How many people survived the sinking of the Titanic? Titanic

Titanic - the ship that challenged higher powers. A miracle of shipbuilding and the most big ship of its time. The builders and owners of this giant passenger fleet arrogantly declared: “The Lord God himself cannot sink this ship.” However, the launched ship went on its maiden voyage and did not return. It was one of the largest disasters, forever etched in the history of navigation. In this topic I will talk about the most key points related to the Titanic. The topic consists of two parts, the first part is the history of the Titanic before the tragedy, where I will tell you about how the ship was built and went on its fateful voyage. In the second part we will visit the bottom of the ocean, where the remains of a drowned giant lie.

First, I will briefly talk about the history of the Titanic's structure. There are a lot interesting photos ship, which depicts the construction process, mechanisms and assemblies of the Titanic, etc. And then the story will tell about the tragic circumstances that were destined to happen on this fateful day for the Titanic. As always happens with major disasters, the Titanic tragedy occurred due to a series of mistakes that coincided on one day. Each of these mistakes individually would not have entailed anything serious, but all together they resulted in death for the ship.

Titanic was laid down on March 31, 1909 at the shipyards of the Harland and Wolf shipbuilding company in Belfast, Northern Ireland, launched on May 31, 1911, and underwent sea trials on April 2, 1912. The ship's unsinkability was ensured by 15 watertight bulkheads in the hold, creating 16 conditionally watertight compartments; the space between the bottom and the second bottom flooring was divided by transverse and longitudinal partitions into 46 waterproof compartments. The first photo shows the Titanic slipway, construction is just beginning.

The photo shows the laying of the Titanic's keel

In this photo, the Titanic is on the slipway next to the Olympic, its twin brother

And these are the huge steam engines of the Titanic

Giant crankshaft

This photo shows the turbine rotor of the Titanic. The huge size of the rotor stands out especially against the background of the working

Titanic propeller shaft

Ceremonial photo - the Titanic hull is completely assembled

The launching process begins. The Titanic slowly sinks its hull into the water

The giant ship almost left the slipway

Titanic's launch is successful

And now the Titanic is ready, the morning before the first official launching in Belfast

The Titanic was officially launched and transported to England. The photo shows the ship in the port of Southampton before its fateful voyage. Few people know, but during the construction of the Titanic, 8 workers died. This information is available in a selection of interesting facts about the Titanic.

And this last photo Titanic taken from shore in Ireland

The first days of the voyage were successful for the ship, there were no signs of trouble, the ocean was completely calm. On the night of April 14, the sea remained calm, but icebergs were visible in some places in the sailing area. They did not embarrass Captain Smith... At 11:40 in the evening, a cry was suddenly heard from the observation post on the mast: “An iceberg is straight ahead!”... Everyone knows about the further events that took place on the ship. The “unsinkable” Titanic failed to resist water element and went to the bottom. As already mentioned, many factors turned against the Titanic that day. It was a fatal misfortune that killed the giant ship and more than 1,500 people

The official conclusion of the commission investigating the causes of the sinking of the Titanic stated: the steel used to sheath the hull of the Titanic was of low quality, with a large admixture of sulfur, which made it very brittle at low temperatures. If the casing were made of high-quality, tough steel with a low sulfur content, it would significantly soften the force of the impact. The metal sheets would simply bend inward and the damage to the body would not be so serious. Perhaps then the Titanic would have been saved, or at least would have remained afloat for a long time. However, for those times this steel was considered the best, there was simply no other. This was only the final conclusion; in fact, a number of other factors occurred that did not allow us to avoid a collision with the iceberg

Let us list in order all the factors that influenced the sinking of the Titanic. The absence of any of these factors could save the ship...

First of all, it is worth noting the work of the Titanic's radio operators: the main task of the telegraph operators was to serve especially wealthy passengers - it is known that in just 36 hours of work, the radio operators transmitted more than 250 telegrams. Payment for telegraph services was made on the spot, in the radio room, and at that time it was quite large, and tips flowed like a river. Radio operators were constantly busy sending telegrams, and although they received several messages about drifting ice, they did not pay attention to them

Some criticize the lookout's lack of binoculars. The reason for this lies in the tiny key to the binoculars box. A tiny key that opened the cabinet where the binoculars were kept could have saved the Titanic and the lives of 1,522 dead passengers. This should have happened if not for the fatal mistake of a certain David Blair. Keyman Blair was transferred from service on the “unsinkable” liner just a few days before the ill-fated voyage, but he forgot to give the key to the binocular locker to the employee who replaced him. That is why the sailors on duty at the observation tower of the liner had to rely solely on their eyes. They saw the iceberg too late. One of the crew members on watch that fateful night later said that if they had binoculars, they would have seen the ice block earlier (even if it was pitch black) and the Titanic would have had time to change course.”

