The Maiden Voyage
Newspaper article from March 14, 1912.
The Titanic set sail on April 10, 1912 from Southampton without an issue. The passengers onboard the ship were excited and in awe of the size and beauty of the new liner (Barratt, 2010). In New York the news of the Titanic’s future arrival and safe passage sparked ads for return tickets on board the Titanic. One newspaper in New York printed an ad one month before the tragedy, March 14, 1912 selling tickets aboard the Olympic and the Titanic leaving New York on March 23 and April 20 of 1912 ("The largest and," 1912). A picture of this ad can be found in Appendix B. The Titanic’s first days did have a few incidents.
The first incident occurred as the Titanic was leaving the harbor in Southampton. The Titanic had a near collision with a moored ship, the New York, missing the ship by two feet and was attributed to the harbor being cluttered with moored ships due to a coal strike (Daily Mail Reporter, 2010). The Titanic headed for New York without any more issues after the liner stopped at Cherbourg and Queenstown. At 11:00 pm on April 12, 1912, the wireless apparatus on board the Titanic broke down and was back in working order by 5:00 am on April 13. Also, a coal fire in bunker 6 had begun shortly after the Titanic’s final fitting and sea trials and it was not extinguished until 10:30 am on April 13, 1912. It had been burning for about four days (Barratt, 2010).
The first ice warning was received by the Titanic on April 12, 1912 at 9 pm. Five more warnings would be received before Captain Smith would order a change of course at 5:45 pm on April 14, leading the Titanic to take a more southerly route. At this point in the voyage, the Titanic has now traveled ten miles south of the normal shipping route for April and this decision was made probably due to number of ice warnings the ship had received (Barratt, 2010). Captain Smith attended a dinner party the night of the tragedy hosted by George Widener and his family, but left early to go to the bridge, worried the ship may have reached the ice fields described in the warnings ("Captain Edward John," ). A sixth warning is received before Captain Smith returns to the bridge to talk with Second Officer Lightoller about the calm, clear weather. Captain Smith retired from the bridge at 9:20 pm instructing Second Officer Lightoller to let him know if he is the slightest degree doubtful about the weather. At 11:40 pm, Lookout Fred Fleet rang the bell in the crow’s nest and telephoned the bridge with the warning that ice is right ahead (Barratt, 2010). First Officer Murdoch had only 37 seconds between the time he hears the warning and impact with the iceberg to avoid disaster ("Avoiding disaster on," ). Murdoch orders the ship turned hard astarboard and then hard a port hoping to miss the iceberg, instead the hull is punctured on the starboard side (Barratt, 2010; "Titanic's timeline," 2012).
At 12:15 am on April 15, 1912, Captain Smith accessed the damage and orders a distress signal, “CDQ,” to be sent out. He also orders the lifeboats to be uncovered and loaded with women and children. At 12:45 am, the first lifeboat left the ship and at 2:20 am, the Titanic sinks taking with her an estimated 1,500 souls including Captain Smith (Barratt, 2010; "Titanic's timeline," 2012). An estimated 705 people were saved in the lifeboats (Lane, 2004).
The picture above is of the Titanic setting sail from Southampton on her maiden voyage ("The Titanic setting," The Titanic setting sail). The second picture is of newspaper article from March 14, 1912 advertising return tickets, leaving from New York, for the Titanic and Olympic ("The largest and," 1912).
The first incident occurred as the Titanic was leaving the harbor in Southampton. The Titanic had a near collision with a moored ship, the New York, missing the ship by two feet and was attributed to the harbor being cluttered with moored ships due to a coal strike (Daily Mail Reporter, 2010). The Titanic headed for New York without any more issues after the liner stopped at Cherbourg and Queenstown. At 11:00 pm on April 12, 1912, the wireless apparatus on board the Titanic broke down and was back in working order by 5:00 am on April 13. Also, a coal fire in bunker 6 had begun shortly after the Titanic’s final fitting and sea trials and it was not extinguished until 10:30 am on April 13, 1912. It had been burning for about four days (Barratt, 2010).
The first ice warning was received by the Titanic on April 12, 1912 at 9 pm. Five more warnings would be received before Captain Smith would order a change of course at 5:45 pm on April 14, leading the Titanic to take a more southerly route. At this point in the voyage, the Titanic has now traveled ten miles south of the normal shipping route for April and this decision was made probably due to number of ice warnings the ship had received (Barratt, 2010). Captain Smith attended a dinner party the night of the tragedy hosted by George Widener and his family, but left early to go to the bridge, worried the ship may have reached the ice fields described in the warnings ("Captain Edward John," ). A sixth warning is received before Captain Smith returns to the bridge to talk with Second Officer Lightoller about the calm, clear weather. Captain Smith retired from the bridge at 9:20 pm instructing Second Officer Lightoller to let him know if he is the slightest degree doubtful about the weather. At 11:40 pm, Lookout Fred Fleet rang the bell in the crow’s nest and telephoned the bridge with the warning that ice is right ahead (Barratt, 2010). First Officer Murdoch had only 37 seconds between the time he hears the warning and impact with the iceberg to avoid disaster ("Avoiding disaster on," ). Murdoch orders the ship turned hard astarboard and then hard a port hoping to miss the iceberg, instead the hull is punctured on the starboard side (Barratt, 2010; "Titanic's timeline," 2012).
At 12:15 am on April 15, 1912, Captain Smith accessed the damage and orders a distress signal, “CDQ,” to be sent out. He also orders the lifeboats to be uncovered and loaded with women and children. At 12:45 am, the first lifeboat left the ship and at 2:20 am, the Titanic sinks taking with her an estimated 1,500 souls including Captain Smith (Barratt, 2010; "Titanic's timeline," 2012). An estimated 705 people were saved in the lifeboats (Lane, 2004).
The picture above is of the Titanic setting sail from Southampton on her maiden voyage ("The Titanic setting," The Titanic setting sail). The second picture is of newspaper article from March 14, 1912 advertising return tickets, leaving from New York, for the Titanic and Olympic ("The largest and," 1912).
Avoiding Disaster on the TitanicTo the right is a screen shot of the video Avoiding Disaster on the Titanic which details the amount of time First Officer Murdoch had to react to the sounding of the bell and the Maine Maritime Academy's simulation to see if cadets could have avoided the iceberg. If you would like to view the video then click on the link below.
http://www.history.com/topics/titanic/videos#titanics-achilles-heel-attempt-to-avoid-disaster ("Avoiding disaster on," ) |