...............The Titanic          
                                              41.69 LT   50.00 LN


    It  was  nearly  midnight when the  lookouts  saw  the  shape 
forming in the haze, towering 60 feet above the water.   Sounding 
the warning bell, they telephoned the bridge:
      "Iceberg right ahead!"
 
    The  first officer called a hard-a-starboard to the  helmsman 
and  ordered a full stop.  Working quickly, he activated a  lever 
that  closed the watertight doors below the waterline  while  the 
helmsman  spun the wheel as far as it would go.  The  great  ship 
veered to port, but too slowly; the iceberg struck her  starboard 
bow, scraping along the hull, and moved silently into the night.
 
    The  impact tore a gash in the hull, jarring the crew in  the 
forward  section yet scarcely disturbing the passengers, most  of 
whom  were  inside because of the cold air.  After  ten  minutes, 
water rose 14 feet above the keel and the first five compartments 
began  flooding.   One of the boiler rooms was eight  feet  under 
water.   Captain  Edward  J. Smith and one of  the  ship's  chief 
engineers  ran a rapid inspection belowdecks and  discovered  the 
mail  room  filling  with water, sacks of mail  floating  in  the 
advancing sea.  The worst was apparent:  the ship was going down.
 
    The captain had no time to cast blame for mistakes.  Lifeboat 
space  for the estimated 2,200 passengers was only 1,178  and  he 
knew more than 1,000 would have to stay behind.  He had an  hour, 
perhaps  two, to complete the orderly evacuation of the ship  and 
delay the inevitable panic as long as possible.
 
    A standard CQD distress call was sent out, and later the  new 
distress  signal,  SOS,  which was just  coming  into  use.   The 
Californian, 19 miles to the north, failed to respond.   Numerous 
other  ships  heard and answered the call, the next  closest  the 
Carpathia, some 58 miles southeast.  Her captain, Arthur Rostron, 
could  scarcely believe the news but turned his ship  full  steam 
and raced to the rescue.
 
    The  officers  began  loading women  and  children  into  the 
lifeboats.   Many of the passengers were reluctant to leave,  but 
the  firing of the distress rockets seemed to bring them  to  the 
realization  that the ship was in trouble.  Just inside the  Boat 
Deck entrance the ship's band continued playing lively tunes.
 
    As  the slant of the deck grew steeper, the  lifeboats  began 
leaving  more quickly and more fully loaded.  Down in the  engine 
room, the chief engineer and some of his crew stayed working  the 
boilers to keep the lights on and the pumps going.
 
    Soon, all the boats were gone, the ship was well  underwater, 
and over 1,500 people remained aboard.  Clinging to the rails  as 
the ship tilted violently, many plunged into the icy sea but were
sucked down by the pull of the ship.
 
    At 2:18 a.m., April 15, 1912, the ship's lights blinked once, 
then  went out, and the R.M.S. Titanic, the greatest ship of  her 
day, slipped below the sea.
 
-- -- --
 
    When she sailed on her maiden voyage in 1912, the Titanic was 
the  largest and most elegant liner in the world.  Eight  hundred 
eighty-two  feet  long, a hundred feet high at  the  bridge,  and 
weighing  over  46,000  gross  tons, she was  the  last  word  in 
floating  luxury.  The first-class suites were over 50 feet  long 
and  included a private promenade deck.  There were elevators;  a 
gymnasium;  a  Turkish  bath and swimming pool;  an  a  la  carte 
restaurant;  the  Cafe Parisien, a replica of  a  Paris  sidewalk 
cafe;  and a lavish Grand Staircase.  The first-class  passengers 
were the cream of society, and included the wealthy Colonel  John 
Jacob Astor, Benjamin Guggenheim, and Isidor Straus (the owner of 
Macy's) and his wife Ida.  
 
    The  actual  sinking of the ship has been re-created  by  Dr. 
Robert  Ballard of the Woods Hole Oceanographic  Institution.   A 
likely  scenario based on a study of the evidence indicates  that 
at  about 2:17 a.m. (the ship by this time was well down  at  the 
bow)  flooding increased rapidly and the ship  lurched  downward.  
The  wave of water coming over the bow collapsed the  bridge  and 
the officers' quarters; the number 1 funnel toppled forward.
 
    As  the  stern continued to rise, stress  on  the  midsection 
increased;  the  hull broke in two between the third  and  fourth 
funnel and the bow tore away, racing toward the ocean bottom  and 
dragging  with it a mass of debris--boilers, pieces of the  hull, 
funnels, etc.  The stern leveled somewhat, then pointed  straight 
up  under  the weight of the engines, pivoting as it did  so;  it 
stayed  this way a minute or more before plunging.  As  it  sank, 
the force of rushing water peeled back the Poop Deck.
 
    As  the  stern dropped more or less straight  down,  the  bow 
planed away at a shallow angle, plowing into the sea bed.  By the 
time  all the pieces had settled, the stern lay 1,970  feet  from 
the bow, facing the opposite direction.
  
    While the Titanic is open for exploration, the wreck site  is 
also  a  burial ground and stands as a memorial to all  who  went 
down with the ship.  You will be limited to viewing the  wreckage 
and taking pictures.


