Titanic documents or truth. Titanic - the true story of the disaster. Chasing the Atlantic Blue Riband

We have all heard about the terrible tragedy - the sinking of a huge steamship called the Titanic. However, not everyone is familiar with these facts about the Titanic.

After the Titanic was holed by a collision with an iceberg and began to sink, chaos reigned on the ship for almost three hours.

Perhaps the most terrible part of the tragedy is the slow destruction.

The Titanic musicians played for more than two hours. They wanted to do everything possible to reassure passengers as they boarded the lifeboats. One of the surviving second class passengers spoke about the musicians' decision. It's a heroic act to play while the ship is sinking.

That early morning of April 15, 1912, four days after setting sail, 1,500 people died just 400 miles from shore. Among them were musicians. This is one of the most famous tragedies of the last century. But what do we really know about this?

Check out 10 facts about the sinking of the Titanic that few people knew about.

1. Titanic received 6 warnings about a possible collision with ice

The Titanic could have stayed afloat if it had hit an iceberg head-on. The partitions on the ship were very strong.
But, as we all know, the ship received a hole in the underwater part.

4. Presumably, 3 dogs were able to get onto the lifeboats

Two Spitz and one Pekingese survived the sinking of the Titanic. It is believed that they escaped due to their small size.
There were a total of 12 dogs on the ship that belonged to first class passengers, but three small dogs were the only ones that survived.

5. The last SOS signal was transmitted with incorrect coordinates

While the latitude was reported correctly, the longitude was off by 14 miles. Even if help had arrived on time, it would have arrived in the wrong place.
How and why were the incorrect coordinates given? There is still no clear answer to this question, which gives rise to various speculations.

6. No training was conducted on how to properly organize the boarding of passengers into lifeboats

The cause of the collapse of the largest ocean liner At the time, the Titanic could have caught fire in a fuel storage facility.

The tragic legend of the Titanic

According to British journalist Shannon Moloney, who studied the history of the ship for thirty years, the fire on board broke out even before the ship left Southampton, and for several weeks they tried unsuccessfully to extinguish it. During this time, the skin of the liner heated up, which is why the collision with the iceberg ended so badly.

According to The Independent newspaper, the journalist managed to take pictures taken before the start of the Titanic's voyage. Moloney found traces of soot in the area of the hull, which was subsequently damaged due to a collision with an iceberg. According to experts, they most likely arose due to a fire in one of the airliner’s fuel storage facilities.

According to the researcher, the ship's owners knew about the fire, but hid this fact from passengers. The team was also ordered to remain silent about the fire. According to Shannon Moloney, as a result of the fire, the ship's hull heated to a temperature of about 1000 degrees Celsius, which made the steel, which had lost up to 75 percent of its strength, extremely brittle.

According to the journalist, when the Titanic collided with an iceberg on the fifth day of its voyage, the hull could not stand it and a huge hole appeared in the side. Therefore, the iceberg cannot be considered the sole culprit of the disaster that claimed the lives of more than 1,500 people on April 15, 1912.

Note that " " belonged to the British company White Star Line. At the time of construction, it was considered the largest passenger liner in the world, and, in addition, was considered unsinkable. On May 31, 1911, the liner was launched. "God himself cannot sink this ship!" - its captain Edward John Smith said about the ship.

A little over a year later, the Titanic set off on its first voyage. There were 2,224 people on board: 1,316 passengers and 908 crew members. On April 14, 1912, the ship collided with an iceberg and sank 2 hours and 40 minutes later. 711 people were saved, 1513 died...

It's not so simple with icebergs either. Typically, Greenland icebergs get stuck in shallow waters off the coast of Labrador and Newfoundland and float further south only after they have been thoroughly thawed, often under the influence of the tides. However, in the case of the Titanic, several large icebergs managed to swim far to the south.

Physicist Donald Olson of the University of Texas (USA) and his colleagues investigated the hypothesis of oceanographer Fergus Wood, who argued that the icebergs were refloated by high tide in January 1912, when the Moon was unusually close to the Earth. By mid-April, the fatal ice mountain had reached the collision site.

