When the Titanic was launched. Titanic - real interesting facts about the wreck of the famous ship

More than 100 years have passed since the terrible disaster of one of the largest liners 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. "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 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 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 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 replacement

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.

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 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.

April 9, 1912. Titanic in the port of Southampton the day before sailing to America.

April 14 marked 105 years since the legendary disaster. Titanic is a British steamship of the White Star Line, the second of three twin ships of the Olympic class. The largest passenger airliner in the world at the time of its construction. During its maiden voyage on April 14, 1912, it collided with an iceberg and sank 2 hours and 40 minutes later.


There were 1,316 passengers and 908 crew members on board, for a total of 2,224 people. Of these, 711 people were saved, 1513 died.

Here's how Ogonyok magazine and Novaya Illustration magazine talked about this tragedy:

Dining room on the Titanic, 1912.

Second class room on board the Titanic, 1912.

The main staircase of the Titanic, 1912.

Passengers on the deck of the Titanic. April, 1912.

The Titanic orchestra had two members. The quintet was led by 33-year-old British violinist Wallace Hartley and included another violinist, a double bassist and two cellists. An additional trio of musicians of a Belgian violinist, a French cellist and a pianist were hired for Titanic to give Caf? Parisien with a continental touch. The trio also played in the lounge of the ship's restaurant. Many passengers considered the Titanic's ship's band to be the best they had ever heard on a ship. Typically, two members of the Titanic orchestra worked independently of each other - in different parts of the liner and in different time, but on the night the ship sank, all eight musicians played together for the first time. They played the best and most cheerful music until the last minutes of the ship's life. In the photo: Musicians of the Titanic ship's orchestra.

Hartley's body was found two weeks after the sinking of the Titanic and sent to England. A violin was tied to his chest - a gift from the bride.
There were no survivors among the other members of the orchestra... One of the rescued passengers of the Titanic would write later: “Many heroic deeds were performed that night, but none of them could compare with the feat of these few musicians, who played hour after hour, although the ship sank deeper and deeper, and the sea approached the place where they stood. The music they performed entitled them to be included in the list of heroes of eternal glory." In the photo: The funeral of the conductor and violinist of the Titanic ship's orchestra, Wallace Hartley. April 1912.

The iceberg that the Titanic is believed to have collided with. The photo was taken from the cable ship Mackay Bennett, captained by Captain DeCarteret. The Mackay Bennett was one of the first ships to arrive at the site of the Titanic disaster. According to Captain DeCarteret, this was the only iceberg near the crash site. ocean liner.

The lifeboat of the Titanic, photographed by one of the passengers of the Carpathia steamship. April, 1912.

The rescue ship Carpathia picked up 712 surviving passengers from the Titanic. A photograph taken by Carpathia passenger Louis M. Ogden shows lifeboats approaching the Carpathia.

April 22, 1912. Brothers Michel (4 years old) and Edmond (2 years old). They were considered “orphans of the Titanic” until their mother was found in France. The father died during the plane crash.

Michel died in 2001, the last male survivor of the Titanic.

A group of rescued Titanic passengers aboard the Carpathia.

Another group of rescued Titanic passengers.

Captain Edward John Smith (second from right) with the ship's crew.

Drawing of the sinking Titanic after the disaster.

Passenger ticket for the Titanic. April 1912.

On April 14, 1912, the world was still well-fed, insolent and unsinkable. Humanity had mastered the power of steam and electricity—it no longer needed God. Therefore, by the end of Black Saturday on April 14, rock reminded itself. Heavy salty waves closed over the most ambitious after Tower of Babel the dream of mankind - the luxurious Titanic. No one should have survived. It was an execution.

Studying the details of the shipwreck, researchers cannot get rid of a strange feeling: everything that happened was built into an endless stream of absurd, inexplicable and tragic misunderstandings. Thousands of small human mistakes merged into one monstrous absurdity, as if everyone around was consciously working to bury the giant liner in the black Atlantic depths.

Literally a week before the disaster, when the liner was sailing from Southampton to Sherba, all the watchmen had binoculars. And when the four-pipe ship rushed at full speed into the ice-clogged Atlantic, no one had binoculars except the captain, but he had no intention of being the lookout.

Second-class passenger Miss Mary Young had opera glasses and saw the fatal iceberg half an hour before the collision, but did not tell anyone. A sailor in the observation “nest” on the mast noticed him two and a half minutes before the edge of the ice floe cut through the side of the Titanic and water rushed into the “watertight” compartments of the hold.

But even without binoculars, an experienced watchman is able to see much earlier - unless, of course, we are talking about a “black” iceberg. They are found extremely rarely, violating all the laws of physics, ice blocks for some reason turn over in the water, exposing to the surface not the white frosted crown of the iceberg, but a translucent dark green part. It is believed that the chance of encountering a “black iceberg” is approximately one in a thousand. Of course, Titanic got this chance.

Meanwhile, the black ice killer was spotted by one of the ships ahead of the Titanic on the busy route to New York. Usually, information about dangerous ice floes is immediately transmitted to the ships behind. But... it was on April 14 that the Titanic's ship's radio station went out of order. Radiotelegraphists Phillips and Bride spent seven hours straight fiddling with the Marconi apparatus and repaired it a few hours before the disaster.

