Titanic. Facts

The Titanic is a British steamer of the White Star Line, one of three twin ships of the Olympic class. The largest passenger liner the world at the time of its construction. During the maiden voyage on April 14, 1912, collided with an iceberg

and sank after 2 hours and 40 minutes.

Onboard there were 1316 passengers and 892 crew members, a total of 2208 people. Of these, 704 people survived, over 1500 died. The Titanic disaster became legendary and was one of the largest shipwrecks in history. Several feature films have been shot on its plot.

Construction

Laid down on March 31, 1909 at the shipyards of the Harland & Wolff shipbuilding company in Queens Island (Belfast, Northern Ireland), launched on May 31, 1911, passed sea trials on April 2, 1912.

Specifications

height from the keel to the tops of the pipes - 53.3 m;

engine room - 29 boilers, 159 coal furnaces;

The unsinkability of the ship was ensured by 15 watertight bulkheads in the hold, creating 16 conditionally "watertight" compartments; the space between the bottom and the deck of the second bottom was divided by transverse and longitudinal partitions into 46 watertight compartments.

Bulkheads

Watertight bulkheads, designated from bow to stern with letters "A" to "P", rose from the second bottom and passed through 4 or 5 decks: the first two and the last five reached the "D" deck, eight bulkheads in the center of the liner reached only the deck "E". All bulkheads were so strong that they had to withstand significant pressure when punctured. The Titanic was built to stay afloat if any two of its 16 watertight compartments, any three of its first five compartments, or all of its first four compartments were flooded.

The first two bulkheads in the bow and the last in the stern were solid, all the rest had hermetic doors that allowed the crew and passengers to move between the compartments. On the flooring of the second bottom, in bulkhead "K", there were the only doors that led to the refrigerator compartment.
On decks "F" and "E" in almost all bulkheads there were sealed doors connecting the rooms used by passengers, all of them could be battened down both remotely and manually using a device located directly on the door and from the deck to which it reached bulkhead. To shut down such doors on the passenger decks, a special key was required, which only the senior stewards had. But on Deck "G" there were no bulkhead doors.

In bulkheads "D" - "O", directly above the second bottom in the compartments where the machines and boilers were located, there were 12 vertically closed doors, which were controlled by an electric drive from the navigation bridge.
In case of danger or accident, or when the captain or officer of the watch considered it necessary, the electromagnets, upon a signal from the bridge, released the latches and all 12 doors were lowered under the influence of their own gravity and the space behind them was hermetically sealed. If the doors were closed by an electric signal from the bridge, then they could be opened only after removing the voltage from the electric drive.

In the ceiling of each compartment there was a spare hatch, usually leading to the boat deck. Those who did not manage to leave the room before the doors closed could climb its iron ladder.

Dinghy

In formal compliance with the current requirements of the British Merchant Shipping Code, the steamer had 20 lifeboats, which were enough to land 1,178 people, that is, for 50% of the people on board at that moment and 30% of the planned load. This was taken into account with the expectation of increasing the walking space on the deck of the passengers of the steamer.

Decks

On "Titanic" there were 8 steel decks, located one above the other at a distance of 2.5 - 3.2 m. The uppermost was a boat, below it were seven others, designated from top to bottom letters from "A" to "G". Only decks "C", "D", "E" and "F" were extended along the entire length of the vessel. The boat deck and "A" deck did not reach either the bow or the stern, and the "G" deck was located only in the front of the liner - from the boiler rooms to the bow and in the stern - from the engine room to the stern cut. The open boat deck housed 20 lifeboats, along the sides there were promenade decks.

Deck "A" with a length of 150 m was almost entirely intended for first class passengers. Deck "B" was interrupted in the bow, forming an open space above deck "C", and then continued in the form of a 37-meter bow superstructure with equipment for servicing anchors and a mooring device.

In front of Deck "C" there were anchor winches for the two main side anchors, there was also a galley and a dining room for sailors and stokers. Behind the bow superstructure was a promenade (the so-called inter-superstructure) deck for third-class passengers, 15 m long. On deck "D" there was another, isolated, third-class promenade deck.
The entire length of the "E" deck was occupied by the cabins of passengers of the first and second classes, as well as the cabins of the stewards and mechanics. The first part of the "F" deck housed 64 cabins for second-class passengers and the main living quarters for third-class passengers, stretching 45 m and occupying the entire width of the liner.

There were two large saloons, a third-class dining room, the ship's laundries, a swimming pool, and Turkish baths. Deck "G" covered only the bow and stern, between which the boiler rooms were located.
The bow of the 58 m long deck was 2 m higher than the waterline, it gradually lowered towards the center of the liner and at the opposite end was already at the level of the waterline. There were 26 cabins for 106 third-class passengers, the rest of the area was occupied by the luggage compartment for first-class passengers, the ship's mail and a ballroom.
Behind the bow of the deck were bunkers with coal, which occupied 6 watertight compartments around the chimneys, followed by 2 compartments with steam lines for piston steam engines and a turbine compartment. This was followed by a 64 m long aft deck with warehouses, storage rooms and 60 cabins for 186 third class passengers, which was already below the waterline.

Masts

One was at the stern, the other in the forecastle, each steel with a teak top. On the front, at a height of 29 m from the waterline, was located mars site("Crow's nest"), which could be reached by an internal metal ladder.

Service premises

In front of the boat deck there was a navigating bridge, 58 m distant from the bow. On the bridge there was a wheelhouse with a steering wheel and a compass, immediately behind it was a room where navigational charts were stored. To the right of the wheelhouse were the navigator's cabin, the captain's cabin and some of the officers 'cabins, to the left - the rest of the officers' cabins.
Behind them, behind the front chimney, was the radio telegraph cabin and the radio operator's cabin. At the front of Deck "D" there were living quarters for 108 stokers, a special spiral ladder connected this deck directly to the boiler rooms, so that stokers could go to work and return without passing cabins or passenger saloons.
At the front of the E-Deck were living quarters for 72 loaders and 44 sailors. The first part of the “F” deck housed the cabins of 53 third-shift stokers. Deck "G" housed rooms for 45 stokers and oilers.

Second bottom

The second bottom was located about one and a half meters above the keel and occupied 9/10 of the ship's length, not capturing only small areas in the bow and stern.

On the second floor, boilers, reciprocating steam engines, a steam turbine and power generators were installed, all firmly anchored on steel plates, the remaining space used for cargo, coal and drinking water tanks. In the section of the engine room, the second bottom rose 2.1 m above the keel, which increased the protection of the liner in case of damage to the outer skin.

Power point

The registered capacity of steam engines and turbines was 50 thousand liters. with. (actually 55 thousand hp). The turbine was located in the fifth waterproof compartment in the aft part of the liner, in the next compartment, closer to the bow, steam engines were located, the other 6 compartments were occupied by twenty-four double-flow and five single-flow boilers that produced steam for the main machines, turbines, generators and auxiliary mechanisms.
The diameter of each boiler was 4.79 m, the length of the double-flow boiler was 6.08 m, of the single-flow boiler - 3.57 m. Each double-flow boiler had 6 furnaces, and the single-flow boiler had 3.
In addition, the Titanic was equipped with four auxiliary machines with generators, each with a capacity of 400 kilowatts, generating a current of 100 volts. Next to them were two more 30-kilowatt generators.

Pipes

The liner had 4 pipes. The diameter of each was 7.3 m, the height was 18.5 m. The first three removed smoke from the boiler furnaces, the fourth, located above the turbine compartment, served as an exhaust fan, and a chimney for ship kitchens was connected to it. The longitudinal section of the vessel is shown on its model, exhibited in the German Museum in Munich, where it is clearly seen that the last pipe was not connected to the furnaces.
There is an opinion that when designing the ship, the widespread opinion of the public was taken into account that the solidity and reliability of the ship directly depends on the number of its pipes.
It also follows from the literature that in the last moments of a ship leaving the water almost vertically, its false pipe fell from its place and, falling into the water, killed a large number of passengers and crew members in the water.

Power supply

The distribution network was connected to 10 thousand light bulbs, 562 electric heaters, mainly in first class cabins, 153 electric motors, including electric drives for eight cranes with a total lifting capacity of 18 tons, 4 cargo winches with a lifting capacity of 750 kg, 4 elevators, each for 12 people, and a huge number of phones. In addition, electricity was consumed by fans in the boiler room and engine rooms, apparatus in the gymnasium, dozens of machines and appliances in kitchens, including refrigerators.

Connection

The telephone switch served 50 lines. The radio equipment on the liner was the most modern, the power of the main transmitter was 5 kilowatts, power came from an electric generator. The second, the emergency transmitter, was battery powered. Four antennas were stretched between the two masts, some up to 75 m high.
The guaranteed transmission range of the radio signal was 250 miles. During the day, under favorable conditions, it was possible to communicate at a distance of up to 400 miles, and at night - up to 2000. Radio equipment came on board on April 2 from the Marconi company, which by this time monopolized the radio industry in Italy and England.
Two young radio officers assembled and set up the station all day, and a test connection was immediately made to the coast station at Malin Head, on the northern coast of Ireland, and to Liverpool for verification. On April 3, the radio equipment worked like a clock, on that day, communication was established with the island of Tenerife at a distance of 2,000 miles and with Port Said in Egypt (3,000 miles).
In January 1912, the Titanic was assigned the radio call sign MUC, then they were replaced by MGY, previously owned by the American ship Yale. As the dominant radio company, Marconi introduced its own radio call signs, most of which began with the letter “M”, regardless of its location and the country of origin of the vessel on which it was installed.

Collision

Recognizing an iceberg in the light haze, the lookout Fleet warned "there is ice in front of us" and struck the bell three times, which meant an obstacle right on the course, after which he rushed to the telephone connecting the "crow's nest" with the bridge.
Moody's sixth mate, who was on the bridge, answered almost instantly and heard the cry “ice right ahead”. Thanks politely, Moody addressed Duty Officer Murdoch and repeated the warning.
He rushed to the telegraph, put its handle on "stop" and shouted "right rudder", at the same time transmitting the order "full back" to the engine room.