Indeed, says Olson, on January 4, 1912, the Moon approached the Earth at its closest close quarters over the last 1400 years. The day before, the Earth came as close as possible to the Sun. The Moon and the Sun found themselves in a position where their mutual gravitational influence on the Earth increased. Obeying the power of the tide, the killer iceberg broke away from Greenland and set off on its way.

At the same time, one of the biggest mysteries associated with the death of the Titanic is the more than frivolous behavior of the captain of the liner, Edward Smith. An experienced sea wolf, who had repeatedly plied the waters of the North Atlantic, for some reason did not pay attention to the warning about approaching icebergs. Perhaps he simply did not believe the information about them.

Although the matter may be different. A hypothesis that radically changes the history of the disaster belongs to two researchers - amateur Robin Gardner (a plasterer by profession) and historian Dan Van der Wat. Having studied the archives of the navy for 50 years, they came to the conclusion that it was not the Titanic that actually sank, but another ship - the Olympic! The latter was built almost simultaneously with the Titanic and at the same shipyards. But from the very first days this ship was plagued by troubles. When it was launched on October 20, 1910, it crashed into a dam. The owner of the ship, Bruce Ismay, and the owner of the Harland and Wolf shipyards, Lord Pirrie, were forced to pay a considerable amount for repairs and damages, which almost bankrupted them.

While sailing, the Olympic was repeatedly involved in accidents. After that, not a single insurance company undertook to insure the “damned ship.” And then Ismay and Pirri conceived the “scam of the century” - to send the Olympic under the name of the Titanic on a voyage across the Atlantic and, when it crashed, to receive insurance for it - 52 million pounds sterling!

The owners had no doubt that their plan would succeed. To protect the passengers, they planned to send another ship along the same route, which, supposedly by chance, would pick up passengers and crew. But, in order not to arouse any suspicion, the shipowners decided that the “rescue” ship would leave the pier no earlier than a week after the start of the voyage. Alas, I only had to wait three days...

The captain of the imaginary Titanic, Edward John Smith, was ready to carry out any order from his superiors. Thus, a few hours before the tragedy, binoculars were confiscated from the observers on duty. And a few minutes before the crash, Smith allegedly ordered the plane to be turned sideways towards the iceberg. It seemed like he was trying to ensure disaster!

The further history of the Titanic (or the false Titanic) is known to us. What happened to the real Titanic? According to Gardner and van der Wat, he sailed safely under a different name, first as part of the Royal Naval Forces, then he was acquired by the White Star Line. The ship was decommissioned in 1935.

Was it “his own” death (or the ship that everyone mistook for the Titanic)? Or was he “helped” to crash? We will most likely never know. Of course, both the “conspiracy theory” and the “lunar hypothesis” are nothing more than versions. But the fact remains: the Titanic sank. And, no matter what led to its death, we are no longer able to change the tragic fate of this ship...

Did the Titanic (or the ship that everyone mistook for the Titanic) die “its own” death? Or was he “helped” to crash? We will most likely never know. Of course, both the “conspiracy theory” and the “lunar hypothesis” are nothing more than versions. But the fact remains: the Titanic sank. And, no matter what led to its death, we are no longer able to change the tragic fate of this ship...

About the terrible death of a luxury liner Titanic in the waters Atlantic Ocean everyone knows. Hundreds of people distraught with fear, heart-rending women's screams and children's crying. 3rd class passengers buried alive at the bottom of the ocean are on the lower deck and millionaires choosing best places in half-empty lifeboats - on the upper, prestigious deck of the ship. But only a select few knew that the sinking of the Titanic was planned, and the death of hundreds of women and children became another fact in a cynical political game.

April 10, 1912 Southampton port, England. Thousands of people gathered at the port of Southampton to see off the liner Titanic, with 2,000 lucky people on board, set off on a romantic trip across the Atlantic. The cream of society gathered on the passenger deck - mining magnate Benjamin Guggenheim, millionaire John Astor, actress Dorothy Gibson. Not everyone could afford to buy a first class ticket, $3,300 at the prices of that time, or $60,000 at the prices of today. 3rd class passengers paid only $35 ($650 in our money), so they lived on the third deck, not having the right to go upstairs, where the millionaires were located.

Tragedy Titanic still remains the largest peacetime maritime disaster. The circumstances surrounding the deaths of 1,500 people are still shrouded in mystery.