However, in seven hours, 250 telegrams accumulated at once, which had to be sent to New York. They were paid for in advance by passengers rushing to tell their relatives that the Titanic had arrived at its destination a day ahead of schedule, setting a new record for the speed of crossing the Atlantic Ocean. Therefore, telegraph operators simply did not have time to receive warning messages coming from other ships.

A thousand absurdities! For some reason, out of 32 boats, only 20 were on the liner. But these 20, in turn, left the ship only half loaded, which is why 473 more people remained on the sinking ship. The third class passengers did not have life jackets. Moreover, none of the crew members were trained to use the vests until they left Queenstown for the ocean.

The ship's captain had no direct telephone connection to the radio room, although there were telephones in the 50 first-class passenger cabins. At the same time, in the tragedy of absurdities and mistakes there are several fatal scenes that cannot be explained from the point of view of human logic. Twelve miles from the sinking ship was the steamer Californian, frozen overnight, whose crew watched with interest as white flares flashed on the horizon above the unfamiliar ship.

"Falling stars?" - suggested the Californian's watch officer. “No - crackers!” — the cabin boy answered with a smile. In vain, the fourth officer Boxhall, barely holding on to the tilting deck of the Titanic, fired his “crackers” eight times into the starry sky. After all, signal flares, meaning a call for help, are red. Everyone at sea knows this. And if the officer from the Titanic had fired a red rocket, the Californian would have managed to bring on board 1,400 people frozen in the icy water among the wreckage.

But he released white ones. Because on board the ship there were Turkish baths and swimming pools, palm trees and chapels, parrots in cages and boxes of first-class Burgundy, but there were no red flares. By whose will the radio operator of the Californian turned off his receiver and went to bed just a few minutes before the first help signal was broadcast from the nearby Titanic.

“CQD” - the then analogue of “SOS” - was heard even in... Egypt, in Port Said, 3000 miles from the site of the tragedy, but not on the Californian, in the line of sight. An impenetrable magical wall grew between the two ships that night - they were close, but forever far from each other. And therefore, on the sinking steamer, they did not even notice the signals that the Californian officer was giving with a lantern.

And he submitted them just in case, but did not receive an answer. Of the two thousand people rushing along the heaving deck of the liner, no one noticed the flashes of light on the horizon.
Bitter coincidences the very next day after the tragedy gave rise to persistent rumors about the mystical doom of the Titanic. They remembered the “bad sign” - in the very first minutes of the voyage, leaving the port of Southampton, the Titanic almost collided with the ship New York, which was standing at the neighboring pier.

The powerful propellers of the Titanic created underwater currents of such strength that the New York was uncontrollably pulled towards the giant liner - a collision was barely avoided. Then the surviving passengers began to talk about more and more mysterious signs that did not foretell anything good for the Titanic from the very first minutes of its voyage.

The ceremony of launching the Titanic on May 31, 1911 was organized with great pomp: thousands of guests and journalists were invited, special postcards and souvenirs were issued, 23 tons were used to lubricate the “sleigh” on which the monstrous carcass of the steamship slid from the slipway into the water locomotive oil and liquid soap. Rockets were launched into the sky, dozens of bottles of champagne were broken... For some reason, the organizers forgot only one thing - they did not consecrate the ship according to Christian maritime custom.

Maybe it all started when the ship was named? The Titans, children of the earth goddess Gaia, in Hellenic mythology personified the blind, uncontrollable and aggressive forces of nature. The Titans challenged the Olympian celestials, intending to seize power over the world, and each time they were defeated and driven back into the deep bowels of their mother earth.

The creators of the Titanic - the bosses of the transatlantic company White Star, Bruce Ismay and Lord James Pirrie - conceived their brainchild as a kind of ultra-modern challenge to nature, thrown at it by the scientific and technological revolution. Like Eiffel Tower, the ship was designed to demonstrate the triumph of the daring human mind. It was a hundred feet longer than the previous Atlantic champion, the Lusitania, owned by rival Cunard, and 1,004 tons heavier than its younger brother, the Olympic.

An attack of gigantomania took hold of the creators so much that they built four chimneys on the Titanic, although in reality only three worked (that’s why the scenes from films where smoke pours out of all four chimneys of the Titanic make you smile). The fourth was ordered to be added by the owner of the holding, multimillionaire Pierson Morgan...

The maiden voyage of the Titanic was conceived as an event comparable in scale to the main super shows of the century. A first class ticket cost about $50,000 in today's money. Hundreds of people paid money not because they needed to go to New York. They bought tickets to the show. They got it.

All newspapers wrote about the “unsinkability” of the Titanic: a system was created that put an end to the centuries-old struggle of man with the elements. Even icebergs are no longer scary, because not for the first time, having encountered ice floes, steamships remained afloat - in 1879 this happened with the Arizona, in 1879 with the Concordia, in 1911 with the Columbia. All ships were hit below the waterline, but none of them sank. The Titanic was much better prepared for the iceberg than any of these ships.

It sank in an hour and a half. When the news of his death reached London, one of the warlock masters there calculated that the liner’s ship number - 390904 - after the operation of “transforming” the numbers into letters, reads like the short blasphemous phrase “No Pope”. This observation became another argument in the collection of “facts” and “prophecies” that, in the opinion of many, predetermined the fate of the Titanic.

