THE EVENTS
The Titanic passenger liner was launched from Queen’s Island in Belfast on May 31st
, 1911. At the time she was the biggest existing ship and the largest movable object ever built.
Owned by the White Star Line, one of a number of shipping companies who transported people across the Atlantic, she was designed not only to be the flagship of their fleet but also, due to the ultimate luxury and comfort of her fittings was to sweep away all the competition and earn the company dominance in what was a busy and profitable sea route. Captained by Edward J Smith, the Titanic, through her size and construction was believed to beunsinkable. On April 10th ,1912, the Titanic set sail from Southampton on her maiden voyage across the Atlantic destined for New York. Aboard were over 2,200 passengers and crew (an absence of a definitive list of all passengers and crew varies this number). After stopping at Cherbourg in France and then at Queenstown in Ireland to pick up other passengers, she set sail for her destination. Life aboard the ship was luxurious for those travelling first class and many well-travelled passengers felt that the second class cabins and staterooms on the liner were of the quality of first class cabins on other ships. Even the third or steerage class was felt to be the best that had ever been designed.During the day of Sunday April 14 th , 1912, Captain Smith received a number of warnings of icebergs on his route, which were largely ignored. At 11:40pm the Titanic struck an iceberg on her starboard side. A gash nearly 300 feet long opened up along five of her watertight compartments and water began to rush in. It was not until 12:05am that Captain Smith ordered the lifeboats to be prepared for launching. The saddest shortfall was that there were only enough lifeboats to carry about a third of the number of people aboard the ship. At 12:15am the first wireless call for help was made and half an hour after this the first distress rocket was launched. At the same time the first of the lifeboats went into the water, over an hour after .the Titanic had the iceberg. This first lifeboat was only half full, an oversight compounding the problem of so few boats in the first place. All lifeboats were under orders to take women and children only. At 2:05am the last lifeboat was lowered. At 2:20am the Titanic disappeared from view under the icy waters of the Atlantic. It was not until 4:10am that the first lifeboat was picked up by the ship Carpathia which had answered the distress call and had sailed as fast as she could to the rescue. Of the 2,206 people aboard the ship, only 703 were saved (the published figures vary). These, therefore are the basic facts on which the director James Cameron could make his film.3