Despite warnings about icebergs, the captain of the Titanic did not slow down or change the route, so confident was he that the ship was unsinkable. Too much high speed steamer, due to which the iceberg hit the hull with maximum force. If the captain had ordered the ship's speed to be reduced in advance, upon entering the iceberg belt, then the force of the impact on the iceberg would not have been enough to break through the Titanic's hull. The captain also did not make sure that all the boats were filled with people. As a result, far fewer people were saved

The iceberg belonged to a rare type of so-called. “black icebergs” (overturned so that their dark underwater part reaches the surface), which is why it was noticed too late. The night was windless and moonless, otherwise the lookouts would have noticed the whitecaps around the iceberg. The photo shows the same iceberg that caused the sinking of the Titanic.

There were no red rescue flares on the ship to signal distress. Confidence in the ship's power was so high that no one even thought of equipping the Titanic with these missiles. But everything could have turned out differently. Less than half an hour after meeting the iceberg, the captain’s mate shouted:
Lights on port side, sir! The ship is five or six miles away! Boxhall clearly saw through his binoculars that it was a single-tube steamer. He tried to contact him using a signal lamp, but the unknown vessel did not respond. “Apparently, there is no radiotelegraph on the ship, they could not help but see us,” Captain Smith decided and ordered helmsman Rowe to signal with emergency flares. When the signalman opened the box with the missiles, both of them - Boxhall and Rowe - were dumbfounded: the box contained ordinary white missiles, not emergency red ones. “Sir,” Boxhall exclaimed in disbelief, “there are only white rockets here!” - Can't be! - Captain Smith was amazed. But, convinced that Boxhall was right, he ordered: “Shoot the whites.” Maybe they'll realize we're in trouble. But no one guessed, everyone thought it was a fireworks display on the Titanic

The cargo-passenger steamer California, on a London-Boston flight, missed the Titanic on the evening of April 14, and a little over an hour later it was covered in ice and lost speed. Its radio operator Evans contacted the Titanic at about 11 p.m. and wanted to warn about the difficult ice conditions and that they were covered in ice, but the Titanic’s radio operator Philippe, who had just had difficulty establishing contact with Cape Race, rudely interrupted him: “Leave me alone!” I'm busy working with Cape Race! And Evans “fell behind”: there was no second radio operator on the California, it was a difficult day, and Evans officially closed the radio watch at 23:30, having previously reported this to the captain. As a result, all the blame for the biased investigation into the sinking of the Titanic fell on the captain of the California, Stanley Lord, who proved his innocence until his death. He was acquitted only posthumously after Hendrik Ness, captain of the ship Samson, testified...

On the map the place where the Titanic sank

So, the night of April 14-15, 1912. Atlantic. On board the fishing vessel "Samson". "Samson" returns from a successful fishing trip, avoiding encounters with US ships. On board are several hundred slaughtered seals. The tired crew rested. The watch was kept by the captain himself and his first mate. Captain Ness was with his owners on good standing. The voyages of his ship were always successful and brought good profits. Hendrik Ness was known as an experienced and risk-taking captain, not too scrupulous about violating territorial waters or exceeding the number of animals killed. “Samson” often found himself in foreign or forbidden waters, and he was well known to US Coast Guard ships, with whom he successfully avoided close acquaintance. In a word, Hendrik Ness was an excellent navigator and a gambling, successful businessman. Here are the words of Ness, from which the whole picture of what is happening becomes clear:

“The night was amazing, starry, clear, the ocean was calm and gentle,” Ness said. “The assistant and I chatted, smoked, sometimes I went out of the control room onto the bridge, but I didn’t stay there for long - the air was absolutely freezing.” Suddenly, accidentally turning around, I saw in the southern part of the horizon two unusual bright stars. They surprised me with their brilliance and size. Shouting to the watchman to hand over the telescope, I pointed it at these stars and immediately realized that these were the masthead lights of a large ship. “Captain, I think this is a coast guard ship,” the mate said. But I thought about it myself. There was no time to figure it out on the map, but we both decided that we had climbed into territorial waters United States. The meeting with their ships did not bode well for us. A few minutes later a white rocket flew over the horizon, and we realized that we had been discovered and were being asked to stop. I still hoped that everything would work out and we would be able to escape. But soon another rocket took off, and after some time a third... Things turned out badly: if we had been searched, I would have lost not only all the loot, but also, possibly, the ship, and we would all have gone to prison. I decided to leave.

