others. Of the children, 56 survived (slightly more than half of all children).

In May 2006, the last American eyewitness to survive the sinking of the Titanic died at the age of 99. The Boston funeral home made the announcement. She died the day before at her home. Swedish-born Lillian Gertrud Asplund, who was five years old at the time of the disaster, lost her father and three brothers. Her mother and brother, who was three years old at the time, survived. They were third class passengers and escaped in lifeboat No. 15. Asplund was the last person to remember how the tragedy occurred, but she avoided publicity and rarely spoke about the event.

The last of the Titanic's passengers, Millvina Dean, who was two and a half months old at the time of the sinking, died on May 31, 2009 at the age of 97. Her ashes were scattered to the wind on October 24, 2009 in the port of Southampton, where the Titanic began its only voyage.

A kind of record belongs to the maid Violet Jessop, who survived accidents on all 3 Olympic class ships. She was working on the Olympic when it collided with the cruiser Hawk; escaped from the Titanic and subsequently survived the sinking of the Britannic by a mine during the First World War.

Distribution of victims depending on social status

Affiliation Total number Rescued Rescued in % Victims Victims in %
I class 324 201 62 123 38
II class 277 118 42.6 159 57.4
III class 708 181 25.6 527 74.4
Team 898 212 23.6 686 76.4
Total 2207 712 32.26 1495 67.74

Vessel Country Tonnage Year Number of victims Cause of death
Goya Flag of German Reich (1935–1945).svg Germany 5,230 1945, April 16 ~ 7,000 Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Attack of the submarine L-3
Junyo-maru Flag of Japan.svg Japan 5 065 1944, September 18 5 620 Great Britain Attack of the submarine HMS Tradewind
Toyama Maru Flag of Japan.svg Japan 7,089 1944, June 29, 5,600 United States of America Attack of the submarine USS Sturgeon
Cap Arcona Flag of German Reich (1935–1945).svg Germany 27,561 1945, May 3 5,594 Great Britain Air attack
Wilhelm Gustloff Flag of German Reich (1935–1945).svg Germany 25,484 1945, January 30 ~ 5,300…9,300 Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Attack of the submarine S-13
Armenia Flag of the Soviet Union (1923-1955).svg USSR 5,770 1941, November 7 ~ 5,000 Germany Air attack
Ryusei Maru (eng. SS Ryusei Maru) Flag of Japan.svg Japan 4,861 1944, February 25, 4,998 United States of America Submarine attack USS Rasher
Dona Paz Flag of the Philippines (navy blue).svg Philippines 2,602 1987, December 20 4,375 Tanker collision and fire
Lancastria Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Great Britain 16,243 1940, June 17 ~4,000 Germany Air attack
General Steuben Flag of German Reich (1935–1945).svg Germany 14 660 1945, February 10 3 608 Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Attack of the submarine S-13
Tilbeck War Ensign of Germany 1938-1945.svg Germany 2,815 1945, May 3 ~ 2,800 Great Britain Air attack
Salzburg Flag of German Reich (1935–1945).svg Germany 1,759 1942, October 1, 2,086 Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Attack of the submarine M-118
Bismarck War Ensign of Germany 1938-1945.svg Germany 50 900 1941, May 27, 1995 Great Britain battle with British ships
Titanic Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Great Britain 52,310 1912, April 15, 1,495 Collision with an iceberg
Hood, battlecruiser Naval Ensign of the United Kingdom.svg Great Britain 41 125 1941, 24 May 1 415 Germany battle with German ships
Lusitania Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Great Britain 31,550 1915, May 7, 1,198 Germany Attack submarine U-20
Among disasters that occurred outside of hostilities, the Titanic ranks third in terms of the number of victims. The sad leadership is behind the Dona Paz ferry, which collided with an oil tanker in 1987. More than 4 thousand people died in the collision and subsequent fire. Wooden holds second place paddle steamer"Sultana", which sank on April 27, 1865 on the Mississippi River near Memphis due to a steam boiler explosion and fire. The total number of deaths on the ship exceeded 1,700 people, this greatest disaster on river boats.

Search for the wreckage

In 1994, a piece of ship plating was transferred to the Canadian Department of Defense laboratory in Halifax. Laboratory workers decided to subject it to the so-called impact strength test on Charpy samples, which determines the brittleness of steel. The essence of the test was as follows: the prototype, secured in a special clamp, had to withstand the impact of a 30-kilogram pendulum. For comparison, a similar piece of steel used in modern ships was tested. Before testing, both samples were kept in an alcohol bath at a temperature of 1.7 °C (the same temperature as the sea water at the place where the liner sank). Modern steel passed the test with honor: as a result of the impact, the metal plate was only bent in a V-shape, and a fragment of the Titanic was broken into two parts. Perhaps it became so fragile after lying at the bottom of the Atlantic for 82 years. Canadian researchers managed to obtain a sample of 80-year-old steel from the Belfast shipyard, where the Titanic was once built. It survived the impact test on Charpy samples no better than its sunken brother.

The experts' conclusion was that the steel used to cover the Titanic's hull was of low quality, with a large admixture of phosphorus, which made it very brittle at low temperatures. If the casing were made of high-quality, tough steel with a low phosphorus content, it would significantly soften the impact force. The metal sheets would simply bend inward and the damage to the body would not be so serious. Perhaps then the Titanic would have been saved, or at least would have remained afloat for a long time, sufficient to evacuate most of the passengers. Also, according to the research, it was revealed that the hull steel was susceptible to brittle rupture in cold waters, which also accelerated the sinking of the ship.

