Back in Time is ED’s newspaper-like column that reports the past as though it had happened just yesterday. It allows the reader to relive it several years later, on the date it occurred.
April 15, 1912: The largest ocean liner in service today, The Titanic, sank today, in the early morning hours, in the North Atlantic Ocean.
Four days into her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York City, she has met with one of the deadliest maritime disasters in history. The tragedy took place when it struck a massive iceberg yesterday, at 11.40 p.m. Two hours later, at 2.20 a.m. today, it sank completely, taking away more than 1,500 lives.
Six warnings of sea ice were given to the British passenger liner, but she was travelling with a speed of 41 km/hr when her lookouts sighted the iceberg. Unable to turn quickly enough, the ship suffered a blow that opened six of her sixteen compartments to the sea.
Titanic’s lifeboat system was designed to ferry passengers to nearby rescue vessels. Unfortunately, the lifeboats could not hold everyone simultaneously. Therefore, with the ship sinking rapidly and only twenty lifeboats at its disposal, including four collapsible lifeboats; and with no help in a close proximity, there was no safe refuge for many of the passengers and crew.
Poor preparation for and management of the evacuation caused many boats to launch before they were even full. Out of the 2,240 passengers and crew on board, only 705 individuals survived.
Also Read: Back In Time: 76 Years Ago Today, The Father Of Our Nation Was Assassinated
Post Scriptum
The RMS Titanic was entitled to be the largest ship ever built in the world when it entered service in 1912. It was 882.5 feet long and 92.5 feet wide; and weighed more than 52,000 tons when fully loaded.
Its sinking was a tragedy that is still mourned, even a century after it took place. In fact, somehow all incidents related to the Titanic have ended up miserably. For example, in 2023, The Titan, a 21-foot submersible vessel that took five people on a $250,000 trip to see the Titanic, went missing.
The Titan was part of a mission by OceanGate Expeditions that took tourists to document the wreckage of the Titanic. The vessel had oxygen that would last for only about 96 hours. When the vessel could not be found after the said period, the US Coast Guard said the vessel likely imploded near the Titanic, and all five people on board died.
Various movies, stories, and books have also been produced that revolve around the tragedy of the great Titanic, including James Cameron’s Oscar-winning 1997 blockbuster ‘Titanic’, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet.
Recently, Clive Palmer, an Australian mining billionaire, announced his plans to build a replica of the Titanic. He claims that ‘Titanic-II’ would be ‘‘far, far superior to the original” and will set sail in 2027. The fate of this replica is yet to unfurl itself.
Image Credits: Google Images
Feature image designed by Saudamini Seth
Sources: Forbes, NDTV, The Guardian
Find the blogger: Unusha Ahmad
This post is tagged under: Titanic, Titanic-II, Atlantic Ocean, Southampton, New York, Kate Winslet, Leonardo DiCaprio, Clive Palmer, Australian, Titan
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