14 April 1912

"There was peace, and the world had an even tenor to it's way.
It seems to me that the disaster about to occur was the event that not only made
the world rub it's eyes and awake, but woke it with a start.
To my mind the world of today awoke April 15, 1912."
~ Jack Thayer, Titanic survivor ~

 On 10 April 1912, the R.M.S. Titanic commenced her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York, with 2,227 passengers and crew aboard. At 11:40 p.m. on the night of 14 April, traveling at a speed of 20.5 knots, she struck an iceberg on her starboard bow.

At 2:20 a.m. she sank, approx. 13.5 miles east-southeast of the position from which her distress call was transmitted. Lost at sea were 1,522 people, including passengers and crew.

The 705 survivors, afloat in the ship's 20 lifeboats, were rescued within hours by the Cunard Liner, Carpathia. -Smithsonian-

 

"When anyone asks me how I can best describe my experience in nearly 40 years at sea, I merely say,uneventful. Of course there have been winter gales, and storms and fog and the like. But in all my experience, Ihave never been in any accident ... or any sort worth speaking about. I have seen but one vessel in distress in all my years at sea. I never saw a wreck and never have been wrecked nor was I ever in any predicament thatthreatened toend in disaster of any sort."   - E. J. Smith, 1907 (Captain, RMS Titanic )

THE FATEFUL NIGHT OF APRIL 14, 1912

There were a total of seven iceberg warning messages sent to the Titanic on the night of April 14, 1912. After the Titanic hit the iceberg, people were out on the decks playing with the ice.  Most of the 1st class passengers did not want to go outside in the cold.  No later than 12.45 a.m. the first lifeboat, No. 7, was lowered. It had been tested to a capacity of upwards to 65-70 men, but it left with only 28! Many of the officers were skeptical of the amount of weight the davits could hold because they were never informed of the rigorous  testing that they endured. This is one of the reasons that many lifeboat left half full. Many  other boats left half full. At 12.55 a.m., lifeboat No. 6 left with less than 28 people but had a capacity 65! No. 5 was lowered with 41 people and no 3. lowered with 32; both had a capacity  of 65. Boat No. 1 left with 12 people but had a capacity of 40!  Astor and wife   The band kept playing until the boat sank. One man, Ben Guggenheim, exchanged his life belt for a sweater! He said if he was to perish, he wanted to die like a gentleman.  Many 3rd class or steerage passages were trapped in the ship. Some had to break barriers between third and first class to escape to the upper decks.  Even in lifeboats, many passengers still felt the Titanic would not sink. One passenger, Colonel John Jacob Astor, wanted permission to go in a lifeboat with his wife. He was told, "No men are allowed in the boats until the women are loaded first." The boat left only two thirds full.  Chief Baker Charles Joughin owed his survival to alcohol. He stepped off the stern of the Titanic and swam around in the water, oblivious to the cold, until picked up by another lifeboat. He drank a large amount of alcohol before the sinking, which  was a "human antifreeze!"  Luckily the Carpathia heard the SOS or CQD and steamed towards the distress location.  The Titanic sank somewhere in 41°North and 50°West. The Titanic sent some  message with her reported position: 41°44' North, 50°24' West and later 41°46' North, 50°14' West. Courtesy of Tribute to the RMS Titanic German artist, Willer Stoewer, rendered the  sinking for the news media in 1912.