He ordered to turn off all the lights and give full speed. For some reason we were not followed. After some time, the border ship disappeared altogether. (This is why witnesses from the Titanic claimed that they clearly saw a large steamer in the distance, leaving them. The ill-fated California at that time was sandwiched in ice and was not visible from the Titanic at all.) I ordered a change of course to the north, we walked in full swing and only in the morning they slowed down. On the twenty-fifth of April we dropped anchor off Reykjavik in Iceland and only then did we learn about the Titanic tragedy from newspapers delivered by the Norwegian consul.

During the conversation with the consul, it was as if I had been hit on the head: I thought: weren’t we at the scene of the disaster then? As soon as the consul left our board, I immediately rushed to the cabin and, looking through the newspapers and my notes, realized that the dying people saw us not as the Californian, but as us. This means that it was us who were called to help with rockets. But they were white, not red, emergency ones. Who would have thought that people were dying very close to us, and we were leaving them at full speed on our reliable and large “Samson”, which had both boats and boats on board! And the sea was like a pond, quiet, calm... We could save them all! Everyone! Hundreds of people died there, and we saved stinking seal skins! But who could know about this? But we didn’t have a radiotelegraph. On the way to Norway, I explained to the crew what happened to us and warned that all of us had only one thing left to do - remain silent! If they find out the truth, we will become worse than lepers: everyone will shy away from us, we will be kicked out of the fleet, no one will want to serve with us on the same ship, no one will give us a hand or a crust of bread. And none of the team took any oath.

Hendrik Ness spoke about what happened only 50 years later, before his death. However, no one can be directly blamed for the sinking of the Titanic. If the rockets had been red, he would certainly have rushed to help. In the end, no one had time to help. Only the steamship "Carpathia", developing an unprecedented speed of 17 knots, rushed to the aid of the dying people. Captain Arthur H. Roston ordered the preparation of beds, spare clothing, food, and quarters for the rescued. At 2 hours 45 minutes, “Carpathia” began to encounter icebergs and their fragments, large ice fields. Despite the danger of a collision, the Carpathia did not slow down. At 3 hours 50 minutes on the Carpathia they saw the first boat from the Titanic, at 4 hours 10 minutes they began to save people, and by 8 hours 30 minutes the last living person was picked up. In total, Carpathia saved 705 people. And “Carpathia” delivered all those rescued to New York. The photo shows a boat from the Titanic

Now let's move on to the second part of the story. Here you will see the Titanic at the bottom of the ocean in the form in which it remained after the tragedy. For seventy-three years the ship lay in its deep underwater grave as one of countless evidence of human carelessness. The word "Titanic" has become synonymous with adventures doomed to failure, heroism, cowardice, shock and adventure. Societies and associations of surviving passengers were created. Entrepreneurs involved in the recovery of sunken ships dreamed of raising a superliner with all its countless riches. In 1985, a team of divers led by American oceanographer Dr. Robert Ballard found it, and the world learned that under the enormous pressure of the water column, the giant ship broke into three parts. The wreckage of the Titanic was scattered over an area with a radius of 1600 meters. Ballard found the bow of the ship, deeply buried under the weight of own weight. Eight hundred meters away from her lay the stern. Nearby were the ruins of the middle part of the hull. Among the wreckage of the ship, various objects of material culture of that distant time were scattered all over the bottom: a set of kitchen utensils made of copper, wine bottles with traffic jams, coffee cups with the emblem of the White Star shipping line, toiletries, door handles, candelabra, kitchen stoves and ceramic doll heads that little children played with... One of the most stunning underwater images that Dr. Ballard's movie camera captured was a broken sloop beam hanging limply from the side of the ship - a silent witness to a tragic night that will forever will remain on the list of global disasters. The photo shows the wreck of the Titanic, taken by the Mir submersible

Over the past 19 years, the hull of the Titanic has undergone serious destruction, the reason for which was not at all sea water, and souvenir hunters who are gradually plundering the remains of the liner. For example, the ship’s bell or mast lighthouse disappeared from the ship. In addition to direct plunder, damage to the ship is caused by time and the action of bacteria, leaving behind only rusty ruins

