Titanic cost 75 million pounds, with a tonnage of 46,328 tons, a length of 882.9 feet and a width of 92.5 feet. From the keel to the top of the four chimneys, it is 175 feet, and its height is equivalent to 1 1 floor. It was a first-class super luxury ship at that time.
In May 2006, the last female survivor who witnessed this incident died at the age of 99. At present, two female survivors are still alive, but they were less than one year old when the accident happened, so they will not have memories of the incident.
work progress
1909 On March 3 1 day, the Titanic started construction at Hanand Wolf Shipyard in Belfast, the largest city in Northern Ireland. Hull launching may 3 19 1 1. She is also the second Olympic-class mail ship built by White Star Shipping in the same shipyard. At that time, it was the largest and most famous manned mail ship. Titanic is 260 meters long and 28 meters wide, with a tonnage of 46,329 tons (net weight 2 183 1 ton) and an unprecedented displacement of 66,000 tons! Although it contains more space, it leads to a larger gross tonnage (more than the Olympic number 1600 tons). Her hull is still as big as her sister ship, the Olympic. The ship has 899 crew members and can carry 3300 passengers. Because she also delivers mail, it is also called the Royal Mail steamship Titanic. Only three of the four huge chimneys can work normally. The other is foil, whose only practical use is as a chimney in the main kitchen. The power system has three sets of main engines: two sets are four-cylinder reciprocating steam engines and one set is a steam turbine. The power of the main engine reaches 50,000 horsepower and the speed is 23-24 knots.
But White Star is not interested in pursuing speed. Biggs, the baker of Titanic, recalled, "... there won't be another ship like her. I have worked on the Olympic, Solemn and Queen Elizabeth. No ship can compare with the Titanic. Yes, just like the Olympic Games, but much more luxurious. For example, in a big restaurant, the Olympic Sports Center doesn't even have a carpet. Titanic's carpet is too thick for you to reach your knees ... and the furniture is so heavy that you can't lift it. And those partitions ... they can build a bigger and faster ship, but Titanic put all her strength into building a luxurious and comfortable space ... She is really a big ship ... ". What Biggs said is a general view. Titanic seduced everyone who built and designed her. This temptation made her more and more popular after many years. In the words of Shipbuilder magazine, Titanic "imitated the Palace of Versailles in many details" ... The lounge was filled with Louis XV-style furniture, similar in style to the salon of the little Trianon Palace in France, and the carved work on the fireplace was "The Goddess of Hunting of Versailles". There are other exquisite reliefs and artworks ... exquisite teak and brass decorations, chandeliers and murals, carpets from India and Persia. " Even the third class cabin has a marble washbasin and bedside heating equipment. Titanic was an unparalleled luxury at that time. Although she was not the first ship to provide deck swimming pool, gym, bathroom and elevator, she tried her best to provide a level of service that she had never seen before. For first-class passengers, she provided three elevators; As an innovation, she provided an elevator for second-class passengers. Economy class passengers still need to climb stairs.
One of her most famous features is her luxurious stairs. James Cameron faithfully recreated this staircase in his film Titanic.
Although the Olympic and Titanic are sister ships, some details are different. After the observation of the Olympic maiden voyage, it was found that people on deck A would be drenched by water mist, and the corridor running through deck B was not highly utilized. Both of these defects were improved on the Titanic, and part of the B deck was transformed into a private terrace of the first-class luxury suite.
Titanic is a fixed-point work of technological achievements. Titanic talked more about safety. The two-story ship bottom is divided into 16 watertight compartments by 15 watertight partitions, with automatic watertight doors, spanning the whole ship. 16 watertight compartment to prevent her from sinking. Strangely, these waterproof compartments do not extend very high. The first two watertight partitions and the last five are only built on the D deck, and the eight walls in the middle are only set on the lower E deck. Even so, any two cars are full of water, she can still drive, and even four cars are full of water, which can keep floating. People at that time could not imagine a worse situation, so they called the Titanic unsinkable. A crew member said to Sylvia Caldwell, a second-class female passenger, during the voyage, "Even God himself can't sink this ship."
(of a ship) making its first voyage.
1965438+On February 3, 2002, the Titanic completed its renovation work, and its maiden voyage was originally scheduled for March 20. However, the unfortunate collision of191/kloc-0 with the Royal Navy cruiser Hawke in September 2000 delayed the final work of Titanic. Her maiden voyage is scheduled for April 10. Before that, there will be a sea trial on April 1 day. Everything is perfect. Titanic arrived in Southampton Port on the 3rd, anchored at No.41and waited for the exciting moment of No.4 10. As an unpleasant episode, the work of adding coal encountered a little setback due to the strike of coal workers in Southampton Port. IMM Company didn't want to postpone the maiden voyage of Titanic any longer, so it searched all the coal blocks from all the coal cabins of the company's mail ship moored in Southampton Port.
