Titanic

On April 14th, 1912 at 11:40 p.m., the RMS Titanic experienced a catastrophic event that ultimately led to its demise three hours later at 2:20 a.m. on April 15th. The largest ship of its time disappeared beneath the ice-cold surface of the Atlantic Ocean, taking with it over 1500 lives, which accounted for more than two-thirds of all the people on board. The commonly held belief was that the ship had collided with an iceberg, but recent findings by scientists have debunked this theory. The Titanic was an impressive feat of engineering, measuring 882 feet 9 inches long, 92 feet wide, and 175 feet tall, with a usable volume of 46,000 328 tons. The ship had four massive smokestacks, each weighing 60 tons and extending 81.5 feet above the deck. The cost of the ship's construction was 7.5 million dollars, which, when adjusted for modern exchange rates and inflation in 2016, would be equivalent to 166 million dollars. The ship was built by 3,000 men working six days a week from 6:00 in the morning, and it took 26 months to complete. Unfortunately, eight people died during the building process, and 246 were injured.

New findings suggest that the original cause of the catastrophe was not ice, but fire. Journalist Sonam Maloney discovered a huge 30-foot long black spot on the hull of the ship, which he noticed after examining a photo taken before Titanic's departure. The fire had been burning for three weeks at a very high temperature before somebody noticed it. Metallurgy experts are sure that such conditions could have easily weakened the metal, reducing its strength by as much as 75 percent. The iceberg hit exactly the spot with the compromised metal, which is one of the incredible links in the chain of the Titanic's tragic what-ifs. The management of the project knew about the fire and the fact that the ship shouldn't have set off on that fateful voyage, but it would have meant bankruptcy for the ship's owners.

The interior of the Titanic was based on that of the Ritz Hotel in London, with a grand staircase that went down seven out of the ten decks on the ship. The facilities for the first-class passengers included a swimming pool with heated water, a Turkish bath, a gym, a squash court, and a beauty salon. Ladies could even order a stylist to help them get ready for dinner. The meals for the first class included 13 courses, each with its own wine, and they were a big occasion lasting about five hours. There were one and a half thousand bottles of wine, 20,000 bottles of beer, and 8,000 cigars.

There were no binoculars on board, which could have saved the Titanic. The binoculars had been locked away in a special compartment, and the only person with the key to the locker, second officer David Blair, was replaced at the last minute. He was in such a hurry to leave the ship that he forgot to hand the key over to his replacement.

The Titanic needed about sixty lifeboats to contain all the people on board, but it was equipped with only 20. This was done purely for cosmetic reasons since the deck looked too cluttered with 48. These 20 boats could seat only 1/3 of all the people on the ship. The crew had not conducted a lifeboat drill, which was standard practice on ocean liners at the time of the Titanic's construction.

As the Titanic was sinking, the crew sent several distress signals, but a ship sailing nearby, the California, ignored the emergency flare shot in the sky. The captain of the Californian later lost his job after this fact came out, but modern researchers have managed to prove his innocence.

The Titanic disaster was a result of criminal negligence, a tragic and unfortunate chain of coincidences, and either fire or ice. It took the lives of hundreds of people and still keeps the minds of scientists busy to this day.