On the other hand, this test only proves that modern steel is much more better than that one, which was used at the beginning of the 20th century. It does not prove that the steel used to build the Titanic was of poor quality (or not the best) for its time.

In the first years of the 21st century in a number of media, with reference to latest research the hull of the ship with deep-sea vehicles, it was believed that when it collided with the iceberg, the steamer did not receive a hole, and its hull withstood the impact. The cause of death was that the hull rivets could not prevent the divergence of its sheets, and sea water began to flow into the long gap that formed.

Research and tests

Conducted research and tests, analysis of procurement documents showed that forged iron rivets were used as rivets, and not steel, as was originally planned. Moreover, these rivets were of low quality, they contained many foreign impurities, in particular coke; during forging, this coke collected in the heads, further increasing fragility. During an iceberg strike, the heads of cheap rivets simply broke, and sheets of 2.5-centimeter steel separated under the pressure of the ice.

Internal communication system

the liner was extremely unsatisfactory, there was no direct communication with the captain - all messages had to be reported to him orally. Radio communication at sea was still a novelty in 1912. Unlike the rest of the team, the radio operators did not work for the shipping company, but for the Marconi Co. company, for which the priority was the transmission of paid messages from especially wealthy passengers - it is known that in just 36 hours of work the radio operators transmitted more than 250 telegrams.

The radio log from the Titanic did not survive

, but based on the surviving records from various ships that had contact with the liner, it was possible to more or less restore the picture of the work of the radio operators. Reports of drifting ice and icebergs began to arrive on the morning of the fateful date - April 14, it was indicated exact coordinates high-risk areas. The Titanic continued to sail further, without turning off course or slowing down. At 19:30, a telegram came from the transport ship Mesaba: “I report ice from 42 degrees to 41 degrees 25 minutes north latitude and from 49 degrees to 50 degrees 30 minutes west longitude. I saw a large number of icebergs and ice fields.” At this time, the Titanic's senior communications officer Jack Phillips was working for the benefit of passengers, transmitting an inexhaustible stream of messages to the Cape Ras station, while the most important message never reached the captain, getting lost in a heap of paper - the Mesaba radio operator forgot to mark the message as "Ice Report" with the prefix MSG, which meant "personally to the captain." This small detail overshadowed Phillips' dedication.

On the other hand, on April 14, in addition to this message, several more warnings about icebergs were received from other ships. The captain took certain measures, in particular, the officers were warned verbally and in writing about the danger, and those looking ahead were ordered to look for the presence of icebergs. Therefore, it cannot be said that Captain Smith did not know about them.

The news about the lack of binoculars from the lookout was received with criticism (according to many eyewitness accounts, binoculars were only on the Belfast-Southampton section; after this stop, Hogg, on the captain’s orders, for some reason put them in his cabin). There is an opinion that if you had binoculars looking ahead, despite the moonless night, you would notice the iceberg not a quarter of a mile (450 m) away, but 2 or 3 miles (4-6 km) away. On the other hand, binoculars narrow the field of view, so they are used only after the lookout has noticed something, for a more detailed study of the intended object. At the same time, the lookouts without binoculars discovered the iceberg earlier than the watch officer who had binoculars. On the other hand, on the Titanic there was a special group of lookouts who had some experience. On many other ships, random sailors from the crew were assigned as lookouts.

If there had been even a slight disturbance or swell in the ocean, he would have seen white caps at the “waterline” of the iceberg. As it later became known, the Titanic collided with a “black” iceberg, that is, one that had recently capsized in the water. The side facing the liner was dark blue, because of this there was no reflection (an ordinary white iceberg under such conditions could be seen a mile away).

The question of what prevented the senior on the bridge, First Officer W. Murdoch, whose immediate responsibility was constant monitoring of the situation, from discovering the iceberg in a timely manner, remains open: Murdoch died in a shipwreck. Captain Rostron of the Carpathia said that 75% of objects in the sea are detected from the bridge earlier than from the crow's nest. When his ship sailed at night to the site of the Titanic accident, all the icebergs on their way were noticed from the bridge before the lookouts discovered them.

There is an opinion that if Murdoch had not given the order to reverse immediately after the command to "left rudder", the Titanic would probably have avoided the collision, since reverse negatively affects the efficiency of the steering wheel. In this case, however, the time required to execute the command is ignored. This takes at least 30 seconds and the command was probably received with a delay; - commands for the engine room along the route of the liner are rarely given (the last one was given three days before), so no one is standing at the engine telegraph. The command simply did not have time to be carried out, otherwise the Titanic would have experienced strong vibration, but no one mentions it. According to the testimony of survivors, the cars stopped and reversed after the collision, so this command had no practical significance.

There is also an opinion that the best decision would be to put only the left car into reverse. Running the propellers oppositely, that is, in opposite directions, would help speed up the turn and reduce the speed. The middle propeller was driven by a steam turbine that ran on residual steam from the onboard engines; this turbine had no reverse gear. Thus, the stopped propeller, behind which there was a single rudder, was very small area, created a turbulent flow, in which the already ineffective steering wheel almost completely lost its effectiveness. It is even possible that in order to avoid a collision, it would be necessary, on the contrary, to increase the speed of the middle propeller to increase the efficiency of the steering. Moreover, performing the reverse takes considerable time, and, therefore, there was practically no chance to quickly reduce the speed.