Among the first, by the way, a version arose about a mysterious “cursed diamond” that was allegedly in the possession of one of the passengers (information about the diamond could not be verified, but it is known for certain that the pearl necklace of the safely escaped Mrs. Widener was then worth 16 million). They also talked about a certain “universal villain” who was on board the liner: as if providence, sending one and a half thousand people to the bottom, actually pursued the goal of killing only one of the passengers. The search for the villain is still ongoing.

The list of famous personalities is very long - Colonel Archibald Butt, military adviser to US President Taft, millionaire Gutenheim, who, according to legend, managed to change into a tailcoat in order to meet his death like a gentleman in a flooded cabin, died along with the Titanic. Another millionaire, 21-year-old Asley Widener, became a victim of the Titanic (his mother came to the port of New York to meet the Titanic on her own train of four Pullman cars).

The ocean floor became the grave of the Strauss, owners of the Macy's chain of stores that is still thriving in the United States. The death of these people is also inexplicable. If we think logically, anyone but millionaires and aristocrats would find places in the lifeboats first of all.

There were almost three times as many people of lower classes among the dead - statistics show. And the controversy still rages: is it true that third-class passengers were locked in the holds. This forces some scientists to put forward their version of the fatal doom of the ship. In their opinion, the fatal purpose of the disaster was to intensify the class struggle in the Old and New Worlds.

Indeed, the total wealth of first class passengers on the Titanic exceeded $500 million. And more men from first class survived than women and children from third class. And this despite the strict maritime rules “Places in boats are for women and children!” “Using the example of the Titanic, the poor were convinced that if the world was dying, only the rich would survive,” said a surviving third-class passenger in an interview...

However, if you follow this logic, among the 705 survivors there must have been John Jacob Astor, one of the richest people of his Time. He was returning with his young wife (his second and already pregnant) from a trip to Egypt. A day after the death of the liner, the secular publication American published a 4-page article about the deceased Mr. Astor and only at the end mentioned the other victims of the disaster.

Astor’s wife escaped, but her husband’s disfigured body could only be identified by the monogram on his shirt—he was caught from the water a week later. Astor had to be saved, the amazed New York rich people repeated to each other in shock. Many things should not have happened that night, but providence had its own view of the Titanic. Isn’t every word dictated by pride in the book of the deceased John Jacob Astor, in which he tells how man in the year 2000 will live on Mars and Saturn, and giant steamships “will cross the Atlantic in four and a half days” and “will be as stable as a fortress?” "?

When the Titanic sank ocean depth, the eight musicians on the mangled deck continued to play - they died, all eight, when the waves washed them overboard overnight. When the bow of the ship broke away and went deep into the depths, they played “Autumn.” And then they started the last song. It was called "God is getting closer."

The dead carcass of the Titanic fell into the depths, and now the people in the lifeboats were slowly freezing to death. The Californian standing nearby, as if in the grip of an obsession, was still unable to notice them and come to their aid. The rest of the ships were terribly far away - the Russian steamer Burma heard the SOS and hurried to the rescue, but even at full speed it could only make it in the morning.

"Mount Temple" - 60 miles, "Baltic" - 55 miles, "Olympic" - 70... Salty water does not freeze at minus one degree Celsius. The crests of cold waves rolled over the low sides of the boats, which were mostly women and children, many of them in hysterics trying to jump overboard to share the fate of their loved ones.

In boat “A” people were sitting up to their waists in icy water, and after half an hour they had to throw the corpses of two women overboard - they froze right in the boat. Rescue boat number 12 was covered by waves twice - it was only a miracle that it did not sink. As doctors later calculated, any of the 705 surviving passengers had no chance of surviving more than 12 hours...

The small, underpowered ship Carpathia was 58 miles southeast of the disaster site when the ship's radio operator, Francis Cottam, heard a hysterical "CQD" from the sinking Titanic. He later recalled that he caught the signal at the very last moment, already taking off his headphones and getting ready to sleep. Cottam did not have a replacement. If he had fallen asleep five minutes earlier, the captain of the Carpathia would never have known that the Titanic was already sinking. The captain's name was Arthur Rostron. He never drank, smoked or cursed. Even in the age of steam and electricity, in the era of the most ambitious dreams of mankind, he did not forget how to pray.

Rostron was nicknamed “electric spark” by his subordinates for his ability to instantly make strong-willed decisions. The man's willpower was well known. At the age of 23, when Rostron joined the Cunard company, he once and for all banned himself from drinking alcohol. Two years later I stopped smoking. He swore extremely rarely—exactly once a month, as one of the officers counted—and every time then he loudly asked the Lord for forgiveness for the foul language that escaped his tongue.

Arthur Rostron first went to sea as a boy, at the age of 13, with his father. They say that it was during the boy’s “baptism at sea” that a certain incident occurred that had a strong impact on his psyche - since then Rostron prayed every day.

When radio operator Cottam, his face twisted with horror, burst onto the captain's bridge and confusedly muttered something about the sinking Titanic, Arthur Rostron, as usual, made a decision instantly. First, he turned to the crucifix hanging on the wall and whispered a few words. Then he turned to his subordinates. “We’re turning the ship around,” he said. This was a very risky decision - there were already eight hundred passengers on board the Carpathia.

