RMS Titanic to RIP Titanic: Opulence to Obituary in 100 hours!!!

On this 100^th anniversary, the world mourns and recollects one of the biggest accidents of Titanic dimensions that mankind suffered.  

Yes folks it is about a certain RMS Titanic. This “Ship of Dreams” was operated by White Star Line and it was opined by many experts that Titanic is ‘unsinkable’.  Interestingly, the White Star Line had used the term "designed to be unsinkable" with reference to Titanic often. 

Life is a toughest teacher, it gives the test first and then the lesson, as was found out not just by White Star Line but also by the entire world. Titanic sunk during its maiden voyage mere 4 days after it set sail from Southampton on 10 April 1912. Its like a virgin dying within an hour of getting married!! 

RMS Titanic: Opulence extraordinaire

Titanic had the best in technology, people, luxury and leisure that the world had to offer then.

Grand Staircase of Titanic

Best in Technology: 

“She was the latest thing in the art of shipbuilding,” White Star chairman and managing director J. Bruce Ismay testified in a U.S. Senate inquiry into the Titanic’s demise.

Titanic incorporated the latest advances in power plant and propulsion systems. Not only that even the ship’s décor had subtle innovations designed to further the illusion of being on land. 

The crystal chandeliers in the A La Carte Restaurant, for example, were designed to hang rigidly from the ceiling, so that the sway of the ship wasn’t noticeable to diners. Similarly, the First Class Dining Saloon was broken up with alcoves outfitted with large leaded glass windows, which would be lit from behind to give the illusion that the restaurant was situated on a city street, instead of in the middle of the ocean.

The ship had Marconi wireless telegraph equipment fitted to communicate from the middle of the Atlantic to other ships.

Crème de la Crème of High Society: 

The Titanic's passenger list boasts of the crème de la crème of early 20th-century.

Mr. and Mrs. John Jacob Astor: 47-year-old Astor, the American head of the Astor clan with estimated personal net worth as much as $200 million

Benjamin Guggenheim: The 46-year-old was perhaps the second wealthiest man after Astor on the Titanic, with a personal wealth estimated at $95 million.

Maj. Archibald Butt: The 46-year-old Army officer and former newspaper correspondent was returning from a meeting in Rome with the Pope and Italian King Victor Emmanuel.

 

With such ‘important, high society’ personalities, on-board gymnasium, swimming pool, libraries, printing press (The Atlantic Daily Bulletin was printed every day on board the Titanic), high-class restaurants, the ship really had best in technology, people, luxury and leisure that the world had to offer. She was designed to cater to tastes, needs and comforts of the passengers of all strata of life.

 

Such was the opulence and luxury that was on offer aboard RMS Titanic that monikers like "Floating Palace", "Ship of Dreams" were always associated with the ship.

 

RIP Titanic: Obituary 

On that fateful day, April 14, 1912, four days into the sail and about 600 km south of Newfoundland at 11:40 pm (ship's time) Titanic met her nemesis; a huge iceberg.

The side-on collision caused Titanic's hull plates to crumple inwards at number of locations and opened watertight compartments. Water continued to fill in more and more watertight compartments over the next two and a half hours and with five of her sixteen compartments filled with water, it was like water in a tilted ice tray, the ship gradually sank taking almost 1514 people onboard Titanic to sea.

There are many theories put forward that indicate the reasons why Titanic sank. The list of reasons like the watertight compartments, high speed of titanic when she hit the iceberg, inferior steel, poor rivets is fairly long.  As Paul Louden-Brown, White Star Line Archivist puts it, “From the very day that she was designed she was almost doomed...this [the use of iron rivets] was almost the Achilles heel of the Titanic."

There were omens, signs that indicated very early in the voyage that Titanic was destined to meet such a disaster; however these omens were not read well.

