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Sinking of the Titanic. A disaster that caused Between 1,490 and 1,520 victims. The Titanic sank during its maiden voyage, on the night of April 14 to 15, 1912. It was the most publicized maritime disaster of all time.

 

Sinking of the Titanic

Sinking of the Titanic

The Titanic struck an iceberg in the North Atlantic off the coast of Newfoundland and sank within hours, taking most of its passengers with it into the icy waters which made this sinking one of the greatest maritime disasters in peacetime and the deadliest for the time. Many personalities perished during the sinking, including billionaires Benjamin Guggenheim and John Jacob Astor.

The Titanic

The Titanic is a British transatlantic liner of the White Star Line, built on the initiative of Bruce Ismay, and designed by the architect Thomas Andrews of the Harland & Wolff shipyards. Its construction began in 1909 in Belfast and ended in 1912. It was the most luxurious and largest liner ever built at the time of its launch. Its construction followed that of an almost identical ship, the Olympic.

An unprecedented technical feat

The interior luxury is appropriate for the first classes at least: swimming pool, Turkish baths, gymnasium, squash court, electricity and heating in all rooms, staircase carved in the Art Nouveau style, light dome...

The ship is very strong due to its double hull made of steel plates, also divided into 16 watertight compartments, each of which can be isolated from the others by a sliding door in the event of an incident. The shipowner therefore did not consider it necessary to provide as many places in the lifeboats as there were people on board! The media thus gave it an image as a reliable ship, even if, contrary to the legend spread after the sinking, it was never considered unsinkable by its builders.

Journey route

The Titanic set sail from Southampton (England) on April 10, 1912, at 1:30 p.m. for a journey that was to take it to New York with 2,207 people on board according to official figures: 885 crew members, 329 first-class passengers, 285 in second and 706 in third.

On Sunday, April 14 at 10:55 p.m., the Californian, which was sailing off the coast of Newfoundland, passed not far from the Titanic. He informs the latter of the presence of several icebergs.

The disaster

Edward John Smith, captain of the Titanic (1850-1912) The liner steams at 22 knots on a sea smooth as a mirror. The tragedy occurs at 11:40 p.m. The lookout sees the mass of an iceberg too late and the officer on duty cannot turn back. He unfortunately tries to avoid it and hits it on the side. Slowly, the Titanic is taking on water without it being possible to save it.

At 12:20 a.m., Captain Smith ordered the ship evacuated. It will be swallowed up with him two hours later. Breaking in two, the liner sank and has been lying at a depth of 3,800 meters ever since.

One ship, just one, comes to the aid of the sea giant. He will collect a total of 705 survivors. The sinking caused a minimum of 1,502 victims.

The incredible “Sinking” of the press

Two days after the tragedy, the newspapers were misled by the first dispatches. Like Le Petit Journal (April 16, 1912, page 1 and page 2), they reported the sinking of the Titanic while announcing nothing less than the rescue of all passengers and crew members. Cruel contempt.

Repercussions of the incident

The sinking was a shock throughout the world, particularly in New York and England. After the sinking, several commissions of inquiry were carried out and their conclusions were used to improve maritime safety, in particular through new regulations.

Interpretations of the severity of the disaster

Several factors combine to explain both the sinking and the high number of passengers who did not survive it. The ship did not have sufficient lifeboats and the crew had never been trained to handle this type of event. As a result, the evacuation of passengers was poorly organized and the boats were underloaded. The behavior of Commander Edward Smith was also denounced, in particular, because he had kept the liner at too high a speed given the sailing conditions. Weather and climatic circumstances also played a determining role.