Rushing to help the victims of the disaster, the captain directed the ship to a terrible area of ​​iceberg accumulation, one of which turned out to be fatal for the Titanic. "Carpathia" with its only pipe developed a speed of only 14 knots - so Rostron ordered all additional resources of steam, hot water and electricity to be transferred to the boilers. At full speed, the small and unprepossessing ship flew into the kingdom of icebergs. Needless to say, the watchmen, alas, also did not have binoculars? Providence took a lot into account; it did not take into account the will of Arthur Rostron.

The owners of the Titanic were going to bring the liner to New York a day ahead of schedule so that there would be a record. The record was set by “Carpathia” - it arrived at the scene of the disaster almost an hour earlier than it could and than everyone expected. Captain Rostron won only an hour of time from fate, but an hour turned out to be more valuable than a whole day. They made it in time. 705 passengers were boarded.

“Carpathia” now really resembled an overcrowded Noah’s Ark: dining rooms and corridors were hastily converted into hospital wards, tables were turned into beds, and yet dozens of people only had room on the floor.. All doctors from among the passengers of “Carpathia” were mobilized for treatment sick and wounded, all healthy women were sent to the kitchen to cook hot broth and coffee...

When the overloaded Carpathia slowly and carefully entered the New York port and moored at Pier 41, when the crowd on the pier sobbed and the flashbulbs flashed, the second officer of the Carpathia recalled one detail in a conversation with journalists: throughout the entire four-hour raid to at the site of the sinking of the Titanic, Captain Rostron... prayed.

“His lips were moving,” the officer said, “this is quite understandable: at such speed, we also had almost no chance of noticing the iceberg in time.” A few days later, Rostron himself admitted to one of the journalists: “I still can’t get rid of a strange feeling.

When we walked among the ice, it seemed to me that someone else's hand was on the steering wheel. She was the one who steered the ship.” It is possible that it was this feeling that led him to give the order for a short church service to be held on board the Carpathia immediately after the last of the victims was brought on board. Only after the end of the service did Rostron give the order to move on to New York.

Arthur Rostron overcame the will of providence. Or maybe it was just crowded out. After all, the main thing has already been done: a terrible blow has been dealt to the pride of humanity. That's enough... And in honor of Arthur Rostron, a special medal of the US Congress was issued.

He was knighted by British royal decree. After some time, Sir Arthur headed the entire passenger fleet of the Cunard company. There are monuments to him in many cities in England, the USA, France and Ireland. On one of them, in the vicinity of Southampton, there is an inscription: “To Sir Arthur Rostron. Who transformed the “age of steam” into the “age of spirit.”

Noah's Ark, called "Carpathia", sank quietly and unnoticed by everyone on July 1, 1918. The old 13,600-ton ship was hit by three torpedoes fired by a German submarine. Of the 75 people, five died from the explosion, the remaining 70 safely reached the nearby British warship Snowdrop. "Carpathia" disappeared under water very quickly in just 15 minutes. However, she never claimed the title “unsinkable”.

And what happened to the other captain, Stanley Lord, who stole his Californian from under the very nose of trouble? Both the British and American commissions investigating the circumstances of the sinking of the Titanic found him indirectly guilty of this. He was removed from naval service and died in obscurity. Stanley Lord's son persistently tried to rehabilitate his father's name. In the 50s, he repeatedly appealed to both commissions with requests for a re-investigation. But it was all in vain. Stanley Lord fulfilled the will of providence. It no longer needed him and rewarded him with oblivion.

Crash passenger airliner The Titanic, during which 1,517 of the 2,229 passengers and crew died (official figures vary slightly), was one of the largest maritime disasters peacetime.

The 712 surviving passengers of the Titanic were picked up by the rescue ship Carpathia.

Few disasters have caused such a resonance and had such a strong impact on public consciousness. The disaster changed attitudes towards social injustice and influenced the rules for implementing passenger transportation in the Atlantic Ocean, contributed to stricter requirements for the presence of a sufficient number of lifeboats on board passenger ships and led to the creation of the International Ice Service.

April 14, 2016 marked the 104th anniversary of the disaster of the Titanic, which became one of the most famous ships in history. Many books and films, exhibitions and memorials are devoted to the theme of the Titanic sinking.

At 2:20 am, the Titanic broke into two parts and sank. At that time there were about a thousand people on board. People who found themselves in the icy water soon died from hypothermia. (Frank O. Brainard Collection)

The British passenger liner Titanic sets sail from Southampton, England on her first and last voyage on April 10, 1912. Before heading to New York, the Titanic stopped at Cherbourg (France) and Queenstown (Ireland). Four days later, on April 14, 1912, at 23:40 local time, the liner collided with an iceberg 603 kilometers south of Newfoundland.

The disaster shocked the whole world. The investigation into the cause of the Titanic's sinking, which began a few days after the disaster, contributed to significant improvements in shipping safety. (United Press International)

The passenger liner Titanic departs on her first and last voyage to New York from Queenstown, Ireland, 1912. On board the liner were the richest people of the time: millionaires John Jacob Astor IV, Benjamin Guggenheim and Isidore Strauss, as well as more than a thousand emigrants from Ireland, Scandinavia and other countries who were about to start new life in America.

Workers leave the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast, where the Titanic was built between 1909 and 1911. At the time of its launch, the Titanic was the largest passenger liner in the world. In this 1911 photo, the Titanic is in the background.

