RMS Titanic was a British passenger liner that sank in the North Atlantic Ocean in the early morning of 15 April 1912 after colliding with an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton, UK to New York City, US. The sinking resulted in the loss of more than 1,500 passengers and crew making it one of the deadliest commercial peacetime maritime disasters in modern history. The RMS Titanic, the largest ship afloat at the time it entered service, was the second of three Olympic class ocean liners operated by the White Star Line, and was built by the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast with Thomas Andrews as her naval architect. Andrews was among those lost in the sinking. On her maiden voyage, she carried 2,224 passengers and crew.
Under the command of
Edward Smith, the ship's passengers included some of the wealthiest people in
the world, as well as hundreds of emigrants from Great Britain and Ireland, Scandinavia
and elsewhere throughout Europe seeking a new life in North America. A wireless
telegraph was provided for the convenience of passengers as well as for
operational use. Although Titanic had advanced safety features such as
watertight compartments and remotely activated watertight doors, there were not
enough lifeboats to accommodate all of those aboard due to outdated maritime
safety regulations. Titanic only carried enough lifeboats for 1,178
people—slightly more than half of the number on board, and one-third her total
capacity.
After leaving Southampton on 10
April 1912, Titanic called at Cherbourg in France and Queenstown (now Cobh) in
Ireland before heading west to New York.[2] On 14 April 1912, four days into
the crossing and about 375 miles (600 km) south of Newfoundland, she hit an
iceberg at 11:40 p.m. ship's time. The collision caused the ship's hull plates
to buckle inwards along her starboard side and opened five of her sixteen
watertight compartments to the sea; the ship gradually filled with water.
Meanwhile, passengers and some crew members were evacuated in lifeboats, many
of which were launched only partly loaded. A disproportionate number of men
were left aboard because of a "women and children first" protocol
followed by some of the officers loading the lifeboats.[3] By 2:20 a.m., she
broke apart and foundered, with well over one thousand people still aboard.
Just under two hours after Titanic foundered, the Cunard liner RMS Carpathia
arrived on the scene of the sinking, where she brought aboard an estimated 705
survivors.
The disaster was greeted with
worldwide shock and outrage at the huge loss of life and the regulatory and
operational failures that had led to it. Public inquiries in Britain and the
United States led to major improvements in maritime safety. One of their most
important legacies was the establishment in 1914 of the International
Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS), which still governs maritime
safety today. Additionally, several new wireless regulations were passed around
the world in an effort to learn from the many missteps in wireless
communications—which could have saved many
more passengers.
The wreck of Titanic remains on the seabed,
split in two and gradually disintegrating at a depth of 12,415 feet (3,784 m).
Since her discovery in 1985, thousands of artefacts have been recovered and put
on display at museums around the world. Titanic has become one of the most
famous ships in history, her memory kept alive by numerous books, folk songs,
films, exhibits, and memorials.
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