The archives of the British Navy confirm that for some reason there were half as many boats on the Titanic as needed, and the captain knew even before the collision that there were not enough seats for all the passengers.

The ship's crew ordered to rescue the 1st class passengers first. Bruce Ismay was one of the first to board the lifeboat - CEO company " White Star Line ", which belonged to Titanic. The boat in which Ismay was sitting was designed for 40 people, but it set sail with only twelve.

The lower deck, where 1,500 people were located, was ordered to be locked so that third-class passengers would not rush upstairs to the boats. Panic began below. People saw how water began to flow into the cabins, but the captain had an order - to save the rich passengers. The order - only women and children - came much later, and according to experts, the sailors were primarily interested in this, since in this case they became rowers on the boats and they had a chance of salvation.

Many second and third class passengers, without waiting for the boats, threw themselves overboard in life jackets. In a panic, few people understood that it was almost impossible to survive in icy water.

sinking of the Titanic

The list of third class passengers, which only recently became public, includes the name Winni Goutts (Winnie Coutts), a modest Englishwoman with two sons. In New York, the woman was waiting for her husband, who had gotten a job in America a few months earlier. It may seem incredible, but 88 years later, on February 3, 1990, Icelandic fishermen picked up a woman with that name on the shore. Wet, frozen in tattered clothes, she cried and screamed that she was a passenger Titanic and her name is Winnie Couts. The woman was taken to mental asylum and for a long time she was mistaken for a madwoman, until one of the journalists found her name in the handwritten lists of passengers of the Titanic. She described the chronology of events in detail and was never confused. Mystics immediately put forward their version - they fell into the so-called space-time trap.

After the declassification of the archives " Investigation into the death of 1,500 passengers on the Titanic“On July 20, 2008, the Senate investigative commission learned that on the night of the disaster, almost 200 passengers managed to board lifeboats and sail away from the sinking ship. Some of them describe a strange phenomenon. At about one o'clock in the morning, passengers saw a large luminous object near the liner. The men thought that these were the lights of another ship." RMS Carpathia", which can save them. About 10 boats sailed towards this light, but after half an hour the lights went out. It turned out that there was no ship nearby, and the liner “ RMS Carpathia" Came up only after 1 hour. Many eyewitnesses described strange lights observed near the site Titanic wreck. These testimonies were kept secret.

Abnormal events around sinking of the Titanic were carefully hidden for a long time. It is known that no one was able to officially confirm the identity of Winnie Couts.

In the ranking of the largest maritime disasters of the 20th century published by a popular Internet publication Titanic does not take at all last place. However, in the column “Cause of death - collision with an iceberg”, it appears in this list only once. The first and last time in the history of navigation when a ship sank due to a collision with an iceberg. Moreover, the consequences of the collision are comparable to the results of a major military operation. What is this?

The official version of the disaster is that Titanic collided with a black iceberg that had recently capsized in the water and was therefore invisible against the night sky. No one ever wondered why the iceberg was black. The lookout on duty, Frederick Fleet, saw some huge dark mass a few seconds before the collision and heard a strange, very loud grinding sound coming from under the water, not like the sound of contact with an iceberg.

80 years later, Russian researchers went down to the Titanic for the first time and confirmed that the hull of the steamship was indeed cut. Why didn't the lookouts notice anything in advance? It’s surprising, but they didn’t have binoculars, that is, technically they were in the safe, but the key to it mysteriously disappeared. And one more strange detail - Titanic the most advanced of the early 20th century was not equipped with spotlights. Such carelessness looks, at least, strange, because Titanic Telegrams arrived all day warning about icebergs cruising in the area.

Having weighed all the events and facts, it seems that the Titanic disaster was prepared on purpose, but who benefited from the death Titanic and why hundreds of innocent people were drowned. It was clear to the people behind the biggest disaster of the century that not everyone would believe in a collision with an iceberg. Until now, we are offered many versions to choose from, who will like what.

For example, in order to receive an insurance payment, they did not flood Titanic, and the same type of passenger ship Olympic, which had been in operation for a long time and by 1912 had become quite dilapidated. But in 1995, Russian scientists refuted this assumption with the help of remote-controlled modules inserted inside the sunken ship. It has been proven that it is not Olympic that lies at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.