Dining room on the Titanic, 1912. The liner was designed and built with the latest technology and served as the embodiment of luxury and comfort. On board there was a gym, a swimming pool, libraries, high-end restaurants and luxurious cabins.

Second class room on board the Titanic, 1912. More than 90% of the second class passengers were men, who remained on board the sinking liner, as women and children were the first to board the lifeboats.

The Titanic sails from Southampton, England, on April 10, 1912. Some experts believe that the cause of the Titanic disaster was the poor quality of the hull rivets that were used in the construction of the liner.

The height of the liner from the keel to the top of the chimneys was 53.3 meters, 10.5 of which were below the waterline. The Titanic was taller than most city buildings at the time.

Captain of the Titanic, Edward John Smith, captained the largest liner of his time. The length of the Titanic was 269.1 meters, width - 28.19 meters, displacement - more than 52 thousand tons.

An undated photograph of the Titanic's first mate William McMaster Murdoch, who is revered as a hero in his homeland of Dalbeattie, Scotland. However, in the film Titanic, which received many Oscar awards, Murdoch's character is portrayed as a coward and a murderer.

At a ceremony marking the 86th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, 20th Century Fox executive vice president Scott Neeson presented a check for $8,000 to Dalbeattie School to apologize to the officer's relatives.

Presumably, the iceberg that the Titanic passenger liner collided with on April 14, 1912. The photograph was taken from the cable-laying vessel Mackay Bennett, captained by Captain Descarteret.

The Mackay Bennett was one of the first to arrive at the site of the Titanic disaster. According to Captain DeCarteret, it was the only iceberg near the site of the ocean liner wreck.

Passengers and some crew members were evacuated in lifeboats, many of which sailed only partially full. This photograph of lifeboats approaching the Carpathia was taken by Carpathia passenger Louis M. Ogden.

The photograph was presented at an exhibition of documents related to the Titanic disaster, which Walter Lord bequeathed to the National maritime museum in Greenwich, England.

The rescue ship Carpathia picked up 712 surviving passengers from the Titanic. A photograph taken by Carpathia passenger Louis M. Ogden shows lifeboats approaching the Carpathia.

This photograph was also exhibited in an exhibition of documents that Walter Lord bequeathed to the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich.

Although the Titanic had advanced safety measures such as watertight compartments and remote-controlled watertight doors, the ship did not have enough lifeboats for all passengers.

There were only enough boats for 1,178 people - that's only a third of all passengers and crew. In this photo you see the rescue of passengers from the Titanic.

Reporters interview passengers of the sunken Titanic who disembarked from the rescue ship Carpathia on May 17, 1912.

Seven-year-old Eva Hart with her father Benjamin and mother Esther, 1912. Eve and her mother escaped the sinking Titanic, but her father died when the British liner sank on the night of April 15, 1912.

People stand on the street waiting for the arrival of the Carpathia ship.

A huge crowd of people gathered near the office of the White Shipping Company Star Line on Broadway in New York to find out last news about the sinking of the Titanic, April 14, 1912.

People read reports outside The Sun newspaper office in New York after the sinking of the Titanic.

Two messages sent from America to Lloyds of London insurers in London erroneously claimed that other ships, including the Virginia, were nearby providing assistance during the Titanic disaster.

These lots will be auctioned at Christie's in London in May 2012.

Titanic survivors Laura Francatelli and her employers Lady Lucy Duff-Gordon and Sir Cosmo Duff-Gordon stand aboard the rescue ship Carpathia. Francatelli said she heard a terrible crash and then cries for help as her boat sailed away from the sinking ocean liner Titanic on that tragic night in 1912.

The passenger liner Titanic shortly before departure on its first and last voyage, 1912.

The photo, released by Henry Aldridge & Son/Ho auction house in Wiltshire, UK, on ​​April 18, 2008, shows an extremely rare artifact - a passenger ticket for the Titanic.

An exhibit bequeathed to the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, England by Walter Lord is a Marconi telegram. Miss Edith Russell (journalist and Titanic survivor) wrote in Women's Wear Daily: "Saved on the Carpathia, tell mother." "Carpathia", April 18, 1912.

Lunch menu from the restaurant on board the Titanic, signed by the surviving passengers. Walter Lord bequeathed this document to the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, England.

The bow of the sunken Titanic, 1999.

One of the propellers of the Titanic passenger liner. The photo was taken during an expedition to the shipwreck on September 12, 2008. Five thousand artifacts will be sold at auction on April 11, 2012, almost 100 years after the Titanic disaster.

The starboard side of the Titanic's bow. This image was released by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution on August 28, 2010.

Part of the Titanic's side, chains and an additional anchor buoy. Dr Robert Bollard, who discovered the wreck of the Titanic almost 20 years ago, returned to the site of the tragedy to look at the damage caused to the ship and its treasure by looters and seekers of easy enrichment.

The huge propeller of the sunken Titanic lies at the bottom Atlantic Ocean. The photograph is undated. The first tourists to visit the shipwreck in September 1998 saw the propeller and other parts of the famous liner.

This 17-ton fragment of the Titanic's hull was recovered during an expedition to the shipwreck in 1998.