In this photo we see the Titanic's propeller

Huge ship anchor

One of the Titanic's piston engines

Preserved underwater cup from the Titanic

This is the same hole that formed after the encounter with the iceberg. Perhaps, in addition to weak steel, the rivets between the sheets of metal failed, and water poured into 4 compartments of the Titanic, leaving no chance of salvation. There was no point in pumping water out; it was equivalent to pumping water from ocean to ocean. The Titanic sank to the bottom, where it rests to this day. There is talk of raising the Titanic to the surface in order to set up a museum, meanwhile various souvenir lovers continue to take the ship apart piece by piece. How many more secrets does the Titanic keep? It is unlikely that anyone will answer this question in the near future.

100 years ago, on the night of April 15, 1912, after a collision with an iceberg in the waters Atlantic Ocean The Titanic sank with more than 2,200 people on board.

"Titanic" (Titanic) - the largest passenger ship of the early 20th century, the second of three twin steamships produced British company White Star Line.

The length of the Titanic was 260 meters, width - 28 meters, displacement - 52 thousand tons, height from the waterline to the boat deck - 19 meters, distance from the keel to the top of the chimney - 55 meters, maximum speed - 23 knots. Journalists compared it in length to three city blocks, and in height to an 11-story building.

The Titanic had eight steel decks, located one above the other at a distance of 2.5-3.2 meters. To ensure safety, the ship had a double bottom, and its hull was separated by 16 waterproof compartments. Watertight bulkheads rose from the second bottom to the deck. The ship's chief designer, Thomas Andrews, stated that even if four of the 16 compartments were filled with water, the liner would be able to continue its journey.

The interiors of the cabins on decks B and C were designed in 11 styles. Third class passengers on decks E and F were separated from first and second class by gates located at different parts vessel.

Before the Titanic set out on its first and last voyage, it was especially emphasized that there would be 10 millionaires on board the ship on its first voyage, and in its safes there would be gold and jewelry worth hundreds of millions of dollars. American industrialist, heir to a mining magnate Benjamin Guggenheim, millionaire with his young wife, assistant to US Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft Major Archibald Willingham Butt, US Congressman Isidore Strauss, actress Dorothy Gibson, wealthy public figure Margaret Brown, British fashion designer Lucy Christiane Duff Gordon and many other famous and wealthy people of that time.

On April 10, 1912, at noon, the Titanic superliner set off on its only journey along the route Southampton (Great Britain) - New York (USA), with stops in Cherbourg (France) and Queenstown (Ireland).

During the four days' journey the weather was clear and the sea was calm.

On April 14, 1912, on the fifth day of the voyage, several ships sent reports of icebergs in the area of the ship's route. The radio was broken for most of the day, and many messages were not noticed by the radio operators, and the captain did not pay due attention to others.

In the evening, the temperature began to drop, reaching zero Celsius by 22:00.

At 23:00, a message was received from the Californian about the presence of ice, but the Titanic's radio operator interrupted the radio exchange before the Californian had time to report the coordinates of the area: the telegraph operator was busy sending personal messages to passengers.

At 23:39, two lookouts noticed an iceberg in front of the liner and reported it by telephone to the bridge. The most senior of the officers, William Murdoch, gave the command to the helmsman: “Rudder to port.”

At 23:40 "Titanic" in the underwater part of the ship. Of the ship's 16 watertight compartments, six were cut through.

At 00:00 on April 15, Titanic designer Thomas Andrews was called to the bridge to assess the severity of the damage. After reporting the incident and inspecting the ship, Andrews informed everyone present that the liner would inevitably sink.

There was a noticeable tilt on the ship's bow. Captain Smith ordered the lifeboats to be uncovered and the crew and passengers to be summoned for evacuation.

On the captain's orders, the radio operators began sending distress signals, which they transmitted for two hours until the captain relieved the telegraph operators of their duties a few minutes before the ship sank.

Distress signals, but they were too far from the Titanic.

At 00:25, the coordinates of the Titanic were taken by the ship Carpathia, which was located at a distance of 58 from the site of the wreck of the liner. nautical miles, which was 93 kilometers. ordered to immediately head to the site of the Titanic disaster. Rushing to help, the ship was able to reach a record speed of 17.5 knots - with the maximum possible speed for the ship being 14 knots. To do this, Rostron ordered to turn off all appliances that consume electricity and heating.

