On a quiet April night, the largest marine catastrophe of the 20th century occurred in the cold waters of the Atlantic Ocean. Faced with an iceberg, the Titanic went to the bottom of the ocean - the largest and most unsinkable ocean liner at that time. The story of his crash is surrounded by a variety of versions and conjectures. In this article, we will consider both the official and the other, most incredible versions of the death of the Titanic.
Summary of the Titanic
The Titanic is a British cruise ship. It was built in 1912 in the Irish city of Belfast at the shipyard "Harland & Wolff" by order of the shipping company "White Star Line". The first time the liner was launched on May 31, 1911. At that time, the Titanic was considered the largest ship in the world.
The steamboat impressed with its huge size and perfect construction. The height of the vessel from the keel to the end of the pipes was 53 meters. The liner was about 270 meters long, 28.2 meters wide, and its displacement was 52, 310 tons. The Titanic had engines with an output of about 55, 000 horsepower and could sail at a speed of 25 knots (42 km / h). The hull of the ship was made of steel. In case of damage to its bottom, a double bottom prevented the entry of water into the compartments.
The cabins and rooms of the ship were divided into three classes. First-class passengers could use the services of a swimming pool, two cafes, a restaurant, a squash court, and a gymnasium. In all three classes there were dining and smoking rooms, indoor and outdoor spaces for walking. The cabins and salons of the first class were striking in their luxury and wealth. They were decorated in different styles using expensive materials (expensive wood, silk, crystal, gilding, stained glass). The interiors of the third class were designed very simply: white steel walls sheathed with wood panels.
The price of the Titanic was very impressive, it took $ 7.5 million to create it. When converted to the modern dollar, this amounts to about $ 200 million.
The crash version number 1. Official
On April 10, 1912, the Titanic set off on its first and last voyage from Southampton to New York. On the way, he makes two stops: in the city of Surbur (France), then in Queenstown (New Zealand). Having taken the missing passengers and mail, on the morning of April 11, with 1317 passengers and 908 crew members on board, the ship enters the Atlantic Ocean. The captain was commanded by experienced captain Edward Smith. On April 14, the Titanic radio station received seven warnings about floating ice floes ahead. But, despite the danger, the Titanic continued to sail forward at the maximum permissible speed. The only thing the captain ordered was to take a course a little south of the route laid.
At 23:39 on the same day, they informed the captain’s bridge that the iceberg was heading straight ahead. After about one minute, the Titanic collided with an ice block. The ship suffered serious damage along the entire starboard side and began to sink. On the night of April 14-15, at 2:20, the Titanic sank, breaking into two parts. At the same time, 1496 people were killed, 712 people were rescued, and the Karpatia vessel took them on board.
The crash version number 2. Insurance gamble
Not everyone knows that the Titanic was the second ship owned by White Star Line. The first ship was the Olympic. The ships differed only in length. The Titanic was indeed the world's largest airliner, although it was only eight centimeters longer than the Olympic. It was almost impossible to distinguish them without seeing the name. The Olympic was a year older than the Titanic and had crossed the Atlantic Ocean 12 times already, but its fate was also unsuccessful.
Since 1911, the captain Edward Smith, already familiar to us, was in command of the ship. During its first embarkation on the sea, the Olympic collided with the British armored carrier Hawk. The trial ruled that Olympic was to blame for the clash. Legal expenses and ship repair cost White Star Line a round sum. The captain of the “Olympic” was acquitted, since there was a pilot at the helm. Then, "Olympic" more than once had an accident, causing great losses to the company, because the ship was not insured. To get out of financial difficulties, the company "White Star Line" decided on a grandiose scam - to quickly repair the old "Olympic", passing it off as a new "Titanic". Moreover, it was not at all difficult. All that was needed was to swap the plates with the names of the twin ships and some interior items with monograms on which the names of the steamers appeared. Then the “Olympic” under the guise of an advertised, new, prestigious (and, of course, insured) “Titanic” will pompously go on the first cruise, where it gets into a small accident when it encounters an iceberg. Of course, they were not going to drown the Titanic, but thanks to this accident, the White Star Line company expected to get a huge insurance amount.
This version was disproved only after 73 years. In September 1985, Robert Ballard, an American professor of oceanology, was the first to discover the wreckage of the deceased Titanic. The members of his expedition repeatedly plunged into the sunken ship. The next time they descended to the ocean floor, they found and photographed a propeller with the serial number of the Titanic - 401 (the number of the Olympic was 400). Everyone who believes in this version claims that some of the Titanic parts were used to repair the Olympic, and therefore the serial number stamped on these parts cannot be an unconditional confirmation that the Titanic lies at the bottom of the ocean.
The crash version number 3. Chasing the blue ribbon of the Atlantic
At the beginning of the 20th century, there was great competition between shipping companies. One of the captains of the English shipping company "Cunard Line" invented a prize for speed record-breaking ships. The vessel, which crossed the Atlantic faster than anyone else, was awarded the prestigious award - the "blue ribbon of the Atlantic." This prize was worth fighting for. A blue ribbon was hung on the mast of the winning ship, and the whole team received a good cash reward. A vessel with such a “ribbon”, according to statistics, had four times more passengers than other vessels. In addition, the British government announced that if the liner speed is 24 knots, then his company will receive subsidies of 150 thousand pounds annually for the entire period of operation of the ship.
"White Star Line" decides to triumph over its competitors by building the largest, most comfortable and fastest liner. It becomes the Titanic. After all, money from the government and the tickets sold could pay for the unprofitable "Olympic". It is this fact that explains the behavior of Captain Smith. In pursuit of the Blue Ribbon, he drove the Titanic at full speed, despite the danger of a collision with an iceberg.
