RMS Titanic

Over the recent months a lot interest has been shown by the press into the story of RMS Titanic which struck an iceberg on 14th April 1912 at 23:40 (Ship time) and sank at around 02:20. Of course many of us have seen films, television programs and some of us have read books about the subject, and for some reason this tragedy has touch many people more than most.

At the time it was hailed as the "Worst Ocean Disaster in Worlds History" with the loss of 1,514 souls, including some of the wealthiest people in the world, when the ship sank. The ship itself  was the last word in comfort and luxury, with an on-board gymnasium, swimming pool, libraries, high-class restaurants and opulent cabins. She also had some of the most advanced safety features including watertight compartments and remotely activated watertight doors. The there was just one thing she lacked, enough life boats to carry all the crew and passengers, although she was designed to carry 64 lifeboats only 16 where carried by the ship.

A lot has been made over the years about the lack of lifeboats on the Titanic but it has to be remembered that at the time, the Board of Trade's regulations required British vessels over 10,000 tons to carry 16 lifeboats and in that respect the Titanic didn't break any regulations. The fact that she was designed with space for more lifeboats shows the company that built her were thinking of the future. The thing was that at the time lifeboats were intended to ferry survivors from a sinking ship to a rescuing ship, not carry all the people on the ship. That was later to change after Titanic sank when passenger liners were required to carry more lifeboats and carry out regular lifeboat drills. 

Another of the advanced features carried by the Titanic  was a powerful wireless telegraph. This was provided for the convenience of passengers as well as for operational use of the ship. In the end it proved to a life saver. It also gives us one of the few factual records of what happened that night minute by minute as the operators tapped out messages to the other ships that were in the area, The value wireless telegraph system installed can be seen by Britain's postmaster-general comments when he said while referring to the Titanic disaster that, "Those who have been saved, have been saved through one man, Mr Marconi...and his marvellous invention."

One of the big controversies of the time was why the SS Californian, which was a few miles from the Titanic, never picked up the distress signals from the Titanic or responded to the distress rockets. If it had then the number of people lost would have significantly lower. It took over two hours for the ship to sink which should have allowed many of passengers and crew to be transferred to the SS Californian. As it was the it was the RMS Carpathia, who after hearing a distress signal, made it's way to the sinking Titanic, only reaching her last know position after she sank. She was over fifty miles away when it arrived it went about picking up survivors. Much has been written about why the SS Californian had failed to go to the assistance of Titanic, but it remains a fact that if the wireless telegraph on the ship wasn't manned during the night thing might have been so different,

As you can imagine after such a disaster there were investigations in to the sinking of Titanic in the United Kingdom and in America. The findings of both sets of investigations had a profound affect on the safety of passenger ships for years to come. To give an idea the level detail the investigations went into the American enquiry lasted 18 days, heard the testimony of 86 witnesses and produced a 1000 page transcript. Recommendations included the manning of radio telegraph equipment twenty fours a day on passenger liners, increasing the number of lifeboats, the implementation of lifeboat drills, the setting up of International Ice Patrols and the harmonisation of safety regulations internationally. Both investigations also found that the captain of SS Californ had acted improperly in failing to come to the aid of the sinking ship.

The fact that we are remembering this disaster one hundred years on show how much it has become part of our folklore. The whole story has captivated generation after generation, produced book after book, and made it to the big and small screen. It is a story that will continue for another hundred years.