Very first omen was a near fatal accident that was averted by a matter of about 4 feet. Only a few minutes later as Titanic set sail, her huge displacement caused the nearby moored liners SS City of New York and Oceanic, to be lifted by a bulge of water and then dropped into a trough. New York's mooring cables could not take the sudden strain and snapped, swinging her around stern-first towards Titanic. A nearby tugboat, Vulcan, came to the rescue by taking New York under tow and Captain Smith ordered Titanic's engines to be put "full astern"

One of the survivors of this holocaust said, it was the calmest sea he had seen in his 26 years sailing the North Atlantic. However, that was just a lull before the storm!!! The calm sea was really a trap because the absence of wave action against the iceberg made it less visible to the lookouts and Titanic sailed her way into the trap.

Alchemist said “Learn to read omens”; however the staff of Titanic either failed to read omens or did not want to read it!!!! An America cargo ship (the California) stopped to ride out the night in an ice field, 19 miles from the Titanic’s location and when it broadcasted warnings about icebergs, the Titanic’s wireless operator replied "Shut up. Shut up, I’m busy." In reality he was too busy sending personal messages from passengers and messages were also sent to stock brokers aboard Titanic!!!! They would have been much better off taking stock of the icebergs and the calm sea; instead they sailed at full speed, another mistake by the crew, on moonless night, to kiss the iceberg!!!

As the adage goes, you cannot create an experience you have to undergo it. Not just Titanic, but the entire world underwent this sinking and reacted quickly to this fateful event.

Because of the gravity of this disaster, there were whole lots of changes in maritime policy. First version of International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) treaty was released in 1914 as a response to the sinking of Titanic.

 

It was agreed that that ships would carry enough lifeboats for those aboard, mandated lifeboat drills would be implemented, lifeboat inspections would be conducted, etc. By the way, lifeboat drills aboard Titanic were scheduled to happen on April 14, 1912, but as the fate would have it, they were cancelled by the captain.

 

The disaster also meant that there were changes in design of the ships as well. The ships were refitted for increased safety, e.g. the double bottoms of many existing ships were extended up the sides of their hulls, above their waterlines, to give them double hulls. Another refit that many ships underwent were changes to the height of the bulkheads. The bulkheads on Titanic extended 10 feet (3 m) above the waterline. After the Titanic sank, the bulkheads on other ships were extended higher to make the compartments fully watertight.

 

Radio Act was passed in 1912 by US government and it mandated radio communications on passenger ships to be operated 24 hours along with a secondary power supply, so as not to miss distress calls. It was agreed that rockets at sea would be interpreted as distress signals only, thus removing any possible misinterpretation from other ships. Red rockets fired by Titanic, the distress calls, were ignored/missed by SS Californian. 

 

There are many lessons to be learnt from this calamity, even in personal life.

 

Do not be over confident: It was always thought that not even god can sink Titanic.

 

Always have back-up plan, test the viability of the plan and use it to the fullest: The lifeboat drill aboard Titanic was cancelled by captain, had they conducted the drill, they would have been better prepared at the time of disaster.

 

Titanic not only had fewer lifeboats, but even at the time of such calamitous time, many lifeboats were not filled to its capacity. e.g. Lifeboat 1 carried total of 12 people despite having a capacity for 40.

 

Cutting cost at places where you should not: While the makers of Titanic had spent lavishly on luxury, the lookouts aboard Titanic were not equipped with binoculars as they were expensive and deemed redundant as Titanic was thought to be unsinkable!!!!!

 

In reality, from the time the lookouts sounded the alert, the officers on the bridge had only 37 seconds to react before the Titanic hit the iceberg!!!! Had the lookouts been equipped with binoculars, they would have spotted the iceberg very early giving officers more time to react.

 

Be open to suggestions: An America cargo ship (the California) stopped to ride out the night in an ice field, 19 miles from the Titanic’s location and when it broadcasted warnings about icebergs, the Titanic’s wireless operator replied "Shut up. Shut up, I’m busy."

 

Well, with its all glory, luxury and grandeur Titanic did deserve a much better fate. 

 

Quirkier are the ways of destiny, though, and Titanic even with her full grandeur was destined to be a Tear in Wood!!!  (Tear as in crying and Tear as in scratch; Pun intended)