Attention should be paid to the fact that the disaster occurred on the first voyage.

The navigators had no experience in operating this vessel, which explains the untimely and ineffective attempts to maneuver. At the same time, Captain Smith, First Officer Wilde and First Officer Murdoch, who was on watch during the accident, had experience working on the Olympic, built according to a similar project. In 1903, in a critical situation, Murdoch, with his timely and decisive actions, overruled the command of his superiors, saved the Arabik steamship from a collision.

There are also suggestions that the Titanic would have remained afloat if the rudder had not been shifted and the ship would have “rammed” the iceberg, taking the blow on the stem. The design of the partitions was precisely aimed at the “survival” of the ship in a head-on collision, but the sides of the ship were not protected. “Wilding, a shipbuilder from Belfast, calculated that the bow of the ship would have been dented by 25-30 meters, but the ship would not have died. It would be instant death for those who were in the bow of the ship at that time, but the loss of inertia would be quite slow, comparable to a car traveling at that speed, whose brakes were instantly pulled all the way,” Barnaby reports. However, Murdoch is justified by the fact that he did not have the opportunity to measure the distance to the iceberg and could not know that the maneuver he had undertaken would not succeed. Therefore, one can hardly blame him for not giving a command that would obviously kill people.

The liner was not designed to flood all of the first five compartments. Although such a design is possible, it is extremely expensive - the only ship built this way, the Great Eastern, was unprofitable. The unprofitability of this gigantic ship is confirmed by the fact that it was not found possible to use it for its intended purpose, and it went down in history as a cable ship used in laying the transatlantic telegraph cable. The likelihood of risk cannot be ignored either. After all, besides the Titanic, in Peaceful time no ship has ever suffered such damage.

High liner speed

Despite warnings about icebergs, the captain of the Titanic did not slow down or change the route. But this was standard practice in those days. Thus, during the investigation into the circumstances of the death of the Titanic, Captain Gerard C. Affeld, who commanded 5 transatlantic ships, testified that, having received warnings about icebergs, he never changed the route and reduced speed only in case of fog or bad weather. He studied the logs of the ships entrusted to him. According to these logs, other captains, having received warnings about icebergs, also did not change their route and, as a rule, did not reduce speed. On the other hand, not everyone followed this practice: the closest ship to the Titanic, the Californian, having reached the iceberg field, stopped at its border (and conveyed a warning to the Titanic, which was ignored).

Lookout Reginald Lee testified that he spotted the iceberg from a distance of "half a mile, maybe more, maybe less." The Titanic would have covered half a mile in 80 seconds. Helmsman Hichens testified that by the time of the collision the ship had turned 2 points. Since the wheelhouse windows were completely darkened so that light would not interfere with observation from the bridge, Hichens did not see the iceberg. An experiment on the twin steamship Olympic showed that a turn of 2 points would take 37 seconds, counting from the moment the command was given. The authors of the book Report into the Loss of the SS Titanic: A Centennial Reappraisal, published on the centenary of the shipwreck, restore the timing of the accident, and put forward a version of the “lost 30 seconds” after the signal from the lookouts, who left Murdoch for then to visually detect the iceberg, assess the situation and make a decision.

The main subjective cause of death

There were outdated rules of the British Merchant Shipping Code that made the number of lifeboats dependent on the tonnage of the ship, and not on the number of passengers. The rules were established in 1894, when the tonnage passenger ships did not exceed 12,952 tons, and all ships of 10,000 tons and above fell into the same category. For such ships, the rules required that the lifeboats have enough space for 962 people. The Titanic's tonnage was 46,328 tons.

The owners of the Titanic, having formally followed the instructions (and even slightly exceeded them, since the Titanic's boats had 1,178 seats, not 962), supplied the ship with an insufficient number of boats. Despite the fact that there were enough lifeboats to land 1,178 people, only 704 were saved. There were certain subjective reasons for this. For example, Second Mate Charles Lightoller, who commanded the launch of the boats on the port side, carried out Captain Smith's order “women and children first” literally: he allowed men to occupy places in the boats only if oarsmen were needed and under no other circumstances.

Based on the stories of Charles Lightoller, his granddaughter Lady Patten put forward a new version of the death of the transatlantic liner. According to the writer, the Titanic sank not because it sailed too fast, which is why it simply did not have time to avoid a collision with an iceberg. There was plenty of time to avoid the ice block, but helmsman Robert Hitchens panicked and turned the wheel in the wrong direction. The ship received a hole, due to which it eventually sank. However, passengers and crew could have been saved if the Titanic had stopped immediately after the collision. Moreover, the nearest ship was only a few miles from the liner. The manager of the company that owned the huge ship, Joseph Bruce Ismay, convinced the captain to continue sailing, fearing that the incident could cause him considerable material damage. He wanted to save the Titanic, but thought exclusively about the financial side of the matter. The rate of water entering the liner's holds increased exponentially. Water entered the housing at a rate of approximately 400 tons per minute. As a result, the ship sank in a matter of hours. Lightoller told only his family about why the liner sank. According to Patten, her relatives feared for their reputation and therefore did not want to divulge the true causes of the 1912 disaster. “My relatives died a long time ago, and I realized that I was the only one in the world who knew about the true cause of the death of the Titanic,” said the writer.