191April 10, at the ocean pier in Southampton harbor, thousands of people surged. The unsinkable Titanic set sail for a new world. The dock was crowded with passengers, family members who came to see me off, baggage handlers and customs inspectors. In the morning 1 1, 1 chimney emitted white steam. Twenty-five of the 29 boilers started to fire in turn. At noon 12, Titanic slowly left the dock under the traction of tugboat. Two external propellers began to stir the sea water in Southampton Harbour. Titanic passed the Solemn (not the one compensated by Germany later), Philadelphia, St. Louis, Ocean and New York in turn, and honked its horn to welcome her. This 46,000-ton ship seems to be very attractive to other ships. Under the suction of the current, the hull of the new york mail ship began to approach the Titanic. Fortunately, the anchor chain and cable were caught in time. Titanic's tugboat Vulcan hijacked the hull of the New York. The world's largest mail ship began its first and only voyage.
At 7 o'clock that evening, Titanic arrived in Cherbourg, France. Another group of passengers and goods boarded the Titanic on two special ferry boats, nomadic and transportation, including American rich Astor and Margaret? Mrs. Brown-later called "unsinkable noble Mrs. Brown" by the newspaper. At noon the next day, Titanic arrived in Queenstown, Ireland (Cork today). A group of Irish immigrants full of longing and hope for the new world boarded the ship. A passenger landed here, and his photos later became out-of-print photos of Titanic, which is of great value to today's collectors.
In order to cross the Atlantic at the fastest speed, Titanic chose a shorter northern route. The temperature keeps dropping. But the weather is very sunny. The surviving crew said that they had never seen such a calm North Atlantic. According to Ismail's orders, the Titanic accelerated to 25 knots the next day. Although people think that Kanade is only looking for a quick strategy to reduce its image, White Star also wants a blue ribbon to show off. Nothing important happened on the Titanic along the way. Philip, the telegraph operator on the ship, is busy sending expensive private telegrams to first-class passengers, mostly nonsense about peace and instructions on stock trading and delivery.
Titanic sank.
19 12 April 14, Sunday night, a quiet night. There is no wind at all. If there is, the crew on the ship will find the little phosphorescence of the waves on the iceberg. Titanic sailed on this dark and cold ocean at a speed of 22 knots. Captain Smith ordered the lookout to observe carefully after receiving ice reports from many ships nearby. This year's iceberg drifted farther south than in previous years. Surprisingly, however, although the first class has customized gold-plated stair handrails and Indian hand-woven carpets, White Star Company has not equipped binoculars for the spectators! ! 1 1: 40, looking at Frederick? Fleet (who survived later) found a shadow "the size of two tables" in the distance, which became bigger at a fast speed. He knocked the alarm bell on the bridge three times and grabbed the phone: "There is an iceberg directly ahead!" " ".Six Moody officials who answered the phone informed the first mate Murdoch next to them. Murdoch ordered to slow down, left full rudder, stop the ship and reverse the car. It turns out that this is the stupidest decision. At that time, the best choice was to speed up, leave enough rudder and take some risks; Or slow down and hit an iceberg with a solid bow. 19 12 On that cold night in April, the Titanic and the iceberg kissed each other in death.
The result of this collision was later known to all. But at that time, the passengers and crew on board reacted differently. Some passengers who didn't sleep well in first class and second class were awakened by a slight metal scraping sound. The hull gave a slight vibration. Some people think it's a big wave, some people think it's hitting the rocks, and some people think it's propeller failure. But the passengers in the cabin below felt much stronger vibration. Some passengers saw milky white icebergs passing by outside the porthole. Some scraped ice fell into the cabin. The immigrant passengers on the ground floor were even more shocked to find that the cold sea water was overflowing the car door from a place I didn't know. The ship stopped soon. Some passengers put on their coats and came to the deck. The stars are shining over the North Atlantic, and the temperature is as low as MINUS one degree. Under the dark sky, the window of Titanic gave off a warm light yellow light. Four tall yellow and black chimneys were filled with white steam smoke. Suddenly, the three of them suddenly gave a deafening roar and scream. Passengers who know about steam engines know that it is the boiler safety valve on board that releases excess superheated high-pressure steam. Who did Captain Smith and Harlan notify? Thomas, chief shipbuilding engineer of Wolf Company? Andrews will check the damage together. The five carriages in front are all submerged in the sea. The sea seems to be flowing through H deck in an orderly way. In the dim light of the mail cabin, packages of mail floated on the sea. After checking all watertight compartments, Andrews said quietly to Captain Smith, "This ship is hopeless." . Captain Smith asked how much time was left, and the answer was one hour, two hours at the most. What happened after that is already very clear to everyone. At 0: 05 am on June 5438+05, Captain Smith ordered the lifeboat to be released. At 0: 00 15, Titanic sent out a distress signal of "CQD·MGY". CQD was the universal distress signal at that time, and MGY was the radio calling code of Titanic. Soon after, the SOS distress signal newly determined by the International Maritime Association was issued. Many ships in the Atlantic Ocean have received distress telegrams. The Temple Mount of Canadian Pacific Company, Carpathian of Canard Company, Myanmar, Frankfurt and Virginia of Russian cargo ships are all accelerating to the accident site. The exception is that the operator of the tramp liner "California" just outside 18 nautical miles turned off the telegram and fell asleep. The ship has been trapped by ice floes for nearly a day, and nothing serious happened on board all night, as if nothing serious would happen.