In 1912 terminology, "right rudder" meant turning the stern of the vessel to the right and the bow to the left. Helmsman Robert Hitchens leaned on the handle of the steering wheel and quickly turned it counterclockwise until it stops, after which Murdoch was told "wheel to the right, sir."
At that moment, the helmsman Alfred Oliver and Boxhall, who was in the navigator's room, came running to the bridge when the bells rang out in the "crow's nest". Murdoch pressed the lever that closed the watertight doors in the boiler bulkheads and the engine room, and immediately gave the order "left rudder!" Lifeboats.

There were 2,208 people aboard the Titanic, but the total capacity of the lifeboats was only 1,178 people. The reason was that according to the rules in force at the time, the total capacity of lifeboats depended on the tonnage of the vessel, and not on the number of passengers and crew members. The rules were drawn up in 1894, when the largest ships had a displacement of about 10,000 tons.

The Titanic's displacement was 46,328 tons.

But even these boats were only partially filled. Captain Smith gave an order or direction "women and children first." The officers interpreted this order in different ways.
Second Mate Lightoller, in command of the launching of the boats at the port side, allowed the men to take seats in the boats only if rowers were needed and under no other circumstances.
First mate Murdoch, who commanded the launching of the boats at the starboard side, allowed men to descend if there were no women and children.
So, in boat number 1, only 12 seats out of 40 were occupied. In addition, at first, many passengers did not want to take seats in the boats, because the Titanic, which had no external damage, seemed safer to them. The last boats were filling better, because it was already obvious to the passengers that the Titanic would sink.
In the very last boat, 44 seats out of 47 were occupied. But in the sixteenth boat that left the side, there were many empty seats, passengers of the 1st class were saved in it.

As a result of the analysis of the operation to rescue people from the Titanic, it is concluded that with adequate actions of the team, there would be at least 553 fewer victims.
The reason for the low survival rate of passengers on the ship is the attitude given by the captain to rescue women and children, first of all, and not all passengers; interest of the crew in this order of boarding the boats. By preventing male passengers from gaining access to the boats, the men from the crew were able to take seats in half-empty boats themselves, covering their interests with “noble motives” of caring for women and children.
If all the passengers, men and women, took their places in the boats, the men from the crew would not have got into them and their chances of salvation would be zero, and the crew could not fail to understand this.
Men from the crew occupied part of the seats in almost all boats during the evacuation from the vessel, on average 10 people from the crew per boat.
24% of the crew were saved, about the same as the number of passengers of the 3rd class (25%). The crew had no reason to consider their duty fulfilled - most of the passengers remained on the ship with no hope of salvation, even the order to save women and children in the first place was not fulfilled (several dozen children, and more than a hundred women never got into the boats).

The report of the British Commission on the results of the investigation into the circumstances of the sinking of the Titanic indicates that "if the boats were delayed a little longer before launching, or if the passage doors were open for passengers, more of them could get on the boats."
The reason for the low survival rate of class 3 passengers with a high degree of probability can be considered the obstacles put up by the crew for the passage of passengers to the deck, the closing of the aisle doors.
Comparison of the results of the evacuation from the Titanic with the results of the evacuation from the ship Lusitania (1915) shows that the evacuation operation on ships like the Titanic and Lusitania can be organized without disproportion in the percentage of survivors depending on gender or class of passengers.

People in lifeboats, as a rule, did not save those in the water. On the contrary, they tried to sail as far away from the crash site as possible, fearing that those in the water would overturn their boats or that they would be sucked into the sinkhole. Only 6 people were picked up from the water.

On the night of April 14-15, 1912, the Titanic, the most modern passenger liner at that time, making its maiden flight from Southampton to New York, collided with an iceberg and soon sank. At least 1,496 people died, 712 passengers and crew were rescued.

The catastrophe of the "Titanic" very quickly overgrown with a mass of legends and conjectures. At the same time, for several decades, the place where the deceased ship rests remained unknown.

The main difficulty was that the place of death was known with very low accuracy - it was about an area 100 kilometers in diameter. Given that the Titanic sank in an area where the depth of the Atlantic is several kilometers, the search for the ship was very problematic.

Titanic. Photo: www.globallookpress.com

The bodies of the dead were about to be lifted with dynamite

Immediately after the shipwreck, the relatives of the rich passengers who died in the crash came up with a proposal to organize an expedition to raise the ship. The initiators of the search wanted to bury their loved ones and, to be honest, to return the values ​​that had gone to the bottom along with their owners.

The decisive attitude of the relatives came across a categorical verdict of experts: technologies for searching and lifting the Titanic from great depths simply did not exist at that time.

Then a new proposal was received - to dump dynamite charges to the bottom in the alleged place of the disaster, which, according to the authors of the project, were supposed to provoke the bodies of the dead to emerge from the bottom. This dubious idea also did not find support.

The First World War, which began in 1914, postponed the search for the Titanic for many years.

The interior of the veranda for the first class passengers of the Titanic. Photo: www.globallookpress.com

Nitrogen and ping pong balls

They started talking again about the search for the liner only in the 1950s. At the same time, proposals began to appear on possible ways to lift it - from freezing the case with nitrogen to filling it with millions of ping-pong balls.

In the 1960-1970s, several expeditions were sent to the area of ​​the sinking of the Titanic, but all of them did not achieve success due to insufficient technical training.

In 1980 Texas oil tycoon John Grimm financed the preparation and conduct of the first large expedition to find the Titanic. But, despite the presence of the most modern equipment for underwater searches, his expedition ended in failure.

The main role in the discovery of the Titanic was played by ocean explorer and US Navy officer Robert Ballard... Ballard, who worked on improving small unmanned underwater vehicles, in the 1970s became interested in underwater archeology and, in particular, the secret place of the sinking of the Titanic. In 1977, he organized the first expedition to find the Titanic, but it ended in failure.

Ballard was convinced that it was only possible to find the ship with the help of the latest deep-sea bathyscaphes. But getting such at your disposal was very difficult.

Photo: www.globallookpress.com

Dr. Ballard's Secret Mission

In 1985, having failed to achieve results during an expedition on the French research vessel Le Suroît, Ballard moved to the American ship R / V Knorr, with which he continued to search for the Titanic.

As Ballard himself said many years later, the expedition, which became historical, began with a secret deal concluded between him and the command of the Navy. The researcher really wanted to get the deep-sea research apparatus "Argo" for his work, but the American admirals did not want to pay for the work of equipment to search for some historical rarity. The R / V Knorr and the Argo apparatus were to carry out a mission to survey the sites of the deaths of two American nuclear submarines, Scorpion and Thresher, which sank back in the 1960s. This task was secret, and the US Navy needed a person who could not only do the necessary work, but also be able to keep it secret.

Ballard's candidacy was ideal - he was well-known, and everyone knew about his passion for the search for the Titanic.

The researcher was offered: he can get the "Argo" and use it to search for the "Titanic", if he first finds and investigates the submarines. Ballard agreed.

About "Scorpion" and "Thresher" knew only in the leadership of the US Navy, for the rest, Robert Ballard simply explored the Atlantic and looked for "Titatnik".

Robert Ballard. Photo: www.globallookpress.com

"Comet tail" at the bottom

He coped with the secret mission brilliantly, and on August 22, 1985, he was able to start looking again for the liner, which had died in 1912.

None of the most advanced technology would have ensured his success if it had not been for the experience gained earlier. Ballard, while examining the places of death of the submarines, noticed that they left a kind of "comet tail" at the bottom of thousands of debris. This was due to the fact that the hulls of the boats were destroyed when submerged to the bottom due to tremendous pressure.

The scientist knew that steam boilers exploded while diving on the Titanic, which meant that the liner had to leave a similar “comet tail”.

It was this trail, rather than the Titanic itself, that was easier to spot.

On the night of September 1, 1985, the Argo apparatus found small debris at the bottom, and at 0:48 the camera recorded the Titanic boiler. Then they managed to find the bow of the ship.

It was found that the bow and stern of the broken liner were located at some distance from each other, at a distance of about 600 meters. At the same time, both the stern and the nose were seriously deformed when diving to the bottom, but the nose was still better preserved.

The layout of the ship. Photo: www.globallookpress.com

House for underwater inhabitants

The news of the discovery of the Titanic became a sensation, although many experts were quick to question it. But in the summer of 1986, Ballard carried out a new expedition, during which he not only described in detail the vessel at the bottom, but also made the first dive to the Titanic on a manned deep-sea vehicle. After that, the last doubts were dispelled - the Titanic was discovered.

The last shelter of the liner is at a depth of 3750 meters. In addition to the two main parts of the liner, tens of thousands of smaller fragments are scattered along the bottom on an area of ​​4.8 × 8 km: parts of the ship's hull, remains of furniture and interior decoration, dishes, and personal belongings of people.

The wreckage of the ship was covered with multi-layer rust, the thickness of which is constantly growing. In addition to multi-layer rust, 24 species of invertebrates and 4 species of fish live on and around the hull. Of these, 12 species of invertebrates clearly gravitate towards the wreckage, eating metal and wooden structures. The interiors of the Titanic are almost completely destroyed. The wooden elements were engulfed by deep sea worms. The decks are covered with a layer of clam shells, and rust stalactites hang from many of the metal elements.

The purse lifted from the Titanic. Photo: www.globallookpress.com

Are only shoes left from people?

During the 30 years that have passed since the discovery of the ship, the Titanic was rapidly destroyed. Its current state is such that there can be no question of any lifting of the ship. The ship will forever remain at the bottom Atlantic Ocean.

There is still no consensus on whether human remains have survived on and around the Titanic. According to the prevailing version, all human bodies are completely decomposed. Nevertheless, from time to time there is information that some researchers still stumbled upon the remains of the dead.

But James Cameron, director of the famous movie "Titanic", on whose personal account more than 30 dives to the liner on Russian deep-sea submersibles Mir, is sure of the opposite: “We saw shoes, boots and other footwear at the site of the sunken ship, but our team never encountered human remains.”

Things from the "Titanic" - a profitable product

Since the discovery of the Titanic by Robert Ballard, about two dozen expeditions have been carried out to the ship, during which several thousand objects have been raised to the surface, ranging from personal belongings of passengers to a piece of skin weighing 17 tons.

It is impossible to establish the exact number of items lifted from the Titanic today, because with the improvement of underwater technology, the ship has become a favorite target of "black archaeologists" who are trying by any means to get rarities from the Titanic.