A combination of unfavorable factors

The cause of the collision and death of the vessel was a combination of unfavorable factors:

The iceberg began to melt and, as a result, turned over and became almost transparent, which is why it was noticed too late.
The night was windless and moonless, otherwise the lookouts would have noticed “lambs” around the iceberg.
The speed of the ship was too high, due to which the iceberg hit the hull with maximum force. If the captain had ordered the ship’s speed to be reduced in advance when entering the iceberg belt, then perhaps the force of the impact on the iceberg would not have been enough to break through the Titanic’s hull.
The failure to transmit several telegrams from neighboring ships by members of the radio room, busy sending private telegrams to wealthy passengers for money, about the dangerous proximity of icebergs to Captain Smith, which reduced his vigilance.
The best steel of the time, from which the Titanic was made, became brittle at low temperatures. The water temperature that night was +2... +4 °C, which made the hull of the ship very vulnerable.
The quality of the rivets that were used to connect the sheets of the ship’s side plating was poor; when an iceberg hit, the heads of the forged iron rivets, which replaced the originally provided steel ones, crumbled due to their “porosity” due to the inclusion of foreign impurities in them.
The construction of partitions between the compartments was made with the expectation of a frontal impact, and the doors between the partitions simply could not withstand the pressure of water and broke under its pressure.
Lack of binoculars for the lookout.
No red flares to indicate danger.

At the time of the sinking, the ships closest to the Titanic were the Carpathia, the fishing vessel Samson and the Californian. Of these, a telegraph was installed on the Carpathia and Californian.
The Carpathia was 49 miles from the Titanic. And it was this ship that was the first to arrive at the scene of the disaster 4 hours later and took all the surviving passengers from the boats.
The fishing schooner Samson was 17 miles from the Titanic. On this vessel, fishermen were engaged in illegal seal fishing. At the sight of white flares (they indicated attention) and because of the bright light of the liner, the captain of the Samson thought that this was a signal from the coast guard, and hurried to take the ship away. There were no red flares on the Titanic (they indicated danger and the captain who saw them was obliged to go there). If the liner had had red flares, the casualties could have been avoided.
The Californian was 26 miles from the Titanic, and when he saw the flares, the captain thought they were setting off fireworks. At the same time, the ship’s radio station did not function, since the only radio operator was resting after his watch. The next morning the captain told the story of the rockets to the telegraph operator. The telegraph operator began checking incoming messages, and five minutes was enough for him to understand everything about the sinking of the Titanic. For this, the captain of the Californian lost his rank for failure to provide assistance to the sinking ship.

Flood depth

On September 1, 1985, an expedition led by the director of the Institute of Oceanology in Woods Hall, Massachusetts, Dr. Robert D. Ballard, discovered the site of the Titanic at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean at a depth of 3,750 meters.

The distance between the remains of the bow and stern of the Titanic is about 600 meters.

The remains of the ship were discovered 13 miles west of the coordinates that the Titanic transmitted in its SOS signal.

In April 2012, one hundred years after the shipwreck, the ship's remains gained protection under the 2001 UNESCO Convention on the Protection of Underwater cultural heritage. From now on, states parties to the Convention have the right to prevent the destruction, looting, sale and unauthorized distribution of objects found at the shipwreck site. They can take it all necessary measures to protect the wreck and ensure proper treatment of the human remains contained therein.

Exploring the sinking site of the Titanic

Research into the sinking site of the Titanic was undertaken in August-September 2001 by the director of the Oscar-winning Titanic, James Cameron. Cameron and a group of scientists dived to the Titanic on the Russian deep-sea submersibles Mir-1 and Mir-2. Using two small remotely operated submersibles, Jack and Elwood, and CGI technology, the documentary Ghosts of the Abyss: Titanic (2003) was produced, giving viewers a look inside the Titanic.

In addition, 12 dives on the same devices were carried out in September 1995 in preparation for the filming of the film Titanic. Footage of the exterior and interior of the sunken liner was used in the film.

Conspiracy theory

The similarities between the Olympic and the Titanic have given rise to a conspiracy theory according to which tragic flight in fact, it was not the Titanic that was sent, but the Olympic. This became possible after replacing the stern sheets with the name of the ship, as well as all household and interior items bearing the name of the ship (of which, in general, there were quite a few). According to supporters of the theory, this would explain many facts: the lack of binoculars for lookouts, reverse while avoiding an iceberg, high speed.

The theory is based on the assumption of fraud in order to obtain insurance. In 1911, when leaving on the 11th voyage, the Olympic collided with the English cruiser Hawk. The latter miraculously remained afloat, while the Olympic escaped with minor damage. The White Star Line company by that time was already suffering serious financial losses. The insurance for the ship could well cover all the losses, but the damage received in the collision with the cruiser was not enough to pay out the insurance. It was necessary for the ship to receive even greater damage (which, however, would not affect its buoyancy). Therefore, when passing through dangerous area the ship was deliberately exposed to the risk of colliding with an iceberg - the owners of the White Star Line company were confident that, even after receiving serious damage, the ship would not sink.