At 01:30 the operator of the Titanic telegraphed: “We are in small boats.” By order of Captain Smith, his assistant, Charles Lightoller, who led the rescue of people on the left side of the liner, put only women and children in the boats. The men, according to the captain, were supposed to remain on deck until all the women were in the boats. First Mate William Murdoch on the starboard side to the men if there were no women or children in the line of passengers gathering on deck.

At about 02:15, the bow of the Titanic dropped sharply, the ship moved significantly forward, and a huge wave, which washed many passengers overboard.

At about 02:20 minutes the Titanic sank.

At about 04:00 in the morning, approximately three and a half hours after receiving the distress signal, the Carpathia arrived at the site of the Titanic's wreck. The ship took on board 712 passengers and crew members of the Titanic, after which it arrived safely in New York. Among those rescued were 189 crew members, 129 male passengers and 394 women and children.

The death toll, according to various sources, ranged from 1,400 to 1,517 people. According to official data, after the disaster, 60% of passengers were in first class cabins, 44% in second class cabins, 25% in third class.

The last surviving passenger of the Titanic, who traveled on board the liner at the age of nine weeks, died on May 31, 2009 at the age of 97. The woman's ashes were scattered over the sea from the pier in the port of Southampton, from where the Titanic set off on its last voyage in 1912.

The material was prepared based on information from RIA Novosti and open sources

On the night of April 14-15, 1912, the most modern passenger liner at that time, the Titanic, making its maiden voyage from Southampton to New York, collided with an iceberg and soon sank. At least 1,496 people died, 712 passengers and crew were rescued.

The Titanic disaster very quickly became overgrown with a mass of legends and speculation. At the same time, for several decades, the place where the lost ship rested remained unknown.

The main difficulty was that the location of the death was known with very low accuracy - we were talking about an area 100 kilometers in diameter. Considering that the Titanic sank in an area where the depth of the Atlantic is several kilometers, finding the ship was very problematic.

Titanic. Photo: www.globallookpress.com

The bodies of the dead were going to be raised with dynamite

Immediately after the shipwreck, relatives of wealthy passengers who died in the disaster came up with a proposal to organize an expedition to raise the ship. The initiators of the search wanted to bury their loved ones and, to be honest, return the valuables that had sunk to the bottom along with their owners.

The decisive attitude of the relatives came across a categorical verdict from experts: technologies for searching and raising the Titanic from great depth at that time it simply did not exist.

Then a new proposal was received - to drop dynamite charges to the bottom at the supposed site of the disaster, which, according to the authors of the project, were supposed to provoke the ascent of the corpses of the dead from the bottom. This dubious idea also did not find support.

Started in 1914 First world war postponed the search for the Titanic for many years.

Interior of the veranda for first class passengers of the Titanic. Photo: www.globallookpress.com

Nitrogen and ping pong balls

They started talking about searching for the liner again only in the 1950s. At the same time, proposals began to appear for possible ways lifting it from freezing the shell with nitrogen to filling it with millions of ping-pong balls.

In the 1960-1970s, several expeditions were sent to the area where the Titanic sank, but all of them were unsuccessful due to insufficient technical preparation.

In 1980 Texas oil tycoon John Grimm financed the preparation and conduct of the first large expedition to search for the Titanic. But, despite the availability of the most modern equipment for underwater searches, his expedition ended in failure.

Played a major role in the discovery of the Titanic ocean explorer and part-time US Navy officer Robert Ballard. Ballard, who was involved in improving small unmanned underwater vehicles, became interested in underwater archeology and, in particular, the mystery of the Titanic sinkhole back in the 1970s. In 1977, he organized the first expedition to search for the Titanic, but it ended in failure.

Ballard was convinced that finding the ship was only possible with the help of the latest deep-sea bathyscaphes. But getting these at your disposal was very difficult.

Photo: www.globallookpress.com

Doctor Ballard's Secret Mission

In 1985, having failed to achieve results during an expedition on the French research vessel Le Suroît, Ballard moved to the American vessel R/V Knorr, with which he continued the search for the Titanic.

As Ballard himself said many years later, the expedition, which became historic, began with a secret deal concluded between him and the command of the Navy. The researcher really wanted to get the Argo deep-sea research vehicle for his work, but the American admirals did not want to pay for the work of the equipment to search for some historical rarity. The R/V Knorr and the Argo were to carry out a mission to survey the sites of the deaths of two American nuclear submarines"Scorpion" and "Thresher", which sank back in the 1960s. This task was secret, and the US Navy needed a person who could not only carry out the necessary work, but also be able to keep it secret.