Robert Ballard, lamenting this, remarked: "The ship is still a noble old lady, but not the lady I saw in 1985."

Items from the Titanic have been sold at auctions for many years and are in great demand. So, in the year of the 100th anniversary of the disaster, in 2012, hundreds of items went under the hammer, including a cigar box that belonged to the captain of the Titanic (40 thousand dollars), life vest from the ship (55 thousand dollars), the master key of the first class steward (138 thousand dollars). As for the jewelry from the Titanic, their value is measured in millions of dollars.

At one time, having discovered the Titanic, Robert Ballard intended to keep this place a secret, so as not to disturb the resting place of one and a half thousand people. Perhaps he didn't do it in vain.

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Construction

Construction and equipment

Specifications

Bulkheads

The Titanic was built to stay afloat if any 2 of its 16 watertight compartments, any 3 of its first 5 compartments, or all of its first 4 compartments were flooded.

The first 2 bulkheads in the bow and the last in the stern were solid, all the rest had sealed doors that allowed the crew and passengers to move between the compartments. On the flooring of the second bottom, in bulkhead "K", there were the only doors that led to the refrigerator compartment. On decks "F" and "E" in almost all bulkheads there were sealed doors connecting the rooms used by passengers, all of them could be battened down both remotely and manually using a device located directly on the door and from the deck to which it reached bulkhead. To shut down such doors on the passenger decks, a special key was required, which only the senior stewards had. But on Deck "G" there were no bulkhead doors.

In bulkheads "D" - "O", directly above the second bottom in the compartments where the machines and boilers were located, there were 12 vertically closed doors, which were controlled by an electric drive from the navigation bridge. In case of danger or accident, or when the captain or officer of the watch considered it necessary, the electromagnets, upon a signal from the bridge, released the latches, and all 12 doors were lowered by their own gravity and the space behind them was hermetically closed. If the doors were closed by an electric signal from the bridge, then they could be opened only after removing the voltage from the electric drive.

Deck "G" covered only the bow and stern, between which the boiler rooms were located. The bow of the 58 m long deck was 2 m higher than the waterline, it gradually lowered towards the center of the liner and at the opposite end was already at the level of the waterline. There were 26 cabins for 106 third-class passengers, the rest of the area was occupied by the luggage compartment for first-class passengers, the ship's mail and a ballroom. Behind the bow of the deck were bunkers with coal, which occupied 6 watertight compartments around the chimneys, followed by 2 compartments with steam lines for piston steam engines and a turbine compartment. This was followed by a 64 m long aft deck with warehouses, storage rooms and 60 cabins for 186 third class passengers, which was already below the waterline.

Masts

One was at the stern, the other in the forecastle, each steel with a teak top. On the front, at a height of 29 m from the waterline, there was a mars platform ("crow's nest"), which could be reached by an internal metal ladder.

Service premises

In the front part of the boat deck there was a navigating bridge, 58 m distant from the bow. On the bridge there was a wheelhouse with a steering wheel and a compass, immediately behind it was a room where navigational charts were stored. To the right of the wheelhouse were the navigator's cabin, the captain's cabin and some of the officers 'cabins, to the left - the rest of the officers' cabins. Behind them, behind the front chimney, was the radio telegraph cabin and the radio operator's cabin. At the front of Deck "D" there were living quarters for 108 stokers, a special spiral ladder connected this deck directly to the boiler rooms, so that stokers could go to work and return without passing cabins or passenger saloons. At the front of the E-Deck were living quarters for 72 loaders and 44 sailors. The first part of the “F” deck housed the cabins of 53 third-shift stokers. Deck "G" housed rooms for 45 stokers and oilers. RMS in the name stands for Royal Mail Ship. The ship had a post office and a warehouse on decks "F" and "G", where 5 postal workers worked.

Second bottom

The second bottom was located about one and a half meters above the keel and occupied 9/10 of the ship's length, not capturing only small areas in the bow and stern. On the second floor, boilers, reciprocating steam engines, a steam turbine and power generators were installed, all firmly anchored on steel plates, the remaining space used for cargo, coal and drinking water tanks. In the section of the engine room, the second bottom rose 2.1 m above the keel, which increased the protection of the liner in case of damage to the outer skin.

Power point

Titanic propellers before launching the vessel into the water

The registered capacity of steam engines and turbines was 50 thousand liters. with. (actually 55 thousand liters. from.). The turbine was located in the fifth waterproof compartment in the aft part of the liner, in the next compartment, closer to the bow, steam engines were located, the other 6 compartments were occupied by twenty-four double-flow and five single-flow boilers that produced steam for the main machines, turbines, generators and auxiliary mechanisms. The diameter of each boiler was 4.79 m, the length of the double-flow boiler was 6.08 m, of the single-flow boiler - 3.57 m. Each double-flow boiler had 6 furnaces, and the single-flow boiler had 3. In addition, the Titanic was equipped with four auxiliary machines with generators, each with a capacity of 400 kilowatts, generating electricity with a voltage of 100 volts. Next to them were two more 30-kilowatt generators. High pressure steam from the boilers went to 2 triple expansion steam engines that rotated the side screws. From the machines, the steam was then fed to a low-pressure turbine, which drove the middle propeller. From the turbine, the exhaust steam entered the condensers, from where the fresh water went back to the boilers in a closed cycle. "Titanic" developed a decent speed for its time, although it was inferior to the turbochargers of the competitor - Cunard Line.

Pipes

The liner had 4 pipes, each of which was 7.3 m in diameter and 18.5 m in height.The first three removed smoke from the boiler furnaces, the fourth, located above the turbine compartment, served as an exhaust fan, and a chimney for ship kitchens was connected to it ... The longitudinal section of the vessel is shown on its model, exhibited at the German Museum in Munich, where it is clearly seen that the last pipe was not connected to the furnaces. The fourth tube was purely cosmetic to make the ship look more powerful.

Power supply

10 thousand light bulbs, 562 electric heaters, mainly in first class cabins, 153 electric motors, including electric drives for eight cranes with a total lifting capacity of 18 tons, 4 cargo winches with a lifting capacity of 750 kg, 4 lifts, each for 12 people, were connected to the distribution network. In addition, electricity was consumed by the telephone exchange and radio communications, fans in the boiler room and engine rooms, apparatus in the gymnasium, dozens of machines and appliances in kitchens, including refrigerators.

Connection

The telephone switch served 50 lines. The radio equipment on the liner was the most modern, the power of the main transmitter was 5 kilowatts, power came from an electric generator. The second, the emergency transmitter, was battery powered. Four antennas were stretched between the two masts, some up to 75 meters long. The guaranteed range of the radio signal was 250 miles. During the day, under favorable conditions, communication was possible at a distance of up to 400 miles, and at night - up to 2000.

Radio equipment came on board on April 2 from the Marconi company, which by this time monopolized the radio industry in Italy and England. Two young radio operator officers assembled and installed the station all day, for verification, a test connection was immediately made with the coast station at Malin Head ( English), on the north coast of Ireland, and with Liverpool. On April 3, the radio equipment worked like a clock, on that day, communication was established with the island of Tenerife at a distance of 2,000 miles and with Port Said in Egypt (3,000 miles). In January 1912, the Titanic was given the radio call sign " MUC", Then they were replaced by" MGY", Formerly owned by the American ship Yale. As the dominant radio company, Marconi introduced its own radio call signs, most of which began with the letter “M”, regardless of its location and the country of origin of the vessel on which it was installed.

Swimming and wreck

Many celebrities of the time took part in the liner's first voyage, including millionaire and major industrialist John Jacob Astor IV and his wife Madeleine Astor, businessman Benjamin Guggenheim, owner of Macy's department store Isidore Strauss and his wife Ida, eccentric millionaire Margaret Molly Brown, Sir Cosma Duff Gordon and his wife, popular at the beginning of the century, fashion designer Lady Lucy Duff Gordon, businessman and cricketer John Thayer, British journalist William Thomas Steed, Countess of Roth, military assistant to US President Archibald Butt, who received the nickname "Unsinkable" after the sinking of the ship , film actress Dorothy Gibson and many others.

North and South transatlantic routes. Ice conditions

Icebergs breaking away from glaciers in western Greenland and drifting under the influence of currents pose a threat to shipping in the North Atlantic. Ice fields, originating in the Arctic basin, as well as off the coast of Labrador, Newfoundland and in the Strait of St. Lawrence, and drifting under the influence of winds and currents.

The shortest route from northern Europe to the United States runs off the coast of Newfoundland, directly through the fog and icebergs. In order to streamline navigation in the North Atlantic, in 1898 the shipping companies entered into an agreement establishing 2 transatlantic routes, which run much to the south. For each of the routes, separate routes were identified for steamboats traveling west and east, spaced up to 50 miles apart. From mid-January to mid-August, in the season of the greatest ice hazard, the steamers moved along the Southern Route. The rest of the year the Northern Route was used. This procedure usually minimized the likelihood of encountering drifting ice. But 1912 turned out to be unusual. From the Southern Route, along the western route of which the Titanic also moved, one after another there were reports of icebergs. In this regard, the US Hydrological Service raised the issue of moving the route to the south, but the corresponding decisions were taken belatedly, after the disaster.

Chronology

• Wednesday 10 April 1912
  • 12:00 - The Titanic departs from the Southampton Port quay and narrowly avoids a collision with the American liner New York. There are 922 passengers on board the Titanic.
  • 19:00 - stop in Cherbourg (France) to take on board 274 passengers and mail.
  • 21:00 - The Titanic left Cherbourg and headed for Queenstown, Ireland.

