Although historically inaccurate, this dramatic depiction of the disaster shows Titanic's stern rising up from the surface.
"The sound of people drowning is something I cannot describe to you - and neither can anyone else. It's the most dreadful sound - and there's a dreadful silence that follows it." Ms. Eva Hart,Titanicsurvivor
The last message Titanic sent (above right) reads: "SOS, SOS(the new distress signal)
Scientists Show Evidence That Perhaps God DID Sink the Titanic : Well - not God perhaps but nature at least in response to a crass gesture made by a single individual - an employee of White Star Line.
Most of us have seen the movie "Titanic". We watched as a wealthy individual stood on the dock awaiting to board the ship, looked up at her and said "Not even God himself could sink this ship."
Well, it was the right line uttered by the wrong person.
According to the official US archives websiteit was an employee of the ship's owner who uttered those fateful words.
"Not even God himself could sink this ship." -- Employee of the White Star Line, at the launch of the Titanic, May 31, 1911 For 100 years it has shouldered the blame for the sinking of the Titanic but now the much-maligned iceberg could be partially forgiven after scientists identified a new culprit – the moon.
Nick Collins, Science Correspondent for the Telegraph reportsthat although a collision with a vast tower of ice ultimately brought the passenger liner to its sticky end, it was a freak lunar event three months earlier that put the obstacle in its path, a new study claims.
An incredibly rare combination of astronomical factors including the closest approach of the moon to Earth in 1,400 years caused an unusually high tide in January 1912, researchers found.
This once-in-a-lifetime swell would have swept a vast field of icebergs from their normal resting place off the coast of Canada and caused them to drift further south.
It would have taken them almost exactly three months to reach the shipping lanes where the Titanic sank on April 14 at a cost of 1,500 lives, the scientists reported in Sky & Telescope magazine.
Prof Donald Olson of Texas State University, who led the study, said: “They went full speed into a region with icebergs, that’s really what sank the ship, but the lunar connection may explain how an unusually large number of icebergs got into the path of the Titanic.”
Unusually high tides known as spring tides are caused when the moon and sun line up in a way that means their gravitational pulls are enhanced.
On January 4, 1912 the Moon came closer to Earth than at any point in the previous 1,400 years, and reached its nearest point within just six minutes of a full moon.
This rare coincidence happened just a day after the Earth made its closest annual approach to the sun, and the freak combination of factors against overwhelming odds caused a record spring tide.
This would have been enough to dislodge huge numbers of icebergs from the shallow waters around Labrador and Newfoundland and sweep them into southward currents, leaving them just enough time to reach the Titanic’s path by April, the researchers said.
Prof Olson added: “We don’t claim to know exactly where the Titanic iceberg was in January 1912 – nobody can know that – but this is a plausible scenario intended to be scientifically reasonable.”
So let's examine the timeline here. May 31 1911, a man utters those now famous words implying, nay, boldly declaring that"Not even God himself could sink this ship."
On January 4, 1912 the Moon came closer to Earth than at any point in the previous 1,400 years, and reached its nearest point within just six minutes of a full moon.
Titanic weighed anchor for the last time April 11 1912 at 1.30 pm.
Titanic received a series of warnings from other ships of drifting ice in the area of the Grand Banks of Newfoundland.
Nonetheless the ship continued to steam at full speed, which was standard practice at the time. It was generally believed that ice posed little danger to large vessels and Captain Smith himself had declared that he could not "imagine any condition which would cause a ship to founder. Modern shipbuilding has gone beyond that."
On Sunday 14 April at 11.40 pm (ship's time), lookout Frederick Fleet spotted an iceberg immediately ahead of Titanic and alerted the bridge.[126] First Officer William Murdoch ordered the ship to be steered around the obstacle and the engines to be put in reverse, but it was too late. The rest is history.
The Titanic sank into the icy depths caused by strange natural events; a ship not even God could sink?
The total cost of the Titanic was 7.5 million in 1912. This would be about 400 million today. She weighed 66,000 tons and was approximately four blocks tall. Her height from bridge to keel was equal to a ten story building. She was built sparring no expense. She was fitted with 29 boilers and 159 furnaces. She carried 20 life boats that could hold 65 persons each, two wooden cutters that could hold 40 persons each, and two collapsible boats that held 47 persons each .
The ship needed 48 life boats to accommodate all persons on board. Mr. Ismay of The White Star Line elected to only provide the minimum number of life boats required by law.
Titanic Lookout, Fredrick Fleet. First to spot the iceberg
Titanic's Captain, Edward J. (EJ) Smith
Titanic's"crow's-nest," where the berg was first sighted.
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