Despite the seemingly obvious absurdity of this version, it became widespread, and it turned out to be very difficult to refute it. For example, evidence against it was the fact that many passengers of the Titanic had previously sailed on the Olympic and would hardly have noticed the substitution. In addition, the presence of top officials of the White Star Line company on board also did not support the conspiracy theory. Proponents of the conspiracy theory explained the presence of Bruce Ismay on board with his desire to ward off suspicion and confidence in the “unsinkability” of the ship. Actually, the conspiracy theory was debunked only after parts were lifted from the ship, on which the number 401 (the construction number of the Titanic) was stamped, since the construction number of the Olympic was 400. However, despite numerous counterarguments, the version of the conspiracy is still still continues to exist - evidence of this is a number of modern popular science articles and documentaries defending this point of view.

Titanic II will set sail in 2016
Australian billionaire Clive Palmer has announced his intention to build a replica of the ship. cruise ship"Titanic 2".

It will be built at a Chinese shipyard and, recreating the appearance of the legendary ship (there will be the same four steam pipes), will at the same time be equipped with modern navigation and propulsion equipment, including diesel power plant, bow bulb, side thrusters (thrusters) and an enlarged rudder. It is expected that the ship will be ready for its maiden voyage in April 2016.

Monument to the crew of the Titanic in Southampton

Main article: Titanic in culture
The crash of the airliner became one of the most famous disasters in human history. To some extent, the image of the Titanic became a symbol of the death of something that seemed powerful and unsinkable, a symbol of the weakness of human technogenic civilization in front of the forces of nature. The disaster was widely reflected in art, especially mass art. The first film dedicated to the disaster - “Survivor from the Titanic” - appeared in May 1912, a month after the crash. Also in 1912, but before the disaster occurred, Morgan Robertson's book "Futility, Or the Wreck of the Titan" was published, the action of which took place on board a passenger ship. the ship "Titan", similar in description and displacement to the "Titanic". In this book, the Titan succumbs to an iceberg in the fog while sailing from New York to Great Britain. As a result, a legend appeared about Morgan Robertson’s “prediction” of the Titanic disaster. This fact is reinforced by the fact that despite the book being published in 1912, it was written in 1898.

Film "Titanic"

The film "Titanic", released in 1997 by James Cameron, was the leader in box office receipts at the global box office for 13 years ($1,845,034,188, of which $600,788,188 in the USA), but in 2010 the record for "Titanic" was broken by the film "Avatar" ", released by the same director; In April 2012, on the centenary of the disaster, Cameron released his old film, but in 3D format.

In honor of the centenary of the sinking of the liner, the mini-series “Titanic” directed by Jon Jones was filmed. World premiere March 21, 2012.

“Titanic: Blood and Steel” - a 12-episode film starring actors will be the actual creators of the liner, previously called unsinkable, forced to work in an atmosphere of political and financial pressure. The world premiere took place on April 15, 2012.

Many songs by performers and groups playing in different genres were dedicated to the death of the ship. In particular, in the song of the same name by the Austrian performer Falco (1992), the Titanic is seen as a symbol of decadence, the end of an era; in the song of the Russian group “Nautilus Pompilius” from the album of the same name “Titanic” (1994), the sailing ship appears as a symbol of death and doom.

Manufacturers Revell and Zvezda produce prefabricated plastic replica models of the Titanic.

The sinking of the Titanic claimed the lives of 1,517 of the 2,229 passengers and crew (official figures vary slightly) in one of the worst maritime disasters in world history. 712 survivors were taken aboard RMS Carpathia. After this disaster, a great outcry swept through the public affecting attitudes towards social injustice, radically changed the way passengers were transported along the North Atlantic route, the rules for the number of lifeboats carried on board passenger ships were changed and the International Ice Survey was created (where merchant ships crossing the North Atlantic on... As before, precise information about the location and concentration of ice is transmitted using radio signals). In 1985, a major discovery was made, the Titanic was discovered at the bottom of the ocean and became a turning point for the public and for the development of new fields of science and technology. April 15, 2012 will mark the 100th anniversary of the Titanic. This has become one of the most famous ships throughout history, her image has remained in numerous books, films, exhibitions and monuments.

TITANIC WRECK IN REAL TIME

duration - 2 hours 40 minutes!

The British passenger liner Titanic departs Southampton, England on her maiden voyage on April 10, 1912. The Titanic called to Cherbourg, France and Queenstown, Ireland before heading west towards New York. Four days into the passage, she struck an iceberg at 11:40 pm, 375 miles south of Newfoundland. Just before 2:20 a.m., the Titanic broke up and sank. More than a thousand people were on board at the time of the accident. Some died in the water within minutes from hypothermia in the waters of the North Antaltic Ocean. (Frank O. Brainard Collection)

The luxury liner Titanic is pictured in this 1912 photograph as she left Queenstown for New York on her ill-fated final voyage. The ship's passengers included a list of the richest people in the world, such as millionaires John Jacob Astor IV, Benjamin Guggenheim and Isidore Strauss, as well as more than a thousand emigrants from Ireland, Scandinavia and other countries seeking new life in America. The disaster was met with shock and outrage around the world at the enormous loss of life and the failure of regulatory and operational parameters that led to this disaster. The investigation into the sinking of the Titanic began within days and led to significant improvements in maritime safety. (United Press International)