• Sunday, April 14, 1912
  • 09:00 - Karonia reports ice in the region of 42 ° N, 49-51 ° W.
  • 13:42 - Baltik reports the presence of ice in the region of 41 ° 51 ′ north latitude, 49 ° 52 ′ west longitude.
  • 13:45 - America reports ice in the region of 41 ° 27 ′ N, 50 ° 8 ′ West.
  • 19:00 - air temperature 43 ° Fahrenheit (6 ° C).
  • 19:30 - air temperature 39 ° Fahrenheit (3.9 ° C).
  • 19:30 - Californian reports ice at 42 ° 3 ′ N, 49 ° 9 ′ W.
  • 21:00 - air temperature 33 ° Fahrenheit (0.6 ° C).
  • 21:30 - Second Mate Lightoller warns the ship's carpenter and watchkeepers in the engine room to monitor the fresh water system - the water in the pipelines may freeze; he tells the lookouts to watch the ice appear.
  • 21:40 - Mesaba reports ice in the region of 42 ° -41 ° 25 ′ north latitude, 49 ° -50 ° 30 ′ west longitude.
  • 22:00 - air temperature 32 ° Fahrenheit (0 ° C).
  • 22:30 - Seawater temperature dropped to 31 ° Fahrenheit (-0.56 ° C).
  • 23:00 - Californian warns of ice, but Titanic's radio operator cuts off radio traffic before Californian can report the area's coordinates.
  • 23:39 - At a point with coordinates 41 ° 46 ′ north latitude, 50 ° 14 ′ west longitude (later it turned out that these coordinates were calculated incorrectly) at a distance of about 650 meters, an iceberg was seen directly along the course.
  • 23:40 - Despite the maneuver, 39 seconds later, the underwater part of the vessel was touched, the hull received numerous small holes for a length of about 100 meters. Of the 16 watertight compartments of the vessel, 6 were cut (in the sixth, the leak was extremely insignificant).

Stages of the sinking of the "Titanic"

• Monday 15 April 1912
  • 00:05 - Trim on the nose became noticeable. An order was given to uncover the lifeboats and call the crew and passengers to the gathering points.
  • 00:15 - the first radiotelegraph signal for help is transmitted from the Titanic.
  • 00:45 - the first flare is launched and the first lifeboat (No. 7) is launched. The bow deck goes under the water.
  • 01:15 - Class 3 passengers are admitted to the deck.
  • 01:40 - The last flare is fired.
  • 02:05 - last lifeboat launched (foldable boat D). The bow of the boat deck goes under the water.
  • 02:08 - The Titanic jerks violently and slides forward. The wave sweeps across the deck and floods the bridge, washing passengers and crew members into the water.
  • 02:10 - last radiotelegraph signals transmitted.
  • 02:15 - The Titanic lifts high up the stern, exposing the rudder and propellers.
  • 02:17 - the electric light goes out.
  • 02:18 - The Titanic, sinking quickly, breaks in two.
  • 02:20 - Titanic sank.
  • 02:29 - At a speed of about 13 miles per hour, the Titanic's bow crashes into the ocean floor at a depth of 3,750 meters, burrowing into the sedimentary rocks of the bottom.
  • 03:30 - signal flares fired from the Carpathia are noticed from the lifeboats.
  • 04:10 - Carpathia picked up the first boat from the Titanic (boat # 2).
  • 08:30 - Karpatia picked up the last boat (No. 12) from the Titanic.
  • 08:50 - Carpathia, taking on board 710 people who escaped from the Titanic, heads for New York.
• Thursday 18 April 1912
  • Carpathia arrives in New York

Collision

Photo of the iceberg taken by the senior steward of the German vessel “ Prince Adalbert»On the morning of April 16, 1912. The steward was unaware of the disaster at the time, but the iceberg caught his attention because it had a brown streak at its base, indicating that the iceberg had hit something less than 12 hours earlier. It is assumed that it was with him that the Titanic collided.

Recognizing an iceberg in the light haze, the lookout Fleet warned "there is ice in front of us" and struck the bell three times, which meant an obstacle right on the course, after which he rushed to the telephone connecting the "crow's nest" with the bridge. Moody's sixth mate, who was on the bridge, answered almost instantly and heard the cry "ice right on the nose !!!" ("Ice right ahead !!!"). Thanks politely, Moody addressed Duty Officer Murdoch and repeated the warning. He rushed to the telegraph, put its handle on "stop" and shouted "right to board", simultaneously transmitting the order "full back" to the engine room, pressed the lever, which included the closing of the watertight doors in the bulkheads of the boiler rooms and the engine room.

Photo of the iceberg taken from the cable-laying machine " Mine”, Which was one of the first ships to find the corpses of passengers and the wreckage of the ship. Presumably, the Titanic could collide with this particular iceberg, since, according to the crew, “ Mines”, It was the only iceberg near the crash site.

According to the terminology of 1912, the command "right to board" meant turning the stern of the ship to the right, and the bow to the left (on Russian ships since 1909, the natural command was already used, for example: "left rudder"). Helmsman Robert Hitchens ( English) leaned on the handle of the steering wheel and quickly turned it counterclockwise until it stops, after which Murdoch was reported "The steering wheel is right, sir!". At that moment, the helmsman Alfred Oliver and Boxhall, who was in the navigator's room, came running to the bridge when the bells rang out in the "crow's nest". A. Oliver in his testimony in the US Senate, however, definitely stated that when entering the bridge he heard the command "left rudder" (corresponding to a turn to the right), and this command was executed. According to Boxhall (British Investigation Question 15355), Murdoch reported to Captain Smith: "I turned left and backed up, and was going to turn right to get around, but he was too close."

It is known that lookout binoculars were not used on the Titanic, since the key to the binoculars safe was missing. He was picked up by second mate Blair when the captain kicked him out of the team, taking on board a team member from Olympic. It is not excluded that the lack of binoculars was one of the reasons for the crash of the liner. However, the existence of binoculars became known only 95 years after the shipwreck, when one of them was displayed in auction house Henry Eldridge & Sons in Divizes, Wiltshire. The second mate of the Titanic was to be David Blair, for which he arrived on April 3, 1912 from Belfast to Southampton. However, White Star Line management at the last moment replaced him with Henry Wilde, the first mate on a similar ship, the Olympic, because he had experience in operating such large liners, as a result of which Blair in a hurry forgot to give the key to the person who came to his a place . However, many historians agree that the presence of binoculars would not have helped prevent a catastrophe. This is confirmed by the fact that the lookouts in the "crow's nest" noticed the iceberg earlier than those on the bridge, who had binoculars with them.

The Titanic is sinking

Lifeboats

There were 2,224 people on board the Titanic, but the total capacity of the lifeboats was only 1,178. The reason was that according to the rules in force at the time, the total capacity of lifeboats depended on the tonnage of the vessel, and not on the number of passengers and crew members. The rules were drawn up in 1894, when the largest ships had a displacement of about 10,000 tons. The Titanic's displacement was 46,328 tons.

But even these boats were only partially filled. Captain Smith gave an order or direction "women and children first." The officers interpreted this order in different ways. Second Mate Lightoller, in command of the launching of the boats at the port side, allowed the men to take seats in the boats only if rowers were needed and under no other circumstances. First mate Murdoch, who commanded the launching of the boats at the starboard side, allowed men to descend if there were no women and children. So, in boat number 1, only 12 seats out of 65 were occupied. In addition, at first, many passengers did not want to take seats in the boats, because the Titanic, on which there was no external damage, seemed safer to them. The last boats were filling better, because it was already obvious to the passengers that the Titanic would sink. In the very last boat, 44 seats out of 65 were occupied. But in the sixteenth boat that left the side, there were many empty seats, passengers of the 1st class were saved in it.

The crew did not even have time to lower all the boats that were on board. The twentieth boat was washed overboard when the front of the steamer went under the water, and she floated upside down.

The report of the British Commission on the results of the investigation into the circumstances of the sinking of the Titanic indicates that "if the boats were delayed a little longer before launching, or if the passage doors were open for passengers, more of them could get on the boats." The reason for the low survival rate of class 3 passengers with a high degree of probability can be considered the obstacles put up by the crew for the passage of passengers to the deck, the closing of the aisle doors. People in lifeboats, as a rule, did not save those in the water. On the contrary, they tried to sail as far away from the crash site as possible, fearing that those in the water would overturn their boats or that they would be sucked into the sinkhole. Only 6 people were picked up alive from the water.

Failure to provide assistance by the steamer "Californian"

"Californian"

Serious criticism fell on the SS Californian crew and personally on the ship's captain Stanley Lord. The ship was only a few miles from the Titanic, but did not respond to its distress calls and missile signals. The Californian warned the Titanic over the radio of the ice accumulation that caused the Californian to stop overnight, but the warnings were denounced by Titanic's senior wireless operator Jack Phillips.

British investigation evidence indicated that at 10:10 pm, the Californian observed the lights of the ship to the south. Captain Stanley Lord and third officer S.V. Groves (who was released by Lord at 11:10 pm) later determined that it was a passenger liner. At 11:50 pm, the officer saw the ship's lights blinking as if they had been turned off or turned sharply, and that a port light had appeared. By order of the Lord, Morse signals were sent to the ship between 11:30 p.m. and 1:00 a.m., but they were not received.

Captain Lord went to his cabin at 11:00 pm to spend the night, however, second officer Herbert Stone, while on duty, notified Lord at 1:10 that the ship had fired 5 missiles. Lord wanted to know if these were company signals, that is, colored flashes used for identification. Stone replied that he did not know and that the missiles were white. Captain Lord instructed the crew to continue signaling the ship with a Morse lamp, and went to bed. Three more rockets were seen at 1:50 am and Stone noted that the ship looked odd in the water, as if tilted. At 2:15 am, Lord was notified that the ship was no longer in sight. The lord asked again if the lights were of any color, and he was told that they were all white.

Californian finally answered. At about 5:30 am, Chief Officer George Stewart woke up wireless operator Kirill Farmstone Evans and informed him that rockets had been spotted at night and asked to contact the ship. He received news of the sinking of the Titanic, Captain Lord was notified and the ship went to provide assistance. It arrived much later than Carpathia, which had already picked up the survivors.

Investigation revealed that the ship the Californian saw was in fact the Titanic, and that the Californian could have come to his aid, so Captain Lord acted inappropriately without doing so. However, Lord maintained his innocence for the rest of his life, and many researchers have argued that the famous positions of the Titanic and Californian make it impossible for the former to be the infamous Mystery Ship, a theme that "sparked ... millions of words and ... hours of heated debate ", and continues to do so [ unauthorized source?] .

The composition of the dead and survivors

Almost all the women and children from the cabins of the 1st and 2nd classes were saved. More than half of the women and children in the 3rd grade cabins were killed as it was difficult for them to find their way up through the maze of narrow corridors. Almost all the men were also killed. The tragedy of the Paulson family claimed the lives of Alma's mother and all her four young children, whom Niels' father had been waiting in vain for in New York.

