Captain Edward J. Smith

Smith had great confidence in both his ships and his experience as captain. In response to questions about his career he assuredly remarked, "When anyone asks me how I can best describe my experiences of nearly forty years at sea, I merely say uneventful. I have never been in an accident of any sort worth speaking about....I never saw a wreck and have never been wrecked, nor was I ever in any predicament that threatened to end in disaster of any sort."

Deck One

First Class staterooms

The grand staircase

The Titanic steaming away from port

On the port side. only women and children were, for the most part, permitted in the life boats, while on the starboard side, men were allowed to get into the boats if no women were in sight. Still, many women were reluctant to leave their husbands and the apparent safety of the huge ship for a 70-foot drop down to the dark ocean in the tiny wooden boats. Some had to be forcefully picked up and dropped into the lifeboats by crew members. Very few of the boats were loaded to their capacity with passengers. 

"Not even God himself could sink this ship."
-- Employee of the White Star Line, at the launch of the Titanic, May 31, 1911 

Titanic's maiden voyage would be commanded by Edward J. Smith, a notable and experienced captain, having over two million miles logged on White Star liners. He was celebrated by both crew and passengers, and was even called by some the "Millionaire's Captain." Smith was transferred to Titanic from her sister Olympic, for what he expected to be his final voyage before retirement. At sixty-two, and twenty-six years with the White Star Line, Titanic'sfirst Atlantic crossing would be his last.




Also on board for the maiden voyage were Bruce Ismay and Thomas Andrews, of The White Star Line and Harland and Wolff, respectively. While Ismay's interests were immediately that of the White Star Line, Andrews' concerns were directed more toward the Titanic herself. He scrutinized and noted final details that needed to be corrected, including such minute details as the number of screws in clothes hooks. Both Ismay and Andrews traveled among the First Class in private staterooms.


Titanic also carried a number of the wealthiest people in the world. First Class passengers included Colonel John Jacob Astor and his wife, returning from a European voyage; Isidor Straus, a director of the famous Macy's department store, who with his wife Ida, had been traveling in the south of France; George Widener, one of the richest people in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, along with his wife Eleanor and son Harry; William Stead, author and editor of the periodical Review of Reviews; and the distinguished industrialist Benjamin Guggenheim.
Even the passengers' dogs were glamorous. John Jacob Astor had along his Airedale Kitty. Henry Sleeper Harper, of the publishing family, had his prize Pekingese Sun Yat-sen. Robert W. Daniel, the Philadelphia banker, was bringing back a champion French bulldog just purchased in Britain. Clarence Moore of Washington also had been dog-shopping, but the 50 pairs of English foxhounds he bought for the Loudoun Hunt weren't making the trip. 



Second Class passengers included the British school teacher Lawrence Beesley, who would later write a telling account of the events surrounding Titanic's sinking. Beesley kept attentive mental and written notes during the voyage. Also in Second Class were Benjamin and Esther Hart, along with their daughter, Eva. Mrs. Hart however was quite uneasy about having to travel on the Titanic. So strong was her premonition of misfortune that she refused to sleep during the night. Had she been sleeping when Titanic struck an iceberg, she likely would not have noticed the slight bumping it caused on impact.


Third Class passengers, also known as "steerage," made up the largest portion of any single class on Titanic. One Third Class passenger was Henry Sutehall of Kenmore, New York. He had traveled with a friend across the United States, then to Australia and eventually back to England before finally booking passage on Titanic. He was returning home after a worldwide voyage of nearly two years. Swedish passenger Carl Jansson was also in Third Class. As he prepared to come up on deck after collision with the iceberg, he noticed that water was sloshing around his feet before eventually reaching his ankles.

Birth of the Titanic

Titanic is a word which originates from Greek mythology. The Titans were a race of giants reputed for their great size and force, and were eventually overthrown by the Olympian gods. 



The word "titanic" in English now likewise means "of, relating to, or held to have characteristics of the Titans," or "marked by very great size : of enormous magnitude, power, scope, strength, or influence : colossal, gigantic." Titanic was just the sort of name the White Star Line was seeking for the sister ships that were to be its newest triumvirate of transatlantic steamers.

In 1907, five years before Titanic would set sail, J. Bruce Ismay, managing director of the White Star Line, and Lord William James Pirrie (photo below, left), chairman of the shipbuilder Harland and Wolff, met for dinner in London. It was on this night that the two discussed plans for three new liners that would be like nothing the world had seen. Harland and Wolff and the White Star Line had a very loyal partnership, but White Star had major competition from the Cunard line, who was enjoying great success with the Mauretania and Lusitania and their speed records for crossing the Atlantic. As ships were the only means for crossing the oceans in this era, and as an Atlantic crossing transit still took several days, people would inevitably spend a significant amount of time on ocean liners. White Star and Cunard understood this – while Cunard’s priority was generally speed, backed by their revolutionary turbine engines, The White Star Line had generally opted for the more comfortable and slightly slower voyage. While White Star maintained this philosophy, the size and luxury of the newly conceived liners held promise to outdo the Cunard ships in more than one respect. The White Star flagships would have both reciprocating steam engines, the norm for the period, and a turbine engine to power the center of three propellers. Moreover, a double plated hull and a sophisticated system of watertight compartments provided the utmost in security.

