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.

All aboard . . .

The big day for sailing arrived, the 10th of April, and the crew boarded early in the morning. Captain Edward J. Smith, with 25 years as a captain behind him, had planned to retire after this journey. Passengers boarded and the historic voyage was about to begin. The number of passengers was 1,324 and the crew numbered 899.

The passengers were separated into first, second, and third class. First class cabins were luxurious by all accounts and third class accommodations were meager. Second class cabins were described to be somewhat like hotel rooms. Lunch and dinner included all kinds of meats, fish, vegetables, and desserts as well as a buffet for first class passengers while third class people were served things like corned beef and cabbage, biscuits, and potatoes. The first meal of day was served for two hours starting at 8:30 a.m.

Some of the rooms on the Titanic were designed to look like rooms in palaces and other expensive dwellings. There was a room where passengers could enjoy a Turkish steam bath and the cooling room looked like a colorful palace room of a sultan. There was a grand staircase covered by a glass dome to allow natural light to filter in. There was a smaller version of the staircase elsewhere on the ship. There were smoking rooms for men and a reading room for women. Two doctors sailed on the Titanic and staffed the hospital that was on board.

How did passengers spend their time?

• There were numerous perks on the ocean liner, many of them accessible to first class passengers only.
• There was a gymnasium with exercise equipment
• A swimming pool was available
• First class passengers had access to a squash court 
• A Turkish bath was available, also for first class passengers only

Passengers could play cards, read, or write letters in one of the lounges, or just relax on the decks. Music was available from the on board orchestra. Passengers enjoyed sending wireless messages to friends and family.

First precursor of trouble ahead . . .

The first warnings of ice came on April 12 with the wireless operators taking the messages from ships traveling in the opposite direction. When hearing of the messages, the captain gave orders for the ship to be steered south, as was the standard procedure for avoiding ice. Two days later, on the 14th, there were more warnings from ships concerning icebergs ahead. There were warnings of "growlers" as well, which are chunks of ice that have broken off from icebergs.

The fateful day arrives

April 14, 1912, was a Sunday. After breakfast, many of the passengers attended church services. Captain Smith himself officiated over the service for the passengers in first class. In the afternoon, the ship received a couple more warnings about icebergs. Captain Smith mentioned the warning to one of the ship designers, J. Bruce Ismay, who was on board and sailing with the maiden voyage.

The afternoon of the 14th was rather cold so there were not a lot of passengers out on the decks. They found things to do away from the elements and the lounge in first class had an inviting fireplace. It was a good day to relax with a good book or catch a nap.

By the time dinner was over, some first class passengers listened to the orchestra and had after dinner coffee while others retired for the evening. Some passengers in the second class section enjoyed singing hymns and it is reported that one of the songs had a topic of praying for those "in peril on the sea." There was a party going on in the third class area until it was time for "lights out" at 10 p.m.

One more iceberg warning came in from another ship that evening, but it was not given to Captain Smith. The officers prepared for possible ice problems and had crew members in the crow's nest looking for approaching ice. The captain assumed that the lookouts would see ice and that they could just move the ship around it if any was spotted.

Another ship, the Californian, stopped in the ice field because of the danger and had sent a message of caution to other ships in the area. It is a historically accepted fact that crew member Jack Phillips, who had 90 minutes earlier set aside an ice warning from another ship thinking the captain and the bridge had had enough warnings and were aware of the situation, answered the Californian's warning telegraph with a cut off and the words "shut up."

When the ice was spotted, the officers issued a warning to stop the engines and then reverse direction. At the same time, they started a hard turn, but it was simply too late. If the ship had not been slowed down, it very likely could have avoided the iceberg. If it hadn't turned and hit the iceberg head-on instead, many people believe it would not have fully sunk either because the damage would have been limited to the front compartment and not the six on the side.

Impact with a monster

It was 11:40 p.m., Sunday evening. The night sky was blanketed with countless stars and the air was crisp and frosty. The nightmare for the Ship of Dreams had begun.