Then a version was put into print that Titanic sank while chasing the prestigious Atlantic Blue Riband award. Allegedly, the captain wanted to arrive at the port of New York a day ahead of schedule in order to receive the prize. Because of this, the ship went to dangerous area at maximum speed. The authors of this version completely lost sight of the fact that Titanic I simply technically could not reach the speed of 26 knots, at which the previous record was set.

They also talked about the mistake of the helmsman, who misunderstood the captain’s order and, being in a stressful situation, turned the steering wheel in the wrong direction.

Maybe Titanic was hit by a torpedo from a German submarine and this disaster actually became the first episode of the First World War. Numerous underwater studies subsequently did not find even indirect signs of a possible torpedo hit, so the most plausible version of the sinking of the Titanic ultimately became a fire.

On the eve of departure, a fire broke out in the hold of the liner where coal was stored. They tried to put it out, but were unsuccessful. The richest people of that time, cinema stars, the press had already gathered on the pier, and an orchestra was playing. The flight could not be cancelled. The owner of the ship, Bruce Ismay, decided to go to New York and try to put out the fire along the way. That is why the captain drove at full speed, fearing with all his might that the ship was about to explode and ignored the message about icebergs.

Another oddity is the owner of the company “ White Star Line", which belonged to Titanic multimillionaire John Pierpont Morgan Jr. canceled his ticket 24 hours before departure and removed from the flight the famous collection of paintings that he was going to take to New York. In addition to Morgan, 55 more first-class passengers, mostly partners and acquaintances of the millionaire - John Rockefeller, Henry Frick, and the US Ambassador to France Alfred Vandelfeld, refused to travel on the Titanic in just one day. Previously, practically no significance was attached to this fact, but only very recently scientists compared certain facts and came to the conclusion that the Titanic became the first major disaster aimed at establishing world domination.

Billionaires rule the world, whose goal is unlimited power. The accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the collapse of the Soviet Union, the attack on the Twin Towers of the World shopping center- links of one chain. The sinking of the Titanic not the first and not the last planned disaster. But why did the world government decide to flood Titanic. The answer should be sought in the events of the early 20th century. It was during these years that industry began to grow sharply - the gasoline engine, the incredible development of aviation, industrialization, the use of electricity in all industries, the experiments of Nikola Tesla, and so on. The world's financial leaders understood that scientific and technological progress could soon explode the world order on planet Earth. John Rockefeller, John Pierpont Morgan, Carl Mayer Rothschild, Henry Ford, who are the world government, understood - following rapid growth industries will begin to develop countries that in their world concept were assigned the role of only raw material appendages, and then the redistribution of property on the planet will begin, and control over the processes occurring in the world will be lost.

Every year the socialists made themselves known more and more, trade unions gained strength, crowds of protesters demanded freedom and independence. And then it was decided to remind humanity who is the boss of the world.

In the mid-90s, Russian scientists dived to the Titanic and took metal samples, which were then analyzed by specialists from an American institute. The results were truly stunning - based on the sulfur content, it was established that it was an ordinary metal. And later studies showed that the metal was not just the same as on other ships, it was of much worse quality, and in icy water it generally turned into a very brittle material. In the fall of 1993, an event occurred that put an end to the study of the causes of death Titanic. At the New York conference of American shipbuilding experts, the results of an independent analysis of the causes of the disaster were announced. Experts said they did not understand why such low quality steel was used for the hull of the world's most expensive ship. IN cold water The hull of the Titanic cracked at the first impact on a minor obstacle, while high-quality steel only deforms.

Experts believed that in this way the owners of the shipbuilding company were trying to save money, but no one thought to ask why the billionaire owners of the ship were cutting costs, jeopardizing their own safety. And everything is quite logical; it was a real sabotage. Brittle metal, cold waters of the Atlantic Ocean and dangerous route. All that remained was to wait for the SOS signal from the shipwrecked Titanic. During the investigation of the circumstances of the disaster, the US judicial commission proved that the northern route that the Titanic took was chosen on the orders of Bruce Ismay. He was on board the ship, but was one of the first to be evacuated and safely awaited the arrival of " RMS Carpathia", which also belonged to the company " White Star Line"and was specially located nearby to save rich passengers. But " RMS Carpathia“The order was given, it is not too close, because the disaster was supposed to be a terrifying event for the whole world.