At 0045 hours, the first lifeboat was lowered. The ship launched its first rocket in distress. A shining white spark slowly falls. At 0: 55, the bow of the Titanic was submerged. The work by the lifeboat is a mess. Although the virtues of women and children (women and children in first class and second class) boarding lifeboats first have been observed, many lifeboats are lowered in mid-air. However, this can't blame the crew. At that time, the maritime community believed that if the lifeboat was full of people, it would cause damage and even capsize. Titanic's lifeboat was well designed, but the crew didn't know it. Results 1 178 people can be carried in the lifeboat, and only 65 1 people got on it (someone jumped into the sea and was rescued from the lifeboat). 1: 40, the last folding lifeboat was put into the sea. The band on the ship accompanied the passengers and used music to appease those who were doomed to die in a few minutes, playing until the last minute. Faced with the choice between life and death, some people choose to die like a gentleman. Rich Guggenheim put on his evening dress. "Even if you die, you must die like a gentleman." Mrs Evans from Denver gave her lifeboat seat to the mother of a child, while Ismail, the chairman of White Star Company, left his passengers, crew and his boat at the last minute and jumped into the lifeboat. The goodness and evil of human nature are exposed here. As more and more sea water poured into the front of the hull, the stern gradually left the water and tilted high. 65438+ At 0: 35 in the morning, seawater was immersed in the boiler room. 10: 02, Phillips, who has been sticking to his post, sent the last distress telegram. At 2: 00 13, 29 large boilers on board left the base one after another, collided with each other and broke a watertight wall. The bow of the ship broke a big hole and fell into the sea. At 2: 00 17, seawater flooded into the central power control room, causing a short circuit and the lights of the whole ship went out. 18 at 2: 00 am, with a loud noise, the Titanic hull broke into two parts from the third and fourth chimneys. At 2: 20, the bow part sank into the sea, and the second half hit the sea. In less than a minute, it sank into the water with the first half of the Titanic. 1503 passengers and crew are on call.
People who fell into the water soon lost consciousness. What awaits them is rapid hypothermia, nerve paralysis and death. The people in the lifeboat also froze to death. Some people completely rely on strong will, half-immersed in cold sea water, and hold on to the overturned lifeboat No.2. Mrs. Brown of lifeboat 6 insisted on saving those who were still in the water, but she was seriously threatened by the crew on the lifeboat. Until 3: 30, Canard's passenger ship Carpathian was the first to arrive at the scene of the accident. At 4 o'clock, the crew of Carpathian found the first lifeboat in the twilight of the North Atlantic. The rescue work continued until 8: 30 in the morning, and the lifeboat 12 tied the rescue cable. Of the 2208 crew and passengers on the Titanic, only 705 survived. The captain and priest of the Carpathia hosted a mourning ceremony in the dining room. At 8: 50, turn around and return to new york.
165438+1October 18, Carpathian arrived in new york port. Thousands of people watched them pass the Statue of Liberty on the Waterray coast of Manhattan Island. At Pier 54, about 30,000 people stood in the rain, silently welcoming the survivors of the Titanic. The news of the sinking of Titanic shocked the whole western world. At that time, people were no less shocked than the 9. 1 1 incident in the United States in this century. Flags were flown at half-mast in many places on both sides of the Atlantic. King George V of England and President Taft of the United States exchanged messages of condolence. Kaiser Wilhelm II also sent a message of condolence.
Consequences and effects of the accident
Titanic is the product of the peak of human dreams, which embodies the strong self-confidence of human beings to dominate the world. Her sinking showed mankind the mysterious power of nature and the unpredictability of fate. On the day the Titanic sank, people in the western world had enjoyed 100 years of stability and peace. With the steady progress of science and technology and the rapid development of industry, people are full of confidence in the future. The sinking of the Titanic awakened all this. This unsinkable ship is the largest man-made steel structure after the Eiffel Tower and a great achievement in the industrial age. Because it was careless about the forces of nature, it sank on its first maiden voyage. Titanic will always remind people of the price of human arrogance and self-confidence. People will never forget this picture: Titanic held her head high at the bottom of the sea, and ruins and stains could not hide her nobility. This is where she belongs. History has thus evolved into a legend.