Crowd of workers. The Harland and Wolf shipyards in Belfast where the Titanic was built between 1909 and 1911. The ship was designed to be the last word in comfort and luxury, and was the most big ship afloat on her maiden voyage. The ship is visible in the background of this 1911 photo. (Photo archive / Harland & Wolff Collection / Cox)

Photo from 1912. In the photo, a luxurious dining room on board the Titanic. The ship was designed to be the last word in comfort and luxury, with onboard gym, swimming pool, libraries, upscale restaurants and luxurious cabins. (Photo archive The New York Times / American Press Association)

Photo from 1912. Second class dining room on the Titanic. A disproportionate number of people - more than 90% of those in second class - remained on board because of the "women and children first" protocols followed by lifeboat loading officers. (Photo archive The New York Times / American Press Association)

Photo taken April 10, 1912, showing the Titanic leaving Southampton, England. The tragic sinking of the Titanic occurred a century ago, one of the reasons for the death, according to some, was the weak rivets used by the ship's builders in some parts of this ill-fated liner. (Associated Press)

Captain Edward John Smith, commander of the Titanic. He commanded the largest ship at that time making its maiden voyage. The Titanic was a massive ship - 269 meters long, 28 meters wide and weighing 52,310 tons. 53 meters separated from the keel to the top, almost 10 meters of which were below the waterline. The Titanic was higher above the water than most city buildings at the time. (The New York Times Archive)

First Mate William McMaster Murdoch is seen as a local hero in his home town of Dalbeattie, Scotland, but in the film Titanic was portrayed as a coward and a murderer. At a ceremony on the 86th anniversary of the sinking, Scott Neeson, executive vice president of the film's producers 20th Century Fox, presented a check for five thousand pounds sterling ($8,000) to Dalbeattie School as an apology for the painting to the officer's relative. (Associated Press)

It is believed that this iceberg caused the Titanic disaster on April 14-15, 1912. The picture was taken aboard the Western Union ship, Mackay Bennett, under the command of Captain DeCarteret. McKay Bennett was one of the first ships to reach the site where the Titanic sank. According to Captain DeCarteret, it was the only iceberg at the site when he arrived. It is therefore assumed that he was responsible for this tragedy. A collision with an iceberg caused the Titanic's hull plates to buckle inward in a number of places on board and opened five of her sixteen watertight compartments into which water instantly poured out. Over the next two and a half hours, the ship gradually filled with water and sank. (United States Coast Guard)

Passengers and some crew members were evacuated by lifeboats, many of which were launched only partially full. This photograph of a lifeboat from the Titanic approaching the rescue ship Carpathia, was taken by Carpathia passenger Louis M. Ogden and was on display in 2003, an exhibition of photographs that relate to the Titanic (bequeathed by the National maritime museum in Greenwich, England, Walter Lord). (National Maritime Museum/London)

Seven hundred and twelve survivors were brought aboard from lifeboats on the RMS Carpathia. This photograph taken by Carpathia passenger Louis M. Ogden shows the Titanic lifeboat approaching the rescue ship, Carpathia. The photograph was part of an exhibition in 2003 at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, England, named after Walter Lord. (National Maritime Museum/London)

Although the Titanic had advanced safety features, such as watertight compartments and remotely activated watertight doors, it lacked lifeboats enough to accommodate all those on board. Due to outdated maritime safety regulations, she carried only enough lifeboats for 1,178 people—a third of her total passenger and crew capacity. This sepia photograph depicting the recovery of the Titanic's passengers is one of the memorabilia about to go under the hammer at Christies in London, May 2012. (Paul Tracy/EPA/PA)

Press representatives interview Titanic survivors disembarking the rescue ship, Carpathians, May 17, 1912. (American Press Association)

Eva Hart is depicted as seven years old in this photograph taken in 1912 with her father, Benjamin, and mother Esther. Eve and her mother survived the sinking of the British liner Titanic on April 14, 1912, but her father died during the disaster. (Associated Press)

People stand on the street waiting for the arrival of Carpathia after the sinking of the Titanic. (Photo archive The New York Times/Wide World)

A huge crowd gathered in front of the White Star Line office on lower Broadway in New York to receive last news about the sinking of the Titanic - April 14, 1912. (Associated Press)

The New York Times editorial board at the time of the Titanic's sinking, April 15, 1912. (Photo archive of The New York Times)

(Photo archive of The New York Times)

Two messages that were sent from America by Lloyds insurers in London in the mistaken belief that other ships, including the Virginian, were on their way to help when the Titanic sank. These two memorable messages are due to go under the hammer at Christies in London in May 2012. (AFP/EPA/Press Association)

Laura Francatelli, and her employers Lady Lucy Duff-Gordon and Sir Cosmo Duff-Gordon, standing on a rescue ship, Carpathians (Associated Press/Henry Aldridge & Son/Ho)

This vintage print shows the Titanic shortly before leaving on its maiden voyage in 1912. (New York Times Archive)

A photograph released by Henry Aldridge and Son/Ho auction in Wiltshire, England, April 18, 2008 shows an extremely rare Titanic passenger ticket. They were auctioning the complete collection of the last American Titanic Survivor by Miss Lilian Asplund. The collection consists of a number of important objects, including a pocket watch, one of the few remaining tickets for the Titanic's maiden voyage and the only example of the direct emigration order the Titanic thought to exist. Lillian Asplund was a very private person, and because of the terrible event she witnessed, on a cold April night in 1912, she rarely spoke about the tragedy that claimed the lives of her father and three brothers. (Henry Aldridge)