Survived 338 men (20% of all adult men) and 316 women (74% of all adult women), including Violet Jessop, Dorothy Gibson, Molly Brown, Lucy Duff Gordon, Countess of Rothska and others. Of the children, 56 survived (slightly more than half of all children).

The last of the passengers of the Titanic, Millvina Dean, who was two and a half months old at the time of the sinking of the liner, died on May 31, 2009 at the age of 97 years. Her ashes were scattered to the wind on October 24, 2009 in the port of Southampton, from where the Titanic began its only voyage.

A kind of record belongs to Jessop's maid, Violett, who survived the accident on all 3 ships of the Olympic class. She was working on the Olympic when it collided with the cruiser Hawk; escaped from the Titanic, and, subsequently, survived when the Britannic went to the bottom, being blown up by a mine during the First World War.

The sinking of the Titanic is among the largest maritime disasters

Vessel	Country	Tonnage	Year	The number of victims	Cause of death
Goya		5230	, April, 4	7000 ~ 7000	Attack submarine L-3
Junyo-maru	Japan	5065	, September 18	5620 5620	Submarine attack HMS Tradewind
Toyama-maru ( English Toyama maru)	Japan	7089	, June 29	5600 5600	Submarine attack USS Sturgeon
Cap Arcona		27561	, May 3	5594 5594	Aviation attack
Wilhelm Gustloff		25484	, January 30	9343	Submarine attack S-13
Armenia	the USSR	5770		5000 ~ 5000	Aviation attack
Ryusei-maru ( English SS Ryusei Maru)	Japan	4861	, 25 February	4998 4998	Submarine attack USS Rasher
Dona Paz	Philippines	2602		4375 ~ 4375	Collision with a tanker and fire
Lancastria		16243		4000 ~4000	Aviation attack
General Steuben		14660		3608 3608	Submarine attack S-13
Tilbeck		2815	, May 3	2800 ~ 2800	Aviation attack
Salzburg		1759		2000 ~ 2000	Attack submarine M-118
Titanic		52310		1514 1514	Iceberg crash
Bismarck		50900	, May 27	1995	battle with the ships of Great Britain
Hood, battle cruiser		41125	, May 24	1415 1415	battle with German ships
Lusitania		31550		1198 1198	Submarine attack U-20

Among the disasters that occurred outside of hostilities, the Titanic ranks third in terms of the number of victims. A sad lead - behind the ferry "Donja Paz", which collided in 1987 with an oil tanker. In the collision and the subsequent fire, more than 4 thousand people died. The second place is held by the wooden paddle steamer "Sultana", which sank on April 27, 1865 on the Mississippi River near Memphis due to a steam boiler explosion and fire. The total death toll on the ship has exceeded 1,700, the largest catastrophe on a river boat.

Theories about the causes of the accident

Sheathing

On the other hand, this test only proves that modern steel is much better than the one used at the beginning of the 20th century. He does not prove that the steel used to build the Titanic was of inferior quality (or not the best) for its time.

In the early years of the XXI century, a number of mass media, with reference to the latest studies of the ship's hull by deep-sea vehicles, expressed the opinion that when it collided with an iceberg, the steamer did not receive a hole, and its hull withstood the blow. The reason for the death was that the rivets of the hull could not prevent the divergence of its sheets, and outboard water began to flow into the long gap formed.

Radio operators

The liner's internal communication system was extremely unsatisfactory, there was no direct communication with the captain - all messages had to be reported to him orally. The reason was that the radiotelegraph station was considered a luxury, and the main task of telegraph operators was to serve especially wealthy passengers - it is known that in just 36 hours of work, radio operators transmitted more than 250 telegrams. Payment for telegraph services was made on the spot, in the radio room, and at that time was very expensive, tips were received in large quantities.

The radio log from the Titanic did not survive, but according to the surviving records from various ships that had contact with the liner, it was possible to more or less restore the picture of the work of radio operators. Messages about drifting ice and icebergs began to arrive already in the morning of the fateful number - April 14, the exact coordinates of the high-risk zone were indicated. The Titanic continued to sail further, without deviating from the course and without reducing speed. At 19:30, in particular, a telegram came from the transport ship "Mesaba": "I am reporting ice from 42 degrees to 41 degrees 25 minutes north and from 49 degrees to 50 degrees 30 minutes west. I saw a large number of icebergs, ice fields ”. At this time, Titanic's senior liaison officer Jack Phillips worked for the benefit of passengers, transmitting an endless stream of messages to the Cape Ras station, while the most important message did not reach the captain, being lost in a pile of paper - the Mesaba radio operator forgot to mark the message as "Ice Report" with a prefix MSG which meant "personally to the captain." This little detail overshadowed Philips' selfless work.

On the other hand, on April 14, in addition to this message, several more iceberg warnings were received from other ships. The captain took certain measures, in particular, the officers were verbally and in writing warned of the danger, and looking ahead were ordered to look for the presence of icebergs. Therefore, it cannot be said that Captain Smith did not know about them.

Iceberg

The news that the lookout had no binoculars was criticized (according to many testimonies, binoculars were only on the Belfast-Southampton section, after this stop, Hogg, by order of the captain, for some reason put them in his cabin). It is believed that having binoculars looking forward, despite a moonless night, would notice the iceberg not a quarter of a mile (450 m), but 2 or 3 miles (4-6 km). On the other hand, binoculars narrow the field of view, so they are only used after as the lookout noticed something. Look-aheads without binoculars discovered the iceberg earlier than the officer of the watch with binoculars.

If there was even a slight ripple or swell in the ocean, he would have seen white lambs at the "waterline" of the iceberg. As it later became known, the "Titanic" collided with a "black" iceberg, that is, with one that recently capsized in the water. The side facing the liner had a dark blue color, because of this there was no reflection (an ordinary white iceberg under such a condition could be seen from a mile).

The question of what prevented the first assistant W. Murdoch from detecting the iceberg himself in a timely manner remains open. The captain of the "Carpathia" Rostron said that 75% of objects in the sea are found from the bridge earlier than from the "crow's nest." When his steamer was sailing at night to the site of the Titanic accident, all icebergs in their path were seen from the bridge before they were discovered by lookouts (British Investigation, questions 25431-25449).

Maneuvering

It is believed that if Murdoch had not given the order to reverse immediately after the command "left rudder", the Titanic would certainly have avoided a collision, since reverse negatively affects the efficiency of the rudder. At the same time, however, the time required to execute the command is overlooked. This requires at least 30 seconds and the command was probably received with a delay; - commands for the engine room on the liner's route are rarely given (the last one was issued three days before that), so no one is standing at the engine telegraph. They simply did not have time to execute the command, otherwise the "Titanic" would have experienced a strong vibration, but no one mentions it. According to the testimony of those who survived, the cars stopped and reversed after the collision, so this command had no practical value.

It is also believed that the best solution would be to reverse only the left car. Working the propellers would have helped speed up the turn and slow down the speed. The middle propeller was driven by a steam turbine, which was powered by residual steam from the onboard vehicles; this turbine had no reverse gear. Thus, the stopped propeller, behind which there was a single rudder of a very small area, created a turbulent flow, in which the already ineffective rudder almost completely lost its effectiveness. Perhaps even in order to avoid a collision, it would be necessary, on the contrary, to increase the speed of the middle propeller to increase the efficiency of the rudder. Moreover, the reverse takes a lot of time, and, therefore, there was practically no chance to quickly reduce the speed.

Attention should be paid to the fact that the disaster occurred on the first voyage. The skippers had no experience with this vessel, which explains the untimely and ineffective attempts at maneuvering. At the same time, Captain Smith, Chief Officer Wilde, and First Mate Murdoch, who was on watch during the accident, had experience working on the Olympic built on a similar project. In 1903, in a critical situation, Murdoch, with his timely and decisive actions, canceling the command of his superiors, saved the Arabik steamer from a collision.

It is also suggested that the Titanic would have stayed afloat if the rudder had not been shifted and the ship would have “rammed” the iceberg, taking a hit on the stem. The device of partitions was just aimed at the "survival" of the ship in a head-on collision, while the sides of the ship were not protected. “Wilding, a shipbuilder from Belfast, calculated that the bow of the ship would have been crushed 25-30 meters, but the ship would not have died. It would be instant death for those who were at the bow of the ship at the time, but the damping of inertia would be quite slow, comparable to a car traveling at this speed, whose brakes were instantly pressed all the way to the stop, ”says Barnaby. However, Murdoch is justified by the fact that he did not have the opportunity to measure the distance to the iceberg and could not know that the maneuver he had undertaken would not succeed. Therefore, one can hardly reproach him for not giving a command that would knowingly kill people.

Buoyancy

The liner was not designed to flood all the first five compartments. This design, although possible, is extremely expensive - the only ship built in this way, the Great Eastern, was unprofitable. The unprofitability of this giant ship is confirmed by the fact that it was not found possible to use it for its intended purpose, and it went down in history as a cable ship used to lay the transatlantic telegraph cable. The likelihood of risk cannot be ignored either. Indeed, in addition to the Titanic, in Peaceful time no ship suffered such damage.

Reducing speed or bypassing the field of icebergs

Despite warnings about icebergs, the captain of the Titanic did not slow down or change the route. But that was standard practice at the time. So, during the investigation into the circumstances of the sinking of the Titanic, Captain Gerhard C. Affeld, commander of 5 transatlantic ships, showed that, having received warnings about icebergs, he never changed the route and reduced speed only in case of fog or bad weather. He studied the logbooks of the ships entrusted to him. According to these logs, other captains, having received warnings about icebergs, also did not change the route and, as a rule, did not reduce speed. On the other hand, not everyone followed this practice: the ship Californian, closest to the Titanic, reached the iceberg field and stopped at its border (and sent a warning to the Titanic, which was ignored).