A 17-ton fragment of the Titanic passenger liner, which was recovered from the ocean floor during an expedition to the shipwreck, July 22, 2009. On April 11, 2012, this exhibit will be sold at auction along with 5 thousand other artifacts.

A gold Waltham American pocket watch - a personal item of Karl Asplund - is seen in front of a painting of the Titanic painted by C. J. Ashford. The watch was found on the body of Karl Asplund, who sank with the Titanic.

Money from the Titanic. The owner of one of the richest collections of things found on the Titanic put it up for auction in 2012, the year of the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the famous liner.

Photographs of Felix Asplund, Selma and Karl Asplund and Lillian Asplund in Devizes, Wiltshire, England. These photos are part of Lillian Asplund's collection of Titanic-related items.

Lillian was 5 years old in April 1912 when the Titanic struck an iceberg and sank on its maiden voyage. The girl survived, but her father and three siblings were among the 1,514 people who died.

Artifacts recovered from the Titanic wreck are on display at the TITANIC The Artifact Exhibit in California. scientific center: binoculars, comb, dishes and a cracked incandescent lamp. February 6, 2003.

Glasses found among the wreckage of the Titanic. The full collection of artifacts found at the Titanic wreck site will be auctioned in April 2012 - 100 years after the tragedy.

Golden spoon from the Titanic.

The chronometer from the captain's bridge of the Titanic is on display at the Science Museum in London. It is one of more than 200 objects recovered from the ocean floor where the Titanic sank.

Visitors to the exhibition at the museum can go through the entire history of the famous liner in chronological order - from the drawings for its construction to the moment of destruction after a collision with an iceberg.

The Titanic's speed measuring instrument and Gimbal lamp are among the artifacts on display at the museum in New York.

Objects from the sunken Titanic on display at the New York Museum.

A cup and pocket watch are among many items found on the Titanic, as well as a White Star Line flag button and a small porthole.

These spoons from the Titanic are part of an exhibit at the South Norwalk, Connecticut Museum.

The gold-plated handbag is one of the items from the Titanic.

The Titanic's stern, with two propellers sticking out of the mud and sand, rests on the ocean floor 600 meters south of the ship's bow.

The first complete image of the legendary wreckage. The photo mosaic consists of 1500 images high resolution made using sonar studies.

The starboard side of the ship. The bow of the Titanic was the first to sink to the bottom of the ocean, so that its front part was buried in the sand, forever closing the mortal wounds left by the iceberg.

The mutilated stern in profile.

The stern of the Titanic, top view. This interweaving of metal is a mystery to scientists. As one of them said: “If you decipher this, you will love Picasso.”

Two Titanic engines are visible through a crack in the stern. These huge structures, covered with rust, once powered the largest airliner in the world at that time.

British transatlantic steamer The Titanic was built in Belfast at the Harland and Wolff shipyard for the White Star Line shipping company. At the time of commissioning it was the largest ship in the world. On April 10, 1912, the Titanic sailed on its first and last voyage. The command of the Titanic on its first voyage was entrusted to Edward John Smith, the most experienced captain of the White Star Line, his captain's experience totaled 25 years. He led a crew of more than 900 people.

Passengers boarded the Titanic at 9:30 a.m. on April 10 at the port of Southampton. At 9:45 a.m. a special White Star Line train departed from London Waterloo Station, carrying first class passengers to Southampton. Around eleven o'clock the train arrived at the ocean dock where the Titanic was moored. 245 second and 497 third class passengers from London were carried by an earlier train, departing at 7:30 and arriving at 9:30.

At 11:50 the ship's whistle announced that the Titanic would set sail in ten minutes. Journalists, mourners and port officials left the ship. A pilot boarded the Titanic. Six tugboats began to pull the Titanic away from the pier and into the fairway of the Test River. When the tugs dropped the cables, the pilot commanded “Slow forward,” and the Titanic moved past the berth walls located behind the ocean dock under its own power. At that time, the steamships Oceanic and New York were moored there, the latter moored alongside the Oceanic. At the moment when the Titanic caught up with the New York, the six steel cables with which the steamer was moored burst, and the stern of the New York, which fell into a dangerous zone of external hydrodynamic pressure created by the movement of more large airliner, began to approach the Titanic. Captain Smith immediately ordered the vehicles to be stopped. One of the tugboats accompanying the Titanic went around the New York, secured the cable thrown to it from the deck, and with all the power of its engines began to pull the ship back to the shore. The Titanic passed the New York by just a few tens of centimeters. Two tugboats moved the Titanic, which narrowly escaped collision, back to allow two other tugboats to move the New York to its new berth.

After the incident, the Titanic continued its journey at low speed an hour late. From Southampton Bay, the Titanic entered the Solent Strait, skirting the Isle of Wight on the eastern side. Having reached the eastern tip of the Isle of Wight, the ship slowed down again to allow the pilot to leave. After that, an order was transmitted from the bridge to the engine room to increase speed, and the Titanic headed south, towards the shores of France.

2 Cherbourg

The weather over the English Channel was windy and cloudy. The Titanic covered a distance of 147 km in six and a half hours and arrived in Cherbourg at about 18:30. The port of Cherbourg did not have a berth suitable for the Titanic, so the liner anchored in the middle of the bay. Passengers and cargo were delivered on board by auxiliary vessels Nomadik and Traffic. Many traveled to the Cherbourg marine station by a special train, coordinated with the schedule of the ship, which departed from the Paris Saint-Lazare station at 9:40. A significant portion of the new passengers were wealthy Americans who had finished their winter season in Monte Carlo, Nice, Cannes and other Riviera resorts. The stay in Cherbourg lasted an hour and a half; at 20:00 the Titanic weighed anchor and set off for Queenstown.