Now we can say with confidence sinking of the Titanic it was a carefully thought-out propaganda campaign. Millions of people around the world were shocked by the fate of third class passengers buried alive; they remained walled up in their cabins.

In the eyes of the world government, third class passengers are you and me - Russia, China, Ukraine and the Middle East, and in December 2012 they are preparing a new act of intimidation for us, but what exactly? All that remains is to wait, and not for long.

watch National Geographic's reconstruction of the sinking of the Titanic

On the night of April 14-15, 1912, the most modern at that time passenger airliner The Titanic, making its maiden voyage from Southampton to New York, collided with an iceberg and soon sank. At least 1,496 people died, 712 passengers and crew were rescued.

The Titanic disaster quickly became overgrown with a mass of legends and speculation. At the same time, for several decades, the place where the lost ship rested remained unknown.

The main difficulty was that the location of the death was known with very low accuracy - we were talking about an area 100 kilometers in diameter. Considering that the Titanic sank in an area where the depth of the Atlantic is several kilometers, finding the ship was very problematic.

Titanic. Photo: www.globallookpress.com

The bodies of the dead were going to be raised with dynamite

Immediately after the shipwreck, relatives of wealthy passengers who died in the disaster came up with a proposal to organize an expedition to raise the ship. The initiators of the search wanted to bury their loved ones and, to be honest, return the valuables that had sunk to the bottom along with their owners.

The decisive attitude of the relatives came across a categorical verdict from experts: the technology for searching and lifting the Titanic from great depths simply did not exist at that time.

Then a new proposal was received - to drop dynamite charges to the bottom at the supposed site of the disaster, which, according to the authors of the project, were supposed to provoke the ascent of the corpses of the dead from the bottom. This dubious idea also did not find support.

Started in 1914 First World War postponed the search for the Titanic for many years.

Interior of the veranda for first class passengers of the Titanic. Photo: www.globallookpress.com

Nitrogen and ping pong balls

They started talking about searching for the liner again only in the 1950s. At the same time, proposals began to appear for possible ways lifting it from freezing the shell with nitrogen to filling it with millions of ping-pong balls.

In the 1960s and 1970s, several expeditions were sent to the area where the Titanic sank, but all of them were unsuccessful due to insufficient technical preparation.

In 1980 Texas oil tycoon John Grimm financed the preparation and conduct of the first large expedition to search for the Titanic. But, despite the availability of the most modern equipment for underwater searches, his expedition ended in failure.

Played a major role in the discovery of the Titanic ocean explorer and part-time US Navy officer Robert Ballard. Ballard, who was involved in improving small unmanned underwater vehicles, became interested in underwater archeology and, in particular, the mystery of the Titanic sinkhole back in the 1970s. In 1977, he organized the first expedition to search for the Titanic, but it ended in failure.

Ballard was convinced that finding the ship was only possible with the help of the latest deep-sea bathyscaphes. But getting these at your disposal was very difficult.

Photo: www.globallookpress.com

Doctor Ballard's Secret Mission

In 1985, having failed to achieve results during an expedition in French research vessel Le Suroît, Ballard moved onto the American ship R/V Knorr, with which he continued the search for the Titanic.

As Ballard himself said many years later, the expedition, which became historic, began with a secret deal concluded between him and the command of the Navy. The researcher really wanted to get the Argo deep-sea research vehicle for his work, but the American admirals did not want to pay for the work of equipment to search for some historical rarity. The ship R/V Knorr and the Argo apparatus were supposed to carry out a mission to survey the sites of the sinking of two American nuclear submarines, Scorpion and Thresher, which sank back in the 1960s. This mission was classified, and the US Navy needed someone who could not only carry out necessary work, but will also be able to keep them secret.

Ballard's candidacy was ideal - he was quite famous, and everyone knew about his passion for finding the Titanic.

The researcher was offered: he could get the Argo and use it to search for the Titanic if he first found and examined the submarines. Ballard agreed.

Only the leadership of the US Navy knew about the Scorpion and Thrasher; for the rest, Robert Ballard simply explored the Atlantic and looked for the Titanic.

Robert Ballard. Photo: www.globallookpress.com

"Comet tail" at the bottom

He coped with the secret mission brilliantly, and on August 22, 1985, he was able to again begin the search for the liner that died in 1912.

