Project Titanic:
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The R.M.S. Titanic will always be remembered in history as the most famous ocean disaster. This is all down to her short life from Belfast, where she was built, to the bottom of the north Atlantic.
Conceived in the mind of Bruce Ismay, designed by Thomas Andrews and brought to life by the men of Harland and Wolff. In March 31, 1909 the keel of Titanic was laid. May 31 1911, the hull of Titanic was launched successfully with over 100,000 people. March 31, 1912 Titanic was completely finished and ready for operation. By April 10, 1912 Titanic was fully stocked with fuel and supplies. A full crew boarded at Southampton under the command of Captain E.J. Smith. The final preparations were overseen by the ship's designer Thomas Andrews.
On April 14, 1912 Titanic received several ice warnings, but captain Smith pushed for more speed. It is believed that captain Smith was under pressure from Bruce Ismay, White star's Chairman.
At 11:40 p.m. on the same day, Titanic struck an iceberg causing the rivets to pop and also puncturing some of the hull plates. This caused the first 5 of the 16 watertight compartments to flood.
There was a great deal of confusion over the lifeboat drill as very few of the crew knew how to operate the davits. Also there was to be a lifeboat drill on that morning but as it was the same time as the morning service it was discarded.
At 2:20 am on April 15, 1912 Titanic made its last plunge, never to see daylight again. 705 people were saved in the lifeboats at the same time 1500 souls were left helpless in the freezing north Atlantic. All the survivors could do was to sit and try to ignore the screams for help.
At 4:10 am on April 15, 1912 the first of the survivors were picked up by the Cunard vessel Carpathia. By 8:30 am the last of the survivors were picked up.
On September 1, 1985 a Franco - American scientific expedition led by Dr. Robert Ballard finally discovers and photographs the remains of the wreak of Titanic on the ocean floor 12,460 feet down. Several attempts and ideas have been made to raise the wreak but all have failed.
All the information in this site is under copyright which is held by
Peter Bayliss
© 1999 Peter Bayliss
For any comments of queries about this site please mail me here olympica@geocities.com