The disaster shocked the international community. Because it proves to some people that people and their scientific and technological achievements cannot be compared with the forces of nature.
At that time, the steelmaking technology was not very mature, and the steel produced was not made by modern standards. The steel plate used in Titanic contains many chemical impurities, such as zinc sulfide, which, combined with long-term immersion in cold seawater, makes the steel plate more fragile.
On the other hand, the schematic diagram of the collision of the Titanic is not in line with the public's idea: there are also many statements about the sinking form of the Titanic. Including the sinking of the whole ship; The hull folds near the middle of the second and third chimneys and then sinks vertically; The hull was folded near the middle of the third and fourth chimneys, then the front hull dragged the stern and the stern sank vertically. Until 1985 and 1 September, the famous scientist Ballard found the wreckage of Titanic in the sea about 380 miles southeast of Newfoundland, which was the bow part of the first two chimneys and the stern part behind the fourth chimney, which initially proved the third theory. This theory was later experienced in the film Titanic directed by James Cameron. At that time, everyone thought that the hull of the third chimney had been blown to pieces and would never be found. However, in August 2005, an archaeological team sponsored by the History Channel found this part of the hull 500 meters behind the wreckage at the stern. The wreckage is about 12 m by 27 m, and the red paint on the bottom of the ship is still clearly visible. This discovery overturns the "double cut theory" of the past 20 years. Scientists believe that the Titanic sank after breaking three sections.
When the Titanic sank, it did use the internationally used Morse code distress signal SOS, but this was not the earliest example of SOS. SOS signal was first put forward at the International Radiocommunication Conference on the outskirts of Berlin in 1906. 1908, the international community recognized this proposal and gradually began to use it widely, four years before the sinking of the Titanic. However, British radio operators rarely use SOS signals, and they prefer the old CQD distress signals. John George Philip, the chief radio officer of Titanic, kept sending CQD distress signals until Harold Brad, a junior radio operator, suggested him to send SOS, which is a new call signal. This may be your last chance to send it! Then Philip mixed the SOS signal with the traditional CQD distress signal. Because there was no 24-hour radio, the California ship finally received a distress signal the next morning.
The sinking of Titanic greatly affected shipbuilding and radio and telegraph communication. 19131February 12 Therefore, the first international conference on the safety of life at sea was held in London, England. The treaty reached at the meeting contributed to the establishment and capital investment of the international iceberg inspection organization. To this day, she is still detecting and reporting icebergs in the North Atlantic that may threaten ships. The treaty also unanimously reached a new regulation: all manned ships must have enough lifeboats to carry all the people on board, and appropriate related training should be carried out. In addition, the radio communication should be open 24 hours a day, plus the secondary standby power supply, so that the distress signal will not be missed. The treaty also agreed that any rocket launched from a ship must be interpreted as a distress signal.
Even today, after 1 century, several absurd stories about Titanic and its sinking still exist. One is that her rudder is too small, and a bigger rudder can avoid this disaster. A bigger rudder may have saved her, when the size of her rudder is not small for the size of her hull. In fact, according to today's regulations on ships, the size of the rudder of Titanic is still qualified. Another way of saying this is that there were not enough lifeboats on the Titanic. In fact, the number of her lifeboats complies with British law. The number of people stipulated by law is not based on the number of passengers, but on the tonnage of the ship. At that time, the number of lifeboats on all ships was far below the required number, and the purpose of lifeboats at that time was not to hold all passengers; They are only used to transfer passengers from sunken ships to another rescue ship. At that time, the international maritime safety rules were that the number of lifeboats on passenger ships was one-third of the total number of people on board, and the lifeboats on Titanic could carry half of the passengers. White Star Company is also very aggrieved that this extra configuration of "being highly responsible for passenger safety" has not attracted public attention. The sinking of the Titanic changed this life-saving strategy forever. After the sinking of the Titanic, new maritime safety regulations were formulated. The requirements for lifeboats are simple: they must be able to accommodate all the people on board. According to the new requirements, major shipping companies quickly carried out the transformation work. In fact, even if she can load more lifeboats to carry all the passengers, there may still be no guarantee that more people will be rescued, because when she sank, the crew had not had time to put down all the lifeboats! There is also a saying that the crew of the mechanical group stick to their posts until the end. A book published by 1988 also mentioned this point and made it immortal. In fact, the mechanical cabin was flooded at 1: 15AM. At the last moment of sinking, mechanics and furnace workers stood on the stern deck like hundreds of others, trapped in the ship, without any hope of being rescued.