The collision tore six compartments open. As water spilled into the open gaps, the bow sank more. The captain ordered the lifeboats to be prepared at five minutes after midnight and the first distress signal was sent out five minutes later. The ship that was to become the rescue ship was the Carpathia but it was hours away and the Titanic was going down fast.

The fourteen main lifeboats held 65 passengers each and the two emergency boats each held 40 people. The four collapsible boats were equipped to carry 47 passengers on each. There were enough life jackets for everyone, but the jackets did little to help the people not lucky enough to be put onto the lifeboats because of the icy waters.

At twenty five minutes after midnight, women and children started getting into the lifeboats. Although 65 people could fit into the first lifeboat to be lowered, it was put into the water with only 19 passengers. By the best estimates that were able to be gathered at the time, two of the boats with the capacity to hold 65 people were lowered with 70 passengers and one of them with 64, but the rest were lowered with less people than the lifeboat could have held.

At five minutes after 2 a.m., the captain announced to the crew in the wireless room that there was no more they could do. Jack Phillips remained, however, and tried sending out one more call for help. By this time, there was no hope left for being rescued. The lifeboats were gone, no rescue ship could be seen, and all those remaining were lost. As little as twenty minutes in the frigid water caused death due to hypothermia.

The captain went down with his Ship of Dreams. Passengers who had been lucky enough to get into the lifeboats were picked up by the Carpathia some time later. No one that hadn't been on one of the lifeboats survived. The saved numbered 705. J. Bruce Ismay had been on one of the collapsible boats and sent a message from the Carpathia to the office of White Star. The now infamous message said, "Deeply regret advise you Titanic sank this morning after collision with iceberg resulting in serious loss of life."

A Senate inquiry was held immediately and Mr. Ismay was the first person to testify, and was one of more than eighty people to do so. No proof could be found that he pushed Captain Smith to use faster speeds than were safe as had been suggested, or that he had any liability for what happened. The same conclusions were drawn in another inquiry held in Britain. He had to live from that day on with the knowledge that many thought he should have gone down with the ship as the captain had done.

Putting numbers on the devastation . . .

The numbers of the dead and surviving passengers have always been approximate because of the hand written passenger lists, etc. but as close as anyone has been able to estimate, the numbers of dead and surviving from the disaster were:

• From the first class section of the ship, 130 passengers died and 199 lived.
• From the second class section of the ship, 166 passengers died and 119 lived.
• From the third class section of the ship, 536 passengers died and 174 lived.
• There were 899 crew members and 685 of them went down with the ship while 214 survived.

Passengers came from many places, but the majority of travelers were from England, Ireland, and the United States. Wealthy passengers included Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Astor, Mr. and Mrs. Isidor Straus, Benjamin Guggenheim, the rich Philadelphian, Mr. George Widener, and Margaret Tobin Brown; the lady legend started calling "The Unsinkable Molly Brown" although it was likely she had never actually been known as Molly. She was possibly the passenger who came away from the disaster as the most well-known.

Maggie Brown's husband, J.J., had been a miner and a gold strike had suddenly made them quite wealthy. She decided to enrich her education and studied languages and the arts. Maggie was accepted to the Carnegie Institute in New York, one of the first women to have accomplished that. Maggie was returning home to America to be with her first grandchild, who had been ill. When the Titanic started sinking, Maggie dressed in some extra layers and grabbed a good luck charm. Maggie helped with rowing on the lifeboat she was a passenger on and helped keep other passengers calm after the survivors were picked up. Even after being returned to America, Maggie helped with fund raising for the victims of the disaster who had lost family members.

Mr. Astor was 47 years old and perished. His new wife was only 19 and pregnant and was in a lifeboat and saved. Mrs. Straus refused to get into a lifeboat if her husband could not do the same, and neither survived. Jack Phillips remained at his post as long as possible and died that evening, one day after having turned 25 years old.

External Links:

• Encyclopedia Titanica - All about the Ship of Dreams: passenger lists, articles, etc.
• RMS Titanic, Inc. - Much info about the ship and a traveling exhibition