Delayed reaction on the bridge

Looking ahead Reginald Lee testified that he noticed the iceberg from a distance of "half a mile, (926 m) maybe more, maybe less." The Titanic would have covered half a mile in 80 seconds. Helmsman Hichens testified that by the time of the collision, the ship had managed to turn 2 rumba. Since the wheelhouse windows were completely darkened so that the light would not interfere with the observation from the bridge, Hitchens could not see the iceberg. An experiment on the twin steamer Olympic showed that a 2 rumba turn would take 37 seconds from the moment the command was given. The authors of the book Report into the Loss of the SS Titanic: A Centennial Reappraisal, published on the centenary of the shipwreck, restore the timing of the accident, and put forward the version of the "lost 30 seconds" after the signal from the lookouts who left Murdoch for then, to visually detect the iceberg, assess the situation and make a decision.

Causes of the tragedy

Subjective reasons

The main subjective reason for the death of people was the outdated rules of the British Merchant Shipping Code, which made the number of lifeboats dependent on the tonnage of the vessel, and not on the number of passengers. The rules were established in 1894, when the tonnage of passenger ships did not exceed 12,952 tons, and all ships with a displacement of 10,000 tons and above fell into one category. For such vessels, regulations required that there be enough room in the lifeboats for 962 people. The Titanic's tonnage was 46,328 tons.

The owners of the Titanic, having formally complied with the instructions (and even slightly overfulfilling them, since the Titanic's boats had 1,178 seats, not 962), supplied the ship with an insufficient number of boats. Despite the fact that there were enough lifeboats to land 1,178 people, only 704 survived. There were certain subjective reasons for this. For example, second mate Charles Lightoller, who was in command of launching the boats at the port side, followed Captain Smith's order “women and children first” literally: he allowed men to occupy places in the boats only if rowers were needed and under no other circumstances.

Based on the stories of Charles Lightoller, his granddaughter Lady Patten put forward a new version of the sinking of the transatlantic liner. According to the writer, the Titanic sank not because it was sailing too fast, because of which it simply did not have time to avoid a collision with an iceberg. There was plenty of time to dodge the ice block, but helmsman Robert Hitchens panicked and turned the wheel in the wrong direction. The ship received a hole, due to which it eventually sank. Nevertheless, passengers and crew could have been saved if the Titanic had stopped immediately after the collision. Moreover, the nearest ship was only a few miles from the liner. The manager of the company that owned the huge ship, Joseph Bruce Ismay, convinced the captain to continue sailing, fearing that the incident could cause him considerable material damage. He wanted to save the Titanic, but thought only about the financial side of the matter. The rate of water entering the ship's holds has increased exponentially. Water entered the hull at a speed of about 400 tons per minute. As a result, the ship sank in a matter of hours. About why the liner went to the bottom, Lightoller told only his relatives. According to Patten, her relatives feared for their reputation and therefore did not want to divulge the true causes of the 1912 disaster. “My relatives died long ago, and I realized that I was the only one in the world who knew about the true cause of the sinking of the Titanic,” the writer said.

Objective reasons

The cause of the collision and death of the vessel was a combination of adverse factors:

• The iceberg belonged to the rare type of the so-called. "Black icebergs" (overturned so that their dark underwater part hits the surface), which is why it was noticed too late.
• The night was calm and moonless, otherwise the lookouts would have noticed the "sheep" around the iceberg.
• The speed of the steamer was too high, due to which the impact of the iceberg on the hull was of maximum force. If the captain in advance, upon entering the iceberg belt, ordered to reduce the speed of the ship, then, perhaps, the force of the impact on the iceberg would not have been enough to pierce the hull of the Titanic.
• Failure to transmit several telegrams from neighboring ships by members of the radio room, engaged in sending private telegrams of wealthy passengers for money, about the dangerous proximity of icebergs to Captain Smith, which lowered his vigilance.
• The best steel of the time, from which the Titanic was made, became brittle at low temperatures. The water temperature that night was + 2 ... + 4 ° C, which made the hull of the ship very vulnerable.
• The poor quality of the rivets, which were used to connect the hull plates, when the iceberg hit the heads of the forged iron rivets, which replaced the initially provided steel rivets, crumbled due to their "porosity" due to the inclusion of foreign impurities in them.
• The device of partitions between the compartments was made in the expectation of a frontal impact, and the doors between the partitions simply could not withstand the pressure of water and broke under its pressure.

Flooding depth

On September 1, 1985, an expedition led by the director of the Woods Hall Institute of Oceanology, Massachusetts, Dr. Robert D. Ballard, discovered the Titanic's location at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean at a depth of 3750 meters.

The distance between the remains of the bow and stern of the "Titanic" is about 600 meters.

The remains of the ship were found 13 miles west of the coordinates that the Titanic transmitted in its SOS signal.

In April 2012, a hundred years after the shipwreck, the shipwreck was protected by the 2001 UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage. From now on, the states parties to the Convention have the right to prevent the destruction, looting, sale and unauthorized distribution of objects found at the site of the shipwreck. They can take all necessary measures to protect the wreckage of the sunken ship, as well as to ensure proper treatment of the human remains resting in them.

Conspiracy theory

Reflection of "Titanic" in art

The crash of the liner has become one of the most famous disasters in the history of mankind. To some extent, the image of "Titanic" became a symbol of the death of something that seemed powerful and unsinkable, a symbol of the weakness of the human technogenic civilization in front of the forces of nature. The catastrophe was widely reflected in art, especially in the mass. The first film dedicated to the catastrophe - "She Escaped from the Titanic" - appeared in May 1912, a month after the crash. In the same year 1912, but before the disaster occurred, Morgan Robertson's book "Futility, Or the Wreck of the Titan" was published, the action of which took place on board a passenger ship " Titan ", similar in description and displacement to" Titanic ". In this book, the Titan is killed in fog by an iceberg while sailing from New York to the UK. As a result, a legend appeared about the "prediction" of the catastrophe of the "Titanic" by Morgan Robertson. This fact is supported by the fact that despite the publication of the book in print in 1912, it was written in 1898.

The film "Titanic", released in 1997, for 13 years was the leader in the box office in the world film distribution ($ 1,845,034,188, of which $ 600,788,188 in the USA), but in 2010 the Titanic record was broken by the film Avatar, released by the same director; In April 2012, in the centenary of the disaster, Cameron released his old film, but in 3D.

Many songs of performers and bands playing in different genres have been dedicated to the sinking of the ship. In particular, in the song of the same name by the Austrian artist Falco (1992), the Titanic is seen as a symbol of decadence, the end of an era; in the song of the Russian group Nautilus Pompilius from the titanic album of the same name (1994), a sailing ship is a symbol of death and doom.

see also

• Titanic Belfast (Museum)

Notes (edit)

1. About the fate of the White Star Line superliners (Retrieved April 8, 2012)
2. Did you know | RU
3. Titanic Belfast Museum

100 years ago, on the night of April 15, 1912, after a collision with an iceberg in the waters of the Atlantic Ocean, the Titanic liner sank with more than 2,200 people on board.

The Titanic is the largest passenger ship of the early 20th century, the second of three twin steamers produced by the British White Star Line.

The Titanic's length was 260 meters, width - 28 meters, displacement - 52 thousand tons, height from the waterline to the boat deck - 19 meters, distance from the keel to the top of the pipe - 55 meters, top speed - 23 knots. Journalists compared it in length with three city blocks, and in height with an 11-storey building.

The Titanic had eight steel decks, located one above the other at a distance of 2.5-3.2 meters. To ensure safety, the ship had a double bottom, and its hull was divided by 16 watertight compartments. Watertight bulkheads rose from the second bottom to the deck. The ship's chief designer, Thomas Andrews, said that even if four of the 16 compartments were filled with water, the liner could continue on its way.

The interiors of the cabins on decks B and C were made in 11 styles. The third class passengers on decks E and F were separated from the first and second class by gates located in different parts of the ship.

Before the release of "Titanic" in its first and last flight it was emphasized that on board the ship on the first voyage there will be 10 millionaires, and in its safes - gold and jewelry worth hundreds of millions of dollars. American industrialist, heir to mining magnate Benjamin Guggenheim, millionaire with a young wife, Assistant to US Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft Major Archibald Willingham Butt, US Congressman Isidore Strauss, actress Dorothy Gibson, wealthy public figure British model Margaret Brown and many other famous and wealthy people of that time.

On April 10, 1912, at noon, the Titanic superliner set off on its only journey from Southampton (UK) to New York (USA) with stops in Cherbourg (France) and Queenstown (Ireland).

During the four days of the journey, the weather was clear and the sea calm.

On April 14, 1912, on the fifth day of the voyage, several ships sent messages about icebergs in the area of ​​the ship's route. For most of the day, the radio was broken, and many messages were not noticed by the radio operators, and the captain did not pay due attention to others.

By the evening, the temperature began to drop, reaching zero Celsius by 22:00.

At 23:00 a message was received from the Californian ship that there was ice, but the Titanic's radio operator cut off the radio exchange before the Californian had time to report the coordinates of the area: the telegraph operator was busy sending personal messages from passengers.

At 23:39, two lookouts noticed an iceberg in front of the liner and reported it by phone to the bridge. The oldest of the officers, William Murdock, gave the command to the helmsman: "Left rudder."

At 23:40 "Titanic" is in the underwater part of the ship. Of the 16 watertight compartments of the vessel, six were cut through.

At 00:00 on April 15, Titanic designer Thomas Andrews was called to the bridge to assess the severity of the damage. After reporting the incident and inspecting the ship, Andrews informed everyone present that the ship would inevitably sink.

On the ship, the bow began to be felt. Captain Smith ordered the lifeboats to be uncovered and the crew and passengers called for evacuation.

On the orders of the captain, the radio operators began sending out distress signals, which they transmitted for two hours, until the captain relieved the telegraph operators from duty a few minutes before the ship sank.

Distress signals, but they were too far from the Titanic.

At 00:25 the coordinates of the "Titanic" were taken by the ship "Karpatia", located from the crash site at a distance of 58 nautical miles, which was 93 kilometers. ordered to immediately head to the site of the Titanic disaster. Rushing to the rescue, the ship was able to reach a record speed of 17.5 knots - at the maximum speed possible for a vessel of 14 knots. For this Rostron ordered to turn off all appliances that consume electricity and heating.

