"Come at once . We have struck a berg. It's a CDQ, old Man"
"We have struck an iceberg and sinking by the head"
"We are putting passengers in small boats. Women and Children in boats. Cannot last much longer"
"Engine room full up to boilers"
The following distress calls ensued from the Titanic just after midnight on April 15, 1912 until 1:45am.
On April 10, 1912, The RMS Titanic began it's maiden voyage from Southampton to New York - little did anyone know the ship wouldn't get to it's destination (or did they?).
There are a lot of stories surrounding the mystery behind the sinking of this great ship, growing up, I often wondered if anything could have been done to prevent the death of so many lives.
Have you ever imagined how it must have felt to be abord the Titanic as it sank? the chaos, the regret, the pain, the fear, the loss.
"Women and Children first"
As this was the law at sea, Children saying goodbyes to their fathers, Mother's saying goodbyes to their Sons, Wives saying goodbyes to their Husbands.
It is said that the water was extremely cold, and falling into the sea would have felt like a thousand blade piercing your skin all at once - what a horrible way to die, yet this was the fate that befell those who boarded the Titanic.
Imagine how lucky you would have to be if your boarding ticket had to be cancelled last minute only to realize that the ship would later sink.
Imagine how much you would have loved to be aboard such a ship when you hear Elon Musk, Bill Gate, Eminem, Ed Sheeran, Sia and a lot of influential people would be on that boat, that was how it felt for the passengers April 10, 1912 as they left Southampton heading for New York.
I would often watch the 1997 movie, Titanic- directed by James Cameron- each time hoping for a different ending, each time getting really sad and emotional. A lot of "what ifs", almost as though she was destined to sink.
1500 people lost their lives that night to the sea which would later become their watery grave, only about 700 survived.
The Titanic was the biggest Ship of it's time and it measured 882 feet long and 92 feet wide, with a weight of over 46,000 tons. It was as tall as a 17 story Building, with the top deck reserved for first class passengers and the lower deck for the third class passengers. It was what you would describe as a 5 Star hotel on the sea. It had 16 water tight compartment. It was regarded as "Unsinkable" due to these water tight compartment.
It was commandeered by Captain Edward Smith and aboard the ship were rich and influential people of that period one of whom was the richest man in the world (at that time), John Jacob "Jack" Astor IV among others.
There are a lot of mysteries surrounding the reason the sink sank.
The Mystery behind the iceberg and the coal that was burning in the ship haul
It was said that she had struck an Iceberg, another allegation was that a fire had started in the ship haul, which would have started days before the ship began it's journey to her watery grave. The survivors of the ship claimed they heard a powerful explosion.
Did the fire weaken the integrity of the ship when it struck the iceberg? we will never know
Insufficient Lifeboats
The Titanic was required to have 64 lifeboats, only 20 was present, this was done to create more space on deck. No one anticipated a ship of that size and design regarded as "Unsinkable" would require the need of a Lifeboat. The lifeboats were not filled to their maximum capacity when the ship started sinking.
Poor design of the watertight compartment.
The compartment wasn't high enough to prevent the flow of water into other compartment with led to the rapid sinking of this great ship. Thomas Andrew should have insisted when designing the ship that the compartment should have being as high as it should be.
Inadequate instrument
"Ice ahead"
The call that signaled the doom of the Titanic.
It is believed that the Night watchmen were not given binoculars, hence they didn't spot the iceberg on time.
The ignored warnings of "Iceberg ahead" from nearby ships
Most people blamed Captain Smith for ignoring all the warnings, seven iceberg warnings were sent out to the Titanic but they were all ignored, why?
Moving at full speed
It is believed that Joseph Bruce Ismay, the managing director of the white Starline had ordered the Captain to drive at full speed in order to make the early morning news when they arrived at New York earlier than schedule.
Now here's what I find funny - okay not funny.
If the Titanic had collided head on with the Iceberg, there was a great chance of the ship not sinking due to its watertight compartment.
If the ship had stopped all engines, reversed and went around the Iceberg, true, it would have cost them time but lives would be saved.
Instead of reducing the speed to turn the vessel through the side of the iceberg they should have maintained that speed. High speed leads to stronger turning efffect, they would have evaded the iceberg and maintained their course
There were a lot of options but the wrong one was chosen - my opinion
The Wreck of the Titan
This book was written by Morgan Robertson in 1898.
This book was written 14 years before the sinking of the Titanic, it was the same size as the Titanic, it sank in the same location as the Titanic, it struck an Iceberg, it had a similar size to the Titanic and it had insufficient lifeboats.
Was Mr Morgan Robertson a time Traveller? Was the book a warning?
The Wireless Communicator Operators
The Marconi company who were the leading wireless communication brand had put it's wireless operators on board some of the most prestigious ships, Titanic being one of them As you may well know, this technology was still new during this era.
The operators were busy sending out messages from the passengers to their loved ones when a nearby ship tried to warn them of the Iceberg ahead, they had to block out some signal communications to send out informations, it won't be fair to blame the operators given the sacrifice they made to keep sending out distress calls until the very last minute, Jack Phillips and Harold Bride. Jack Phillips l-the lead operator didn't make it alive and didn't leave his position despite the order from the captain to leave. You could say that his sacrifice saved over 700 lives.
Force Majeure
Perhaps this was an act of God. Most people believe that Man had challenged God by Building an unsinkable ship, perhaps that was punishment for that mistake.
On that night, the ocean was completely dark as the moon was nowhere to be seen, there was no way of spotting the iceberg from afar unless the ship was really close. Coincidence?
Conclusion
The list goes on and on, I won't be able to write everything that could have been avoided but the fact remains obvious that a lot of things could have been avoided, perhaps the ship was fated to sink.
109 years later the memories of this great loss still lingers in the minds of Men. The Sinking of the Titanic will remain one of the most painful tragedies to ever befall mankind.
If you had the power to go back in time to change what happened, what would you have done differently, leave your suggestions in the comment section
You have no sources given? Where did you find all this information from?