3 Queenstown

On April 11, the Titanic was already approaching the coast of Ireland. A few kilometers before the port, a pilot came on board. At 11:55 am the Titanic dropped anchor in Cork Harbour, 6.5 km from Queenstown.

The auxiliary ships America and Ireland carried passengers (mostly young Irish emigrants, third class passengers), cargo and mail to the Titanic. In addition to passengers, journalists, photographers and local merchants boarded with the permission of the captain. At 1:30 p.m., after all the guests had left the ship, the anchor was raised and the Titanic set sail for New York with 2,208 people on board.

4 Transatlantic route

When the Titanic reached the Fastned lighthouse, which marked the beginning of the transatlantic route, the captain gave the command “Full speed ahead” and the ship reached a speed of 21 knots (39 km/h). In 1898, shipping companies whose ships provided communications between Europe and North America, have entered into an agreement to maintain certain lines used at different times of the year. First of all, this was to allow ships to avoid, especially during certain months, areas where there was a threat of ice and fog. In addition, precisely marked courses when moving from east to west and back should have helped to minimize the risk of collisions between ships going towards each other. And finally, in the event of an accident, the established corridors in navigation in the North Atlantic made it possible to count on the quick help of another ship traveling the same route. From January 15 to August 14, ships were ordered to move along the southern route, the turning point to New York was located approximately 750 km southeast of the island of Newfoundland. This was done in order to bypass the area of ​​the Great Newfoundland Bank, where a large number of icebergs accumulated. High tides caused by the record close approach of the Moon and Earth in January 1912 contributed to icebergs reaching the Great Bank of Newfoundland a month earlier. In April 1912, a north-northwest wind dominated over the Atlantic. The coincidence of the directions of constant winds and ocean currents caused icebergs to penetrate further south than usual.

As soon as the Titanic left Ireland the skies cleared and the weather was good for the time of year throughout the voyage. During the second day (from noon on April 11 to noon on April 12), the Titanic covered 715 km, on the third day - 962 km, and on the fourth day - 1012 km.

On Sunday, April 14, the ship was already sailing at a speed of 22.75 knots (42 km/h), but in the morning, on the initiative of the captain, two more boilers were launched in boiler room No. 5. Early in the morning the weather was cloudy, light rain was falling, and a westerly wind was blowing up to 7 m/s. By midday the sky had cleared, but it had become colder. The air temperature was 6 °C

On April 14, the Titanic's radio operators began receiving messages about icebergs and ice fields with their coordinates. The first ice warning came at 9:00 from the steamer Caronia, warning of ice fields and accumulations of icebergs and growlers (ice debris). Captain Smith acknowledged receipt of the message. At 11:40, the captain received a telegram from the steamer Noordam, which reported drifting ice in approximately the same area indicated by the Caronia.

At 13:42 the Baltic ship relayed the following message: “To Captain Smith, Titanic.” Clear weather since departure. The Greek steamer "Athens" reports the passage of icebergs and a large number of ice fields today in the area of ​​​​41°51′ north latitude and 41°52′ west longitude... I wish you and the Titanic success."

Smith, showing this warning to White Star Line managing director Bruce Ismay, calculated new route. The Titanic set course for Sandy Hook Spit an hour after passing the turning point where transatlantic ships usually headed for New York. The liner continued to go southwest and traveled about 40 km in this direction before, at 17:50, First Mate Wild commanded the helmsman: “Rudder 47 degrees to the right,” and the Titanic changed from heading 242° to heading 289°. This was done in order to definitely avoid encountering icebergs.

At 13:45 the German ship "America" ​​reported that it had encountered two big icebergs 620 km south of Newfoundland. However, this warning was not transmitted to the bridge. The reasons for this are not clear; perhaps the radio operators forgot to convey the information to the captain, as they were busy troubleshooting the equipment.

At 19:30 an ice warning was received from the steamer Californian: “...Ice in the area between 42° and 41°25" north latitude and 49°30" west longitude. We saw large cluster broken ice and many large icebergs. There are ice fields too. The weather is good and clear."

This message was also not conveyed to the bridge watch. Apparently, radio operator Jack Phillips did not understand him because he was busy sending to the relay station at Cape Race (Newfoundland) private telegrams that had accumulated while the radio transmitter was faulty. The last ice warning was received at 22:30 from the Californian, which was drifting on the edge of an ice field about 50 km from the Titanic. The Californian's radio operator, Cyril Evans, began to transmit the coordinates of the danger zone, but Phillips rudely interrupted him: “Shut up! I am working. I have a connection with Cape Race.” Thus, the most important ice warning was ignored.

At 21:20, the captain left the bridge and went to a dinner in his honor, hosted by the Widener couple. At 10:30 p.m., the Titanic parted ways with the Rappahannock, which was heading in the opposite direction from Halifax. Shortly before this, the Rappahannock, maneuvering among drifting ice floes, received damage to its stern. As soon as both ships were within sight of each other, Albert Smith, who was acting as captain on the Rappahannock, used a Morse lamp to establish contact with the Titanic: “We have just passed through an ice field and between several icebergs,” in response with “ Titanic" signaled: "Message received. Thank you. Good night" No measures were taken after this: the number of patrolmen was not increased, the ship continued to sail at the same high speed.