At 01:30 the Titanic operator telegraphed: "We are in small boats." By order of Captain Smith, his assistant, Charles Lightoller, who led the rescue of people on the port side of the liner, put only women and children in the boats. The men, according to the captain, were to remain on deck until all the women got into the boats. First Mate William Murdock on the starboard side for men, if there were no women and children in the line of passengers gathered on deck.

At about 02:15, the Titanic's bow sank sharply, the ship moved significantly forward, and a huge wave swept across the decks, sweeping many passengers overboard.

At about 02:20 minutes, the Titanic sank.

At about 04:00 am, about three and a half hours after receiving the distress call, the Carpathia arrived at the Titanic crash site. The vessel took on board 712 passengers and crew members of the Titanic, after which it safely arrived in New York. Among those rescued were 189 crew members, 129 male passengers and 394 women and children.

The death toll, according to various sources, ranged from 1400 to 1517 people. According to official data, after the crash, 60% of passengers are first-class cabins, 44% are second-class cabins, and 25% are third-class.

The last surviving passenger of the Titanic, who traveled aboard the ship at the age of nine weeks, died on May 31, 2009 at 97 years old. The woman's ashes were scattered over the sea from the pier in the port of Southampton, from where the Titanic set sail in 1912.

The material was prepared on the basis of information from RIA Novosti and open sources

The Titanic is a British steamer of the White Star Line, one of three twin ships of the Olympic class. The largest passenger liner in the world at the time of its construction. During the first voyage on April 14, 1912, it collided with an iceberg and sank after 2 hours and 40 minutes. Onboard there were 1316 passengers and 892 crew members, a total of 2208 people. Of these, 704 people survived, over 1500 died. The Titanic disaster became legendary and was one of the largest shipwrecks in history. Several feature films have been shot on its plot.

Statistics

Total information:

• Home port - Liverpool.
• Board number - 401.
• Call sign - MGY.
• Dimensions of the ship:
• Length - 259.83 meters.
• Width - 28.19 meters.
• Weight - 46328 tons.
• Displacement - 52310 tons.
• The height from the waterline to the boat deck is 19 meters.
• From the keel to the top of the pipe - 55 meters.
• Draft - 10.54 meters.

Technical details:

• Steam boilers - 29.
• Watertight Compartments - 16.
• The top speed is 23 knots.

Rescue equipment:

• Standard boats - 14 (65 seats).
• Collapsible boats - 4 (47 seats).

Passengers:

• Grade I: 180 men and 145 women (including 6 children).
• Grade II: 179 men and 106 women (including 24 children).
• III class: 510 men and 196 women (including 79 children).

Team members:

• Officers - 8 people (including the captain).
• The deck crew is 66 people.
• Engine room - 325 people.
• Service staff - 494 people (including 23 women).
• In total there were 2201 people on board.

Officers

• Captain - Edward J. Smith
• Senior Assistant - Henry F. Wilde
• First Mate - William M. Murdock
• Second Mate - Charles G. Lightoller
• Third Mate - Herbert J. Pitman
• Fourth Assistant - Joseph G. Boxhall
• Fifth Mate - Harold P. Lowe
• Sixth Mate - James P. Moody

Construction
Laid down on March 31, 1909 at the shipyards of the Harland & Wolff shipbuilding company in Queens Island (Belfast, Northern Ireland), launched on May 31, 1911, passed sea trials on April 2, 1912.

Specifications
height from the keel to the tops of the pipes - 53.3 m;
engine room - 29 boilers, 159 coal furnaces;
The unsinkability of the ship was ensured by 15 watertight bulkheads in the hold, creating 16 conditionally "watertight" compartments; the space between the bottom and the deck of the second bottom was divided by transverse and longitudinal partitions into 46 watertight compartments.

Bulkheads
Watertight bulkheads, designated from bow to stern with letters "A" to "P", rose from the second bottom and passed through 4 or 5 decks: the first two and the last five reached the "D" deck, eight bulkheads in the center of the liner reached only the deck "E". All bulkheads were so strong that they had to withstand significant pressure when punctured.
The Titanic was built to stay afloat if any two of its 16 watertight compartments, any three of its first five compartments, or all of its first four compartments were flooded.
The first two bulkheads in the bow and the last in the stern were solid, all the rest had hermetic doors that allowed the crew and passengers to move between the compartments. On the flooring of the second bottom, in bulkhead "K", there were the only doors that led to the refrigerator compartment. On decks "F" and "E" in almost all bulkheads there were sealed doors connecting the rooms used by passengers, all of them could be battened down both remotely and manually using a device located directly on the door and from the deck to which it reached bulkhead. To shut down such doors on the passenger decks, a special key was required, which only the senior stewards had. But on Deck "G" there were no bulkhead doors.
In bulkheads "D" - "O", directly above the second bottom in the compartments where machines and boilers were located, there were 12 vertically closed doors, which were controlled by an electric drive from the navigation bridge. In case of danger or accident, or when the captain or officer of the watch considered it necessary, the electromagnets, upon a signal from the bridge, released the latches and all 12 doors were lowered under the influence of their own gravity and the space behind them was hermetically sealed. If the doors were closed by an electric signal from the bridge, then they could be opened only after removing the voltage from the electric drive.
In the ceiling of each compartment there was a spare hatch, usually leading to the boat deck. Those who did not manage to leave the room before the doors closed could climb its iron ladder.

Dinghy
In formal compliance with the current requirements of the British Merchant Shipping Code, the steamer had 20 lifeboats, which were enough to land 1,178 people, that is, for 50% of the people on board at that moment and 30% of the planned load. This was taken into account with the expectation of increasing the walking space on the deck of the passengers of the steamer.

Decks
On the "Titanic" there were 8 steel decks, located one above the other at a distance of 2.5-3.2 m. The uppermost was a boat, below it were seven others, designated from top to bottom letters from "A" to "G". Only decks "C", "D", "E" and "F" were extended along the entire length of the vessel. The boat deck and "A" deck did not reach either the bow or the stern, and the "G" deck was located only in the front of the liner - from the boiler rooms to the bow and in the stern - from the engine room to the stern cut. The open boat deck housed 20 lifeboats, along the sides there were promenade decks.
Deck "A" with a length of 150 m was almost entirely intended for first class passengers. Deck "B" was interrupted in the bow, forming an open space above deck "C", and then continued in the form of a 37-meter bow superstructure with equipment for servicing anchors and a mooring device. In front of Deck "C" there were anchor winches for the two main side anchors, there was also a galley and a dining room for sailors and stokers. Behind the bow superstructure was a promenade (the so-called inter-superstructure) deck for third-class passengers, 15 m long. On deck "D" there was another, isolated, third-class promenade deck. The entire length of the "E" deck was occupied by the cabins of passengers of the first and second classes, as well as the cabins of the stewards and mechanics. The first part of the "F" deck housed 64 cabins for second-class passengers and the main living quarters for third-class passengers, stretching 45 m and occupying the entire width of the liner.
There were two large saloons, a third-class dining room, the ship's laundries, a swimming pool, and Turkish baths. Deck "G" covered only the bow and stern, between which the boiler rooms were located. The bow of the 58 m long deck was 2 m higher than the waterline, it gradually lowered towards the center of the liner and at the opposite end was already at the level of the waterline. There were 26 cabins for 106 third-class passengers, the rest of the area was occupied by the luggage compartment for first-class passengers, the ship's mail and a ballroom. Behind the bow of the deck were bunkers with coal, which occupied 6 watertight compartments around the chimneys, followed by 2 compartments with steam lines for piston steam engines and a turbine compartment. This was followed by a 64 m long aft deck with warehouses, storage rooms and 60 cabins for 186 third class passengers, which was already below the waterline.

Masts
One was at the stern, the other in the forecastle, each steel with a teak top. On the front, at a height of 29 m from the waterline, there was a mars platform ("crow's nest"), which could be reached by an internal metal ladder.

Service premises
In front of the boat deck there was a navigating bridge, 58 m distant from the bow. On the bridge there was a wheelhouse with a steering wheel and a compass, immediately behind it was a room where navigational charts were stored. To the right of the wheelhouse were the navigator's cabin, the captain's cabin and some of the officers 'cabins, to the left - the rest of the officers' cabins. Behind them, behind the front chimney, was the radio telegraph cabin and the radio operator's cabin. At the front of Deck "D" there were living quarters for 108 stokers, a special spiral ladder connected this deck directly to the boiler rooms, so that stokers could go to work and return without passing cabins or passenger saloons. At the front of the E-Deck were living quarters for 72 loaders and 44 sailors. The first part of the “F” deck housed the cabins of 53 third-shift stokers. Deck "G" housed rooms for 45 stokers and oilers.

Comparison of the size of the "Titanic" with modern cruise ship Queen Mary 2, aircraft A-380, bus, car and man

Second bottom
The second bottom was located about one and a half meters above the keel and occupied 9/10 of the ship's length, not capturing only small areas in the bow and stern. On the second floor, boilers, reciprocating steam engines, a steam turbine and power generators were installed, all firmly anchored on steel plates, the remaining space used for cargo, coal and drinking water tanks. In the section of the engine room, the second bottom rose 2.1 m above the keel, which increased the protection of the liner in case of damage to the outer skin.

Power point
The registered capacity of steam engines and turbines was 50 thousand liters. with. (actually 55 thousand hp). The turbine was located in the fifth waterproof compartment in the aft part of the liner, in the next compartment, closer to the bow, steam engines were located, the other 6 compartments were occupied by twenty-four double-flow and five single-flow boilers that produced steam for the main machines, turbines, generators and auxiliary mechanisms. The diameter of each boiler was 4.79 m, the length of the double-flow boiler was 6.08 m, of the single-flow boiler - 3.57 m. Each double-flow boiler had 6 furnaces, and the single-flow boiler had 3. In addition, the Titanic was equipped with four auxiliary machines with generators, each with a capacity of 400 kilowatts, generating a current of 100 volts. Next to them were two more 30-kilowatt generators.

Pipes
The liner had 4 pipes. The diameter of each was 7.3 m, the height was 18.5 m. The first three removed smoke from the boiler furnaces, the fourth, located above the turbine compartment, served as an exhaust fan, and a chimney for ship kitchens was connected to it. The longitudinal section of the vessel is shown on its model, exhibited in the German Museum in Munich, where it is clearly seen that the last pipe was not connected to the furnaces. There is an opinion that when designing the ship, the widespread opinion of the public was taken into account that the solidity and reliability of the ship directly depends on the number of its pipes. It also follows from the literature that in the last moments of a ship leaving the water almost vertically, its false pipe fell from its place and, falling into the water, killed a large number of passengers and crew members in the water.