Ballard's candidacy was ideal - he was quite famous, and everyone knew about his passion for finding the Titanic.

The researcher was offered: he could get the Argo and use it to search for the Titanic if he first found and explored submarines. Ballard agreed.

Only the leadership of the US Navy knew about the Scorpion and Thrasher; for the rest, Robert Ballard simply explored the Atlantic and looked for the Titanic.

Robert Ballard. Photo: www.globallookpress.com

"Comet tail" at the bottom

He coped with the secret mission brilliantly, and on August 22, 1985, he was able to again begin the search for the liner that died in 1912.

None of the most advanced technology would have ensured his success if not for the previously accumulated experience. Ballard, while examining the sinkhole sites of the submarines, noticed that they left a kind of “comet tail” of thousands of fragments at the bottom. This was due to the fact that the hulls of the boats were destroyed when sank to the bottom due to enormous pressure.

The scientist knew that during the dive on the Titanic, steam boilers exploded, which meant that the liner should have left a similar “comet tail.”

It was this trace, and not the Titanic itself, that was easier to detect.

On the night of September 1, 1985, the Argo apparatus found small debris at the bottom, and at 0:48 the camera recorded the Titanic’s boiler. Then it was possible to discover the bow of the ship.

It was found that the bow and stern of the broken liner were located at a distance of approximately 600 meters from each other. At the same time, both the stern and the bow were seriously deformed when sank to the bottom, but the bow was still better preserved.

Ship model. Photo: www.globallookpress.com

House for underwater inhabitants

The news of the discovery of the Titanic became a sensation, although many experts hastened to question it. But in the summer of 1986, Ballard carried out a new expedition, during which he not only described in detail the ship at the bottom, but also made the first dive to the Titanic on a manned deep-sea vehicle. After this, the last doubts were dispelled - the Titanic was discovered.

The last resting place of the liner is located at a depth of 3750 meters. In addition to the two main parts of the liner, tens of thousands of smaller debris are scattered along the bottom over an area of 4.8×8 km: parts of the ship’s hull, remains of furniture and interior decoration, dishes, and personal belongings of people.

The wreckage of the ship is covered with multi-layered rust, the thickness of which is constantly growing. In addition to multi-layered rust, 24 species of invertebrate animals and 4 species of fish live on and near the hull. Of these, 12 species of invertebrates clearly gravitate towards shipwrecks, eating metal and wooden structures. The interior of the Titanic was almost completely destroyed. Wooden elements absorbed by deep sea sea worms. The decks are covered with a layer of shellfish, and stalactites of rust hang from many of the metal elements.

A wallet recovered from the Titanic. Photo: www.globallookpress.com

Are all the people left with shoes left?

During the 30 years that have passed since the discovery of the ship, the Titanic has been rapidly deteriorating. His current state such that there can be no talk of any lifting of the ship. The ship will forever remain at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.

There is still no consensus on whether human remains were preserved on the Titanic and around it. According to the prevailing version, all human bodies completely decomposed. However, information periodically appears that some researchers have nevertheless stumbled upon the remains of the dead.

But James Cameron, director of the famous film "Titanic", on personal account who has made over 30 dives to the liner on the Russian Mir deep-sea submersibles, is sure of the opposite: “We saw shoes, boots and other footwear at the site of the sunken ship, but our team has never encountered human remains.”

Things from the Titanic are a profitable product

Since the discovery of the Titanic by Robert Ballard, about two dozen expeditions have been carried out to the ship, during which several thousand objects were raised to the surface, ranging from the personal belongings of passengers to a piece of plating weighing 17 tons.

It is impossible to establish the exact number of objects recovered from the Titanic today, since with the improvement of underwater technology, the ship has become a favorite target of “black archaeologists” who are trying to obtain rarities from the Titanic by any means.

Robert Ballard, lamenting this, remarked: “The ship is still a noble old lady, but not the same lady I saw in 1985.”

Items from the Titanic have been sold at auction for many years and are in great demand. So, in the year of the 100th anniversary of the disaster, in 2012, hundreds of items went under the hammer, including a cigar box that belonged to the captain of the Titanic ($40 thousand), a life jacket from the ship ($55 thousand), a master key first class steward ($138 thousand). As for the jewelry from the Titanic, their value is measured in millions of dollars.

At one time, having discovered the Titanic, Robert Ballard intended to keep this place secret, so as not to