(National Maritime Museum/London)

Breakfast menu on board the Titanic, signatures of survivors of the disaster. (National Maritime Museum/London)

The bow of the Titanic at the bottom of the ocean, 1999 (Institute of Oceanology)

The image shows one of the Titanic's propellers on the ocean floor during an expedition to the site of the tragedy. Five thousand items are scheduled to go under the hammer as a single collection on April 11, 2012, 100 years after the sinking of the ship (RMS Titanic, Inc, via Associated Press)

Photo August 28, 2010, released for the premiere of the exhibition, Inc.-Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, shows the starboard side of the Titanic. (Prime Exhibitions, Inc.-Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute)

Dr. Robert Ballard, the man who found the Titanic's remains almost two decades ago, returned to the site and took stock of the damage from visitors and hunters for "souvenirs" of the ship. (Institute of Oceanography and Archaeological Research Center/University of Rhode Island Grad. School of Oceanography)

The giant propeller of the sunken Titanic lies on the floor of the North Atlantic in this undated photo. The propeller and other parts of the famous ship were seen by the first tourists to visit the wreck in September 1998.

(Ralph White/Associated Press)

A 17-ton part of the Titanic's hull rises to the surface during an expedition to the site of the tragedy in 1998. (RMS Titanic, Inc, via Associated Press)

July 22, 2009, photo of the 17-ton part of the Titanic, which was raised and restored during an expedition to the site of the tragedy. (RMS Titanic, Inc, via Associated Press)

Gold-plated American Waltham pocket watch, property of Karl Asplund, in front of a contemporary watercolor painting of the Titanic by CJ Ashford at Henry Aldridge & Son auctions in Devizes, Wiltshire, England, April 3, 2008. The watch was recovered from the body of Karl Asplund who drowned on the Titanic, and is part of Lillian Asplund, the last American to survive the disaster. (Kirsty Wigglesworth Associated Press)

Currency, part of the Titanic collection, is photographed in a warehouse in Atlanta, August 2008. The owner of the largest trove of Titanic artifacts is putting the huge collection up for auction as a single lot in 2012, to mark the 100th anniversary of the world's most famous shipwreck. (Stanley Leary/Associated Press)

Photos of Felix Asplund, Selma and Karl Asplund and Lilian Asplund, at Henry Aldridge and Son auctions in Devizes, Wiltshire, England, April 3, 2008. The photographs were part of Lillian Asplund's collection of Titanic-related items. Asplund was 5 years old in April 1912 when the Titanic struck an iceberg and sank on its maiden voyage from England to New York. Her father and three siblings were among the 1,514 killed. (Kirsty Wigglesworth/Associated Press)

Exhibits at the Titanic Artifact Exhibition at the Californian scientific center: binoculars, comb, dishes and a broken incandescent lamp, February 6, 2003. (Michel Boutefeu/Getty Images, Chester Higgins Jr./The New York Times)

Spectacles among the wreckage of the Titanic were among the Titanic's choice artifacts. (Bebeto Matthews/Associated Press)

Golden Spoon (Titanic Artifacts) (Bebeto Matthews/Associated Press)

The chronometer from the Titanic Bridge is on display at the Science Museum in London, 15 May 2003. The chronometer, one of more than 200 artifacts salvaged from the sinking of the Titanic, was on display at the launch of a new exhibition dedicated to its ill-fated maiden voyage, along with bottles of perfume. The exhibition took visitors on a chronological journey through the life of the Titanic, from its conception and construction, to life on board, and its sinking into the Atlantic Ocean in April 1912. (Alastair Grant/Associated Press)

Titanic speed meter logo and articulated lamp. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Titanic artifacts displayed in tools mass media For preview purposes only, to announce the historical sale is complete. a collection of artifacts recovered from the Titanic wreck site and a display of highlights from the collection at sea by the Intrepid, Air & SpaceMuseum January 2012. (Chang W. Lee / The New York Times)

Cups and pocket watches from the Titanic are displayed during a Guernsey auction press conference, January 5, 2012. (Don Emmert/AFP/Getty Images, Brendan McDermid/Reuters Michelle Boutefeu/Getty Images-2)

Spoons. RMS Titanic, Inc. is the only company authorized to remove elements from the ocean floor where the Titanic sank (Douglas Healey / Associated Press)

Gold mesh wallet. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

The April 2012 edition of National Geographic magazine (available on iPad) features new images and drawings from the Titanic wreck that remains on the sea floor, gradually disintegrating at a depth of 12,415 feet (3,784 m). (National Geographic)

Two propeller blades peek out from the sea darkness. This optical mosaic is assembled from 300 s high resolution images. (COPYRIGHT © 2012 RMS Titanic, Inc; Produced by AIVL, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

First full view to the legendary sunken ship. The photo mosaic consists of 1,500 high-resolution images using sonar data. (COPYRIGHT © 2012 RMS Titanic, Inc; Produced by AIVL, WHOI)

Side view of the Titanic. You can see how the hull lies on the bottom and where the fatal places of the iceberg impact are. (COPYRIGHT © 2012 RMS Titanic, Inc; Produced by AIVL, WHOI)