At 21:30, another warning about the presence of icebergs was received - this time from the Mesaba steamship, which was addressed to all ships going east: “Ice conditions. Today, icebergs and extensive ice fields have been spotted in the area of ​​41°25′ north latitude, between 49° and 50°3′ west longitude. The weather is good, clear.”

In the evening it became very cold, in two hours the air temperature dropped from 6 °C to 0 °C, there was complete calm, there were not even ripples on the surface of the water. The night from April 14 to 15 was windless, cold, clear and moonless. The Titanic was sailing almost at top speed, more than 22 knots.

5 Crash

At twelve o'clock at night most of the passengers went to bed. First mate William Murdock took over the watch, replacing Charles Lightoller, the second mate. On the top platform, at an altitude of 29 m above the waterline, two lookouts were on duty: Frederick Fleet and Reginald Lee. The air temperature dropped to −1°C, and there was no excitement. The ship was traveling at a speed of 22.5 knots (41.7 km/h).

Visibility was about six kilometers, but the moon did not shine that night. The lookouts were warned about the danger of ice, and they and other crew members were ordered to look out for icebergs and ice debris in the sea especially carefully.

At 23:30, Fleet and Lee noticed a slight haze ahead on the horizon, but did not attach any importance to it. Nine minutes later, Fleet saw the outline of an iceberg straight ahead, about 600 m away. He rang the bell three times, indicating an obstacle ahead, and contacted sixth mate James Moody by telephone. He reported the iceberg to William Murdoch, who commanded helmsman Robert Hichens: “Right board” (in 1912 terminology, the command “Right board” meant turning the helm as far as possible to the left). He himself moved the handles of the machine telegraphs to the “Stop machine” position. A little later, so that the stern did not hit the iceberg, he commanded “Left on board”, thus trying to go around the iceberg. It took about 30 seconds for the steam drive to turn the rudder. Stopping the propellers led to a decrease in angular speed (turnability decreased).

The iceberg was approaching the ship, which continued to move forward at high speed by inertia. Only after 25-30 seconds the Titanic’s bow began to slowly deviate to the left. At the last second, the iceberg passed the stem and smoothly passed along the starboard side. The Titanic managed to turn 2 points, which was enough to avoid a head-on collision, but not enough to avoid contact with the iceberg. At 23:40, the starboard side of the liner touched the underwater part of the iceberg. On the upper decks, people felt a weak push and a slight trembling of the hull; on the lower decks the blow was a little more noticeable. As a result of the collision, six holes with a total length of about 90 m were formed in the skin of the starboard side. As a result of contact with the iceberg, five bow compartments were damaged; the unsinkability system of the liner was not designed for this. Designer Thomas Andrews, called by the captain for consultation, stated that the ship could remain afloat for no more than an hour and a half.

At 00:05, Captain Smith ordered the crew to prepare the lifeboats for launch, then went into the radio room and ordered the radio operators to broadcast a distress signal. The boarding of the first passengers into the boats began at about 00:20; on the orders of the captain, children and women were placed in them first. Since the collision was practically not felt by the passengers, they were reluctant to leave the ship, on which everything was outwardly in order: there were no power outages, and the trim on the bow increased slightly during the first hour. To prevent panic, crew members reported that the evacuation was being carried out as a precaution. The captain's assistants supervised the boarding of passengers into the boats. During the first hour, only 180 people were evacuated; the boats were lowered half-empty. At 1:20 am, water began to flood the forecastle. At this time, the first signs of panic appeared. The evacuation went faster.

7 ships responded to the distress signal and went to the disaster site. Of these, the closest (about 93 km) was the steamship Carpathia. Heading towards the sinking Titanic, he reached his maximum speed of 14 knots.

After 1:30 the bow trim began to grow rapidly, and panic began on board. The boats aft on the starboard side were lowered overcrowded. The crew tried their best to hold back the onslaught of the crowd and let women and children into the boats first. The members of the engine team did not stop working. Through the efforts of boilermakers, machinists, and mechanics, the system maintained the steam pressure necessary to generate electricity and operate the pumps that pump out water.

After 2:05 the last boat was lowered, and around 2:10 water began to flood the boat deck and captain's bridge. The 1,500 people remaining on board rushed towards the stern. The trim began to grow before our eyes, and at 2:15 the first chimney collapsed. At 2:16 the power went out. At 2:18, with a bow trim of about 23°, the liner broke apart. Bow, having fallen off, immediately sank to the bottom, and the stern filled with water and sank in two minutes. At 2:20 the Titanic completely disappeared under water.

Hundreds of people swam to the surface, but almost all of them died from hypothermia: the water temperature was −2 °C. About 45 people were saved on two folding boats that did not have time to be lowered from the liner. Eight more were rescued by two boats that returned to the wreck site (No. 4 and No. 14). An hour and a half after the Titanic was completely submerged, the steamer Carpathia arrived at the disaster site and picked up 712 survivors of the wreck. As a result of the tragedy, 1,496 people died.

 

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