None of the most advanced technology would have ensured his success if not for the previously accumulated experience. Ballard, while examining the sinkhole sites of the submarines, noticed that they left a kind of “comet tail” of thousands of fragments at the bottom. This was due to the fact that the hulls of the boats were destroyed when sank to the bottom due to enormous pressure.

The scientist knew that during the dive on the Titanic, the steam boilers exploded, which meant that the liner should have left a similar “comet tail.”

It was this trace, and not the Titanic itself, that was easier to detect.

On the night of September 1, 1985, the Argo apparatus found small debris at the bottom, and at 0:48 the camera recorded the Titanic’s boiler. Then it was possible to discover the bow of the ship.

It was found that the bow and stern of the broken liner were located at a distance of about 600 meters from each other. At the same time, both the stern and the bow were seriously deformed when immersed in the bottom, but the bow was still better preserved.

Ship model. Photo: www.globallookpress.com

House for underwater inhabitants

The news of the discovery of the Titanic became a sensation, although many experts hastened to question it. But in the summer of 1986, Ballard carried out a new expedition, during which he not only described in detail the ship at the bottom, but also made the first dive to the Titanic on a manned deep-sea vehicle. After this, the last doubts were dispelled - the Titanic was discovered.

The liner's final resting place is located at a depth of 3,750 meters. In addition to the two main parts of the liner, tens of thousands of smaller debris are scattered along the bottom over an area of 4.8×8 km: parts of the ship’s hull, remains of furniture and interior decoration, dishes, and personal belongings of people.

The wreckage of the ship is covered with multi-layered rust, the thickness of which is constantly growing. In addition to multi-layered rust, 24 species of invertebrate animals and 4 species of fish live on and near the hull. Of these, 12 species of invertebrates clearly gravitate towards shipwrecks, eating metal and wooden structures. The interior of the Titanic was almost completely destroyed. The wooden elements were consumed by deep sea worms. The decks are covered with a layer of shellfish, and stalactites of rust hang from many of the metal elements.

A wallet recovered from the Titanic. Photo: www.globallookpress.com

Are all the people left with shoes left?

During the 30 years that have passed since the discovery of the ship, the Titanic has been rapidly deteriorating. His current state such that there can be no talk of any lifting of the ship. The ship will forever remain at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.

There is still no consensus on whether human remains were preserved on the Titanic and around it. According to the prevailing version, all human bodies completely decomposed. However, information periodically appears that some researchers have nevertheless stumbled upon the remains of the dead.

But James Cameron, director of the famous movie "Titanic", whose personal account includes over 30 dives to the liner on the Russian Mir deep-sea submersibles, is sure of the opposite: “We saw shoes, boots and other footwear at the site of the sunken ship, but our team has never encountered human remains.”

Things from the Titanic are a profitable product

Since the discovery of the Titanic by Robert Ballard, about two dozen expeditions have been carried out to the ship, during which several thousand objects were raised to the surface, ranging from personal belongings of passengers to a piece of plating weighing 17 tons.

It is impossible to establish the exact number of objects recovered from the Titanic today, since with the improvement of underwater technology, the ship has become a favorite target of “black archaeologists” who are trying to obtain rarities from the Titanic by any means.

Robert Ballard, lamenting this, remarked: “The ship is still a noble old lady, but not the same lady I saw in 1985.”

Items from the Titanic have been sold at auction for many years and are in great demand. So, in the year of the 100th anniversary of the disaster, in 2012, hundreds of items went under the hammer, including a cigar box that belonged to the captain of the Titanic ($40 thousand), a life jacket from the ship ($55 thousand), and a master key first class steward ($138 thousand). As for the jewelry from the Titanic, their value is measured in millions of dollars.

At one time, having discovered the Titanic, Robert Ballard intended to keep this place secret, so as not to disturb the resting place of one and a half thousand people. Perhaps he shouldn't have done this.

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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 the 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. The Britannic was caught up in the First World War, where it served as a hospital, and in 1916 it 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 said 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 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 airliner was torn in half because bow took water and sank down. 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 shown today in dozens of feature films 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 sharply and unreasonably abandoned 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.

It is interesting that 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 Murdoch, 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 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.

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