(COPYRIGHT © 2012 RMS Titanic, Inc; Produced by AIVL, WHOI)

Understanding this tangle of metal presents endless challenges for specialists. Says one: “If you interpret this material, you must love Picasso.” (COPYRIGHT © 2012 RMS Titanic, Inc; Produced by AIVL, WHOI)

The Titanic's two engines lie in a gaping hole in the stern. Wrapped in “rusticles”—orange stalactites made of iron that eat bacteria—these massive structures, four stories high, were the largest moving man-made objects on Earth at the time. (COPYRIGHT © 2012 RMS Titanic, Inc; Produced by AIVL, WHOI)

105 years ago, on April 15, 1912, the “unsinkable ship,” “the largest and most luxurious ocean liner,” crashed into an iceberg on its first voyage and took more than one and a half thousand passengers with it to the bottom of the ocean. It would seem that after many decades there are no more mysteries and secrets about this terrible disaster. And yet, let's remember how it was.

Captain Edward Smith on board the Titanic. Photo: New York Times

First official version

Two government investigations that followed the disaster determined that it was the iceberg, and not the ship's defects, that caused the death of the liner. Both commissions of inquiry concluded that the Titanic sank not in parts, but as a whole - there were no major faults.

The blame for this tragedy was placed entirely on the shoulders of the ship's captain, Edward Smith, who died along with his crew and passengers of the Atlantic liner. Experts reproached Smith for the fact that the ship was traveling at a speed of 22 knots (41 km) through a dangerous ice field - in dark waters, off the coast of Newfoundland.

Robert Ballard's discovery

In 1985, oceanographer Robert Ballard, after a long unsuccessful search, finally managed to find the remains of a ship at a depth of about four kilometers on the ocean floor. It was then that he discovered that the Titanic had actually split in half before sinking.

A couple of years later, the wreckage of the ship was brought to the surface for the first time, and a new hypothesis immediately appeared - low-grade steel was used to build an “unsinkable ship.” However, according to experts, it was not the steel that turned out to be of low quality, but the rivets - the most important metal pins that tie together the steel plates of the airliner's hull. And the found wreckage of the Titanic does indicate that the stern of the ship did not rise high into the air, as many believed. It is believed that the Titanic split into parts while relatively level on the surface of the ocean - this is a clear sign of miscalculations in the design of the ship, which were hidden after the disaster.

Design miscalculations

The Titanic was built in a short time - in response to the production of a new generation of high-speed liners by competitors.

The Titanic could stay afloat even if 4 of its 16 watertight compartments were flooded - this is amazing for a ship of such gigantic size.

However, on the night of April 14-15, 1912, just a few days into the liner’s debut voyage, its Achilles’ heel was revealed. The ship, due to its size, was not agile enough to avoid a collision with the iceberg, which the watchmen had been shouting about for the last minute. The Titanic did not collide with the fatal iceberg head-on, but drove along it on its right side - the ice punched holes in the steel plates, flooding six “watertight” compartments. And after a couple of hours the ship was completely filled with water and sank.

According to experts studying the potential weak point of the Titanic - the rivets, they found that due to the fact that time was running out, builders began to use low-grade material. When the liner hit an iceberg, the weak steel rods in the bow of the ship cracked. It is believed that it was no coincidence that the water, having flooded six compartments held together by low-grade steel rods, stopped exactly where the high-quality steel rivets began.

In 2005, another expedition studying the crash site was able to establish from the wreckage of the bottom that during the crash the ship tilted only about 11 degrees, and not 45, as had long been believed.

Memories of Passengers

Because the ship tilted only slightly, passengers and crew were lulled into a false sense of security—many of them did not understand the gravity of the situation. When the water sufficiently flooded the bow of the hull, the ship, while remaining afloat, split in two and sank in minutes.

Charlie Jugin, the Titanic's chef, was standing near the stern when the ship sank and did not notice any signs of hull fracture. Nor did he notice the suction funnel or the colossal splash. According to his information, he calmly sailed away from the ship, without even getting his hair wet.

However, some passengers sitting in lifeboats claimed to have seen the stern of the Titanic raised high in the air. However, this could only be an optical illusion. With a tilt of 11 degrees, propellers sticking out in the air, the Titanic, the height of a 20-story building, seemed even taller, and its roll into the water even greater.

How the Titanic sank: a real-time model

The menu for the last dinner on the Titanic, which sank in 1912, has been sold in New York. The price for it was 88 thousand dollars (about 1.9 million hryvnia).

Company " Blue Star Line announced the construction of Titanic 2. According to the designers, the ship will be an exact copy of the famous liner that sank in 1912. However, the liner will be equipped with modern safety equipment. The project was financed by the Australian mining magnate Clive Palmer.

Now this 105-year-old cracker is considered the most expensive in the world.

It turns out that a cracker made by Spillers and Bakers called "Pilot" was included in the survival kit that was placed on each lifeboat. Later, one of these products went to a man who kept it as a souvenir. It was James Fenwick, a passenger on the ship Carpathia, which was picking up shipwreck survivors.

REFERENCE

On the night of April 15, 1912, the Titanic collided with an iceberg and sank. He was sailing in Atlantic Ocean on the way from Southampton (England) to New York. About 1.5 thousand people died then, mostly third class passengers. In total there were more than 2.2 thousand people there.

 

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