You don't grow up in Ulster, and study engineering
in Belfast, without learning about the R.M.S. Titanic. This disaster is
imprinted on the Northern Irish consciousness and many "what ifs"
abound. What if the ship had not been called "unsinkable" - or she had
sailed further south away from the icebergs - or they had heeded the ice
warnings from other ships and lowered their speed, and gave up on trying
to set a speed record on her maiden voyage - or had more lifeboats, and
had more lifeboat drills - or if Captain Lord of the nearby ship
"Californian" had been more on the ball and more willing to come to
their rescue? This ill-fated ship was built in Belfast by Harland and
Wolff for the White Star Line.
At 882.6 feet in length, 92.6 feet in breadth, and 46,328 gross tonnage,
she was the largest and most luxurious ship of her time. She was sailing
from Southampton with stops at Cherbourg, France and Queenstown, Ireland
for New York, on her maiden voyage when she hit an iceberg on April 14,
1912, 11:40 P.M., 95 miles south of the Grand Banks of Newfoundland,
latitude 41 46 N, longitude 50 14 W. At 2:20 A.M., April 15, she sank.
1,517 passengers and crew were lost, according to the American Inquiry.
Only 706 survivors were picked up by the Cunard liner Carpathia when she
arrived on the scene, four hours after receiving the Titanic's wireless
distress signals, the first time S.O.S. "dit-dit-dit da-da-da
dit-dit-dit" was transmitted.
The Titanic was one of three very large ships built for the White Star
Line. Emphasis was on luxury. Titanic was a sister ship to Olympic which
worked the North Atlantic until 1935. Like Olympic, Titanic was a
triple-screw ship designed for a service speed of 21 knots. Her
registered horsepower was 50,000, although the actual power developed
was at least 55,000. Four huge funnels were an average of 150 feet from
the floors of the boiler rooms. In fact, only three were used to take
smoke from the furnaces. The fourth funnel, placed above the turbine
hatch, the funnel nearest the stern, was also a ventilator, but it was
added for looks and prestige.
Titanic sailed from Belfast April 2, 1912, for Southampton, to prepare
for the maiden voyage. The double-bottomed hull was divided into 16
watertight compartments. Up to four could be flooded, without sinking.
Therefore she was thought to be "unsinkable", and those involved acted
accordingly. The lessons learned were plentiful. The iceberg she
collided with supposedly tore a 300 foot gash in her right side,
rupturing five of the watertight compartments. In 1985 when the Titanic
was discovered, no gash was found. Instead, the impact caused lots of
rivets to pop and thereby leak. The 21 knot speed she was travelling at
the time was considered later to be too fast for the conditions. Was the
ship's owner trying to break the record for this Trans-Atlantic maiden
voyage?
There were not enough lifeboats. Only space for 1,178, when the total on
board was 2,223. Only 706 were rescued. Some on the ship refused to go
into the lifeboats, considering them unsafe, wouldn't separate families,
or didn't believe the ship would sink. After the disaster, corrective
measures were taken. There was to be lifeboat space on ships for
everyone, and ships were to have searchlights. Ships' officers were to
have binoculars. There were to be lifeboat drills on board,
around-the-clock watches, and the International Ice Patrol was
established. It took such a tragedy to bring these changes.
Belfast and the engineers and employees of Harland and Wolff can still
be proud. The Titanic was a well engineered and well-built ship. It was
human failures to blame for the tragedy. No one had made preparations
for such a happening. Simply stated, the owners and those in charge of
this ship did not operate it properly. Luxury and speed interests
surpassed safety. No one really knows how they would have acted if they
had been on the Titanic back then, until you actually face such a
danger. How would you and I have acted? Would it have been like any of
these people on the Titanic? Mr. J. Bruce Ismay, Managing Director of
the International Mercantile Marine, and White Star Line, who couldn't
resist stepping into one of the last lifeboats, and lived to tell the
tale.
Captain Edward J. Smith who went down with his ship. Sir Cosmo and Lady
Duff Gordon, who were in one of the first lifeboats to leave the ship
with only 12, when it had capacity for 40, and they supposedly offered
money to the others on board so they wouldn't go back toward the ship
and try to save others, afraid that their boat might be swamped. Mr.
Thomas Andrews, from Comber, Northern Ireland, Managing Director of
Harland and Wolff, the company that built the ship, who when he quickly
determined that the ship was doomed, worked feverishly to prepare others
to save themselves, yet went down himself with the ship.
Officers and crew, such as Charles H. Lighttoller, Second Officer;
Herbert Pitman, Third Officer; Joseph Boxhall, Fourth Officer; Harold
Lowe, Fifth Officer; James Moody, Sixth Officer; Second Wireless
Operator, Harold Bride; Lookout, Frederick Fleet; Quartermaster, Robert
Hitchens; Steward, William Faulker; Steward, F. Den Ray; Fire-man, Fred
Barrett; Seaman, E.J. Horswell, all of them managed to survive. Mrs. Ida
Straus, wife of the founder of Macy's Department Store, who refused to
leave her husband, Isidor, saying We have been living together for many
years, and where you go, I go. Hugh Woolner and Bjornstrom Steffanson
had previously helped block other men from getting into lifeboats, but
in the end, jumped into one of the last boats themselves. Officers and
crew who did not survive, such as: Henry T. Wilde, Chief Officer,
William M. Murdoch, First Officer, First Wireless Operator, Jack
Phillips and the Ship's Musicians, all eight. All of the officers and
senior employees in the Engineering Department, 38 in total.
P.S. There were fifteen Andersons aboard the Titanic.- Mr. J. Anderson
from 1 Cozens Court, Southampton, a Deckhand was saved. Also, a first
class passenger, Harry Anderson, Waldorf Hotel, London was saved. There
were twelve Andersons from Scandinavia (or the continent) that embarked
at Southampton, men, women and four children, travelling third-class. Of
them, only two survived. A Bedroom Steward, Mr. W. Anderson from 12
Queens Terrace, Southampton lost his life.