The three Royal Mail Steamships were to be called Olympic, Titanic, and Gigantic. It was the tradition of the White Star Line to adjectivize its ships with the suffix "ic," thus describing the liners as well as naming them. They were to be virtually identical in size and structure, but Titanic was to be the true shining star. On the 29th of July, 1908, White Star, including Ismay, came to the shipyard of Harland and Wolff in Belfast, Ireland to review the tentative plans for the conception of the ships. The creation of these initial plans was under the direct supervision of Thomas Andrews (right), the managing director and senior draftsman for Harland and Wolff. Andrews oversaw virtually every detail from blueprint to maiden voyage. About a year and a half after the idea was born for the White Star Titans, the keel was laid for the firstborn, Olympic.

ICEBERGS
Before 2:00 p.m. April14, they had received three ice alerts, from the Caronia, the Noordam and the Baltic. When Captain Smith received the Baltic's warning, he handed it to White Star Chairman J. Bruce Ismay. Ismay put the message in his pocket and later remarked to a passenger, Mrs. Arthur Ryerson, that he would let the Titanic "run a great deal faster and get out of" the ice field. Yet another ice warning came in at 5:03 p.m. from the ocean liner Amerika. 

Iceberg Warnings
At 7:30 p.m., Phillips and Bride intercepted an iceberg alert from the nearby Californian. Captain Smith, however, never received the Californian's warning, because he was in the Titanic's restaurant at a dinner party hosted by the Wideners. Just before 9:00 p.m., the Captain left the party and stopped in at the bridge, where he instructed Second Officer Charles Lightoller to inform him if sea conditions became hazy. At 9:40 p.m., another ship, the Mesaba, telegraphed an ice warning. Phillips, however, was preoccupied with private transmissions; by 11:00 p.m., he had still not delivered the Mesaba's warning to the Titanic's captain and crew, and he scolded the California's wireless operator for interrupting him with another ice warning.

COLLISION & SINKING

At 11:40 p.m., lookouts Frederick Fleet and Reginald Lee were up in the crow's nest, and Fleet was alarmed by a haze he saw on the horizon. Suddenly, he rang the warning bell three times and telephoned the bridge, warning, "Iceberg, right ahead!" As the Titanic steamed directly toward a huge black mass of ice, First Officer William Murdoch ordered the engines stopped and turned hard to port and the 15 watertight doors secured. Despite these efforts, the Titanic scraped against the iceberg for 10 seconds on her starboard side. 
The Impact
After the impact, Captain Smith rushed into the chart room, and officers sent for Thomas Andrews. Fourth Officer Boxhall made an initial inspection of the forward areas and reported that he saw no damage. Captain Smith and Andrews then inspected the ship for themselves and found that the iceberg had damaged the ship's plates in five or six of her watertight compartments. They quickly realized that the ship would sink, since it could not remain afloat with more than four compartments flooded. Sea water had already risen 14 feet above the keel, and water was bursting in from the forepeak to boiler room 5 as the ship began sinking by the bow. Many of the passengers, however, had no idea that the ship was in grave danger. After the collision, many gathered in the corridors half-dressed.

Man The Lifeboats
"Everyone seemed confident that the ship was all right," recalled first-class passenger Henry Sleeper Harper. At last, however, the call came for all passengers to come up on deck wearing their life belts, and soon after midnight, Captain Smith directed crew members to ready the 16 wooden lifeboats and four collapsible boats. The noise on deck was horrendous as steam was released to ease pressure on the Titanic's boilers. Over the din, Lightoller shouted to the Captain for permission to begin loading the boats, and the Captain nodded his agreement. 



At 12:45, Quartermaster George Rowe fired distress rockets as lifeboat 7 was lowered with only 28 people aboard, even though it could have carried 65. Realizing the danger of their situation, many third-class passengers gathered in prayer, and five men jumped into lifeboat 5 as it descended, seriously injuring a woman passenger. By 1:15, the Titanic's bow had plunged beneath the surface. Even as water was rising in the ship, the band continued to play and the gymnasium instructor was assisting passengers on the mechanical exercise equipment.


At 2:05 a.m., after the last wooden lifeboats and two of the collapsible boats had gone, Captain Smith told the crew to look to their own safety. A group of men on deck struggled to release one of the two remaining collapsibles, which was lashed to the top of the deckhouse. Hundreds of other passengers were praying, crying, and jumping from the ship. At 2:10, the bow dropped further, sending water up the deck as passengers struggled toward the stern. At 2:17, the stern rose almost vertically into the sky, stopped and pivoted. The Titanic's light flickered and finally went out, as the ship at last eased down into the water and sank below the surface of the sea.

Questions

1. What do the letters RMS in Titanic's name stand for?

2. What is the name of the shipping line that built the Titanic?

3. Name one of her sister ships.

4. What was the Captain's name?

5. Name Henry Sleeper Harper's prize Pekingese.

Mew your answers here