It was a night filled with stars and orchestra music. Passengers on a luxury liner should have been dancing and having a relaxing Sunday evening. Everything changed when the Titanic collided with an iceberg and the "Ship of Dreams" was suddenly a sinking nightmare.
How it all began
The ship of dreams was nearly 885 feet in length and more than 53,000 tons in weight. It took only two and a half hours to be totally submerged to the bottom of the ocean. The date was April 14, 1912 when the floating city, the ship of dreams, hit an iceberg. It was nearly midnight and by the time the sun rose on the 15th, there was no sign of the once glamorous and grand vessel.
One of three ships built by the White Star Line to compete with other companies to transport passengers, the Titanic was the brainstorm of J. Bruce Ismay in 1907. Ismay was the director of the White Star Line and needed to compete with the Cunard Company, the builder of the Lusitania. He decided, along with Lord Pirrie of London, to build three new ocean liners, the Olympic, the Titanic, and the Gigantic.
Construction on the mighty ship began in the spring of 1909 in Belfast, Ireland. Fifteen thousand workers assembled the steel hull with its millions of rivets. Lord Pirrie had a large role in the design of the Titanic as well as Thomas Andrews. Details were handled by Alexander Carlisle. As each new part of the design was planned, it was sent to J. Bruce Ismay for his thoughts on the matter.
Preparing for her maiden voyage
During the ship's "fitting out," the preparation of everything a ship needs to be able to set sail, all kinds of last minute preparations were being undertaken. This included things such as stocking the kitchens with food, making sure everything was on board that needed to be there, installing a phone switchboard, and painting around the ocean liner.
This was also the time to add the lifeboats. Mr. Carlisle had planned for 64 lifeboats but the builders reduced the number to 16 because that is all that they were required to have. There were also four collapsible boats. The reasoning was that planning for only the required number of lifeboats would clear up more space for other things they wanted to have on the decks.
Early in April of 1912, the Titanic left Ireland and sailed more than 550 miles to the south of England. There were still some finishing touches to be done in England such as getting the fuel on board (coal) and hiring the crew. Cargo was loaded and among the many crates and items in the cargo section of the ship was a new Renault automobile and a gem-encrusted copy of The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam.