RMS TITANIC  ~ 101 Years On

    

  I know.. its a very different post!!!!   I thought this would make a change from my usual mummy/pregnancy posts :-) and I do hope some of you might find this post interesting and not like a boring history lesson!!   I am a Titanic fanatic so i thought it would be good to write a bit about Titanic as it will be the 101st anniversary of the disaster on Sunday 14th April.
I hope you enjoy it :-)

        

Today, 101 years ago, Titanic set sail on her maiden voyage. She set sail from Southampton
and headed for New York, with 2, 224 passengers on board.

 

                                                            Titanic leaving Southampton

On the 4th day of Titanic's journey, at around 11:40pm, she struck an iceberg which coursed the hull plates to buckle and fill with water.  Many of the passengers remained calm as they were not fully aware of what had happened and they didn't know there were not enough lifeboats for everyone aboard.  At 12:15am, distress signals were sent out. Passengers and crew were evacuated in Lifeboats, some of which were only half full.
Women and children were to be evacuated first, leaving the men to say goodbye to their wives and children.

At 2:20am the ship sank with over 1 thousand people aboard. 

                                                             Titanic's Grand Staircase

 1,517 people died in the Atlantic ocea that night.
The guests were split into first, second, and third class, and the higher classes had an advantage when it came to boarding lifeboats and being closer to the top of the deck where the lifeboats were being deployed. As far as actual numbers go, 130 first class passengers died, 166 second class passengers died, and 536 third class passengers died. Most of the third class women and children died and most of the first and second class women and children lived.

In the end, the sinking took the lives of 1,347 men and only 103 women. Most of the crew also died during the sinking of the Titanic. There were 899 crew members and 685 of them died during the tragedy. Children also had a high fatality rate, although there weren’t as many on board. 53 Children died which was about half the number of children on board.

       

   

                                 Most of the recovered bodies are buried in Novia Scotia, Canada.
                                                The unidentified bodies were buried at Sea.
   The last Titanic survivor was 97 year old Millvina Dean, who died in 2009.
She was just 9 weeks old when she boarded Titanic, she, her mother and 2 year old brother escaped on a lifeboat, but her father perished in the disaster and his body was never found.

                                                        Millvina - Titanic's last survivor

                                                          Facts about Titanic
Canceled Lifeboat Drill
Originally, a lifeboat drill was scheduled to take place on board the Titanic on April 14, 1912 - the day the Titanic hit the iceberg. However, for an unknown reason, Captain Smith canceled the drill. Many believe that had the drill taken place, more lives could have been saved.

The Titanic's Newspaper
The Titanic seemed to have everything on board, including its own newspaper. The Atlantic Daily Bulletin was printed every day on board the Titanic. The newspaper included news, advertisements, stock prices, horse-racing results, society gossip, and the day's menu. 


Only Two Bathtubs
Although most passengers had to share bathrooms (only the two promenade suites in first class had private bathrooms), third class had it rough with only two bathtubs for more than 700 passengers.

Another Boat Was Closer for Rescue
When the Titanic began sending out distress signals, the Californian, rather than the Carpathia, was the closest ship; yet the Californian did not respond until it was much too late to help. At 12:45 a.m. on April 15, 1912, crew members on the Californian saw mysterious lights in the sky (the distress flares sent up from the Titanic) and woke up their captain to tell him about it. Unfortunately, the captain issued no orders. Since the ship's wireless operator had already gone to bed, the Californian was unaware of any distress signals from the Titanic until the morning, but by then the Carpathia had already picked up all the survivors. Many people believe that if the Californian had responded to the Titanic's pleas for help, many more lives could have been saved. 

Two Dogs Rescued
With the order for women and children first into the lifeboats, plus the knowledge that there were not enough lifeboats for everyone on board the Titanic to be saved, it is a bit surprising that two dogs made it into the lifeboats. Of the nine dogs on board the Titanic, the two that were rescued were a Pomeranian and a Pekinese.

Corpses Recovered
On April 17, 1912, the day before survivors of the Titanic disaster reached New York, the Mackay-Bennett was sent off from Halifax, Nova Scotia to search for bodies. On board the Mackay-Bennett were embalming supplies, 40 embalmers, tons of ice, and 100 coffins. Although the Mackay-Bennett found 306 bodies, 116 of these were too badly damaged to take all the way back to shore. Attempts were made to identify each body found. Additional ships were also sent out to look for bodies. In all, 328 bodies were found, but 119 of these were badly damaged and thus were buried at sea.