Power supply
The distribution network was connected to 10 thousand light bulbs, 562 electric heaters, mainly in first class cabins, 153 electric motors, including electric drives for eight cranes with a total lifting capacity of 18 tons, 4 cargo winches with a lifting capacity of 750 kg, 4 elevators, each for 12 people, and a huge number of phones. In addition, electricity was consumed by fans in the boiler room and engine rooms, apparatus in the gymnasium, dozens of machines and appliances in kitchens, including refrigerators.

Connection
The telephone switch served 50 lines. The radio equipment on the liner was the most modern, the power of the main transmitter was 5 kilowatts, power came from an electric generator. The second, the emergency transmitter, was battery powered. Four antennas were stretched between the two masts, some up to 75 m high. The guaranteed range of the radio signal was 250 miles. During the day, under favorable conditions, communication was possible at a distance of up to 400 miles, and at night - up to 2000.
Radio equipment came on board on April 2 from the Marconi company, which by this time monopolized the radio industry in Italy and England. Two young radio officers assembled and set up the station all day, and a test connection was immediately made to the coast station at Malin Head, on the northern coast of Ireland, and to Liverpool for verification. On April 3, the radio equipment worked like a clock, on that day, communication was established with the island of Tenerife at a distance of 2,000 miles and with Port Said in Egypt (3,000 miles). In January 1912, the Titanic was assigned the radio call sign MUC, then they were replaced by MGY, previously owned by the American ship Yale. As the dominant radio company, Marconi introduced its own radio call signs, most of which began with the letter “M”, regardless of its location and the country of origin of the vessel on which it was installed.

Collision

Iceberg believed to have collided with the Titanic

Recognizing an iceberg in the light haze, the lookout Fleet warned "there is ice in front of us" and struck the bell three times, which meant an obstacle right on the course, after which he rushed to the telephone connecting the "crow's nest" with the bridge. Moody's sixth mate, who was on the bridge, answered almost instantly and heard the cry “ice right ahead”. Thanks politely, Moody addressed Duty Officer Murdoch and repeated the warning. He rushed to the telegraph, put its handle on "stop" and shouted "right rudder", at the same time transmitting the order "full back" to the engine room. In 1912 terminology, "right rudder" meant turning the stern of the ship to the right and the bow to the left. Helmsman Robert Hitchens leaned on the handle of the steering wheel and quickly turned it counterclockwise until it stops, after which Murdoch was told "wheel to the right, sir." At that moment, the helmsman Alfred Oliver and Boxhall, who was in the navigator's room, came running to the bridge when the bells rang out in the "crow's nest". Murdoch pressed the lever that closed the watertight doors in the boiler bulkheads and the engine room, and immediately gave the order "left rudder!"

Lifeboats
There were 2,208 people aboard the Titanic, but the total capacity of the lifeboats was only 1,178 people. The reason was that according to the rules in force at the time, the total capacity of lifeboats depended on the tonnage of the vessel, and not on the number of passengers and crew members. The rules were drawn up in 1894, when the largest ships had a displacement of about 10,000 tons. The Titanic's displacement was 46,328 tons.
But even these boats were only partially filled. Captain Smith gave an order or direction "women and children first." The officers interpreted this order in different ways. Second Mate Lightoller, in command of the launching of the boats at the port side, allowed the men to take seats in the boats only if rowers were needed and under no other circumstances. First mate Murdoch, who commanded the launching of the boats at the starboard side, allowed men to descend if there were no women and children. So, in boat number 1, only 12 seats out of 40 were occupied. In addition, at first, many passengers did not want to take seats in the boats, because the Titanic, which had no external damage, seemed safer to them. The last boats were filling better, because it was already obvious to the passengers that the Titanic would sink. In the very last boat, 44 seats out of 47 were occupied. But in the sixteenth boat that left the side, there were many empty seats, passengers of the 1st class were saved in it.
As a result of the analysis of the operation to rescue people from the Titanic, it is concluded that with adequate actions of the team, there would be at least 553 fewer victims. The reason for the low survival rate of passengers on the ship is the attitude given by the captain to rescue women and children, first of all, and not all passengers; interest of the crew in this order of boarding the boats. By preventing male passengers from gaining access to the boats, the men from the crew were able to take seats in half-empty boats themselves, covering their interests with “noble motives” of caring for women and children. If all the passengers, men and women, took their places in the boats, the men from the crew would not have got into them and their chances of salvation would be zero, and the crew could not fail to understand this. Men from the crew occupied part of the seats in almost all boats during the evacuation from the vessel, on average 10 people from the crew per boat. 24% of the crew were saved, about the same as the number of passengers of the 3rd class (25%). The crew had no reason to consider their duty fulfilled - most of the passengers remained on the ship with no hope of salvation, even the order to save women and children in the first place was not fulfilled (several dozen children, and more than a hundred women never got into the boats).
The report of the British Commission on the results of the investigation into the circumstances of the sinking of the Titanic indicates that "if the boats were delayed a little longer before launching, or if the passage doors were open for passengers, more of them could get on the boats." The reason for the low survival rate of class 3 passengers with a high degree of probability can be considered the obstacles put up by the crew for the passage of passengers to the deck, the closing of the aisle doors. Comparison of the results of the evacuation from the Titanic with the results of the evacuation from the ship Lusitania (1915) shows that the evacuation operation on ships like the Titanic and Lusitania can be organized without disproportion in the percentage of survivors depending on gender or class of passengers.
People in lifeboats, as a rule, did not save those in the water. On the contrary, they tried to sail as far away from the crash site as possible, fearing that those in the water would overturn their boats or that they would be sucked into the sinkhole. Only 6 people were picked up from the water.

Official data on the number of dead and rescued

Category	Rescued Percentage	Percentage of fatalities	Number of rescued	The death toll	How many were
Children, first grade	100.0	00.0	6	0	6
Children, second grade	100.0	00.0	24	0	24
Women, first class	97.22	02.78	140	4	144
Women, crew	86.96	13.04	20	3	23
Women, second class	86.02	13.98	80	13	93
Women, third grade	46.06	53.94	76	89	165
Children, third grade	34.18	65.82	27	52	79
Men, first class	32.57	67.43	57	118	175
Men, crew	21.69	78.31	192	693	885
Men, third grade	16.23	83.77	75	387	462
Men, second class	8.33	91.67	14	154	168
Total	31.97	68.03	711	1513	2224

The path of the "Titanic" and the place of its wreck.

Chronology
The path of the "Titanic" and the place of its wreck.

April 10, 1912
- 12:00 - The Titanic departs from the quay wall of Southampton Port and barely avoids a collision with the American liner New York.
-19: 00 - stop in Cherbourg (France) to pick up passengers and mail.
-21: 00 - The Titanic left Cherbourg and headed for Queenstown (Ireland).

April 11, 1912
-12: 30 - stop in Queenstown to pick up passengers and mail; one crew member deserts from the Titanic.
-14: 00 - The Titanic departs Queenstown with 1,316 passengers and 891 crew on board.

April 14, 1912
-09: 00 - "Karonia" reports ice in the region of 42 ° north latitude, 49-51 ° west longitude.
-13: 42 - "Baltic" reports the presence of ice in the region of 41 ° 51 ′ north latitude, 49 ° 52 ′ west longitude.
-13: 45 - "America" ​​reports ice in the region of 41 ° 27 ′ north latitude, 50 ° 8 ′ west longitude.
-19: 00 - air temperature 43 ° Fahrenheit (6 ° C).
-19: 30 - air temperature 39 ° Fahrenheit (3.9 ° C).
-19:30 - Californian reports ice at 42 ° 3 ′ N, 49 ° 9 ′ W.
-21: 00 - air temperature 33 ° Fahrenheit (0.6 ° C).
-21: 30 - Second Mate Lightoller warns the ship's carpenter and watchkeepers in the engine room to monitor the fresh water system - the water in the pipelines may freeze; he tells the lookouts to watch the ice appear.
-21: 40 - "Mesaba" reports ice in the region of 42 ° -41 ° 25 ′ north latitude, 49 ° -50 ° 30 ′ west longitude.
-22: 00 - air temperature 32 ° Fahrenheit (0 ° C).
-22: 30 - The seawater temperature dropped to 31 ° Fahrenheit (-0.56 ° C).
-23: 00 - Californian warns of the presence of ice, but the Titanic's radio operator cuts off radio traffic before Californian has time to report the coordinates of the area.
-23: 40 - At a point with coordinates 41 ° 46 ′ north latitude, 50 ° 14 ′ west longitude (later it turned out that these coordinates were calculated incorrectly) at a distance of about 450 meters, an iceberg was seen directly along the course. Despite the maneuver, 39 seconds later, the underwater part of the vessel was touched, and the hull of the vessel received numerous small holes for a length of about 100 meters. Of the 16 watertight compartments of the vessel, 6 were cut (in the sixth, the leak was extremely insignificant).
April 15, 1912
-00:05 - an order was given to uncover the lifeboats and call the crew and passengers to the gathering points.
-00: 15 - the first radiotelegraph signal for help is transmitted from the Titanic.
-00: 45 - the first signal flare is fired, and the first lifeboat (No. 7) is launched.
-01: ​​15 - Passengers of the 3rd class are allowed on the deck.
-01: ​​40 - the last flare is fired.
-02: 05 - the last lifeboat is launched.
-02: 10 - the last radiotelegraph signals were transmitted.
-02: 17 - the electric light goes out.
-02: 18 - "Titanic" breaks into three parts
-02: 20 - The Titanic sank.
-03: 30 - signal flares fired from the Carpathia are noticed in the lifeboats.
-04: 10 - "Karpatia" picked up the first boat from the "Titanic" (boat no. 2).

Lifeboat "Titanic", taken by one of the passengers of "Carpathia"

-08: 30 - Carpathia picked up the last boat (No. 12) from the Titanic.
-08: 50 - "Carpathia", taking on board 704 people who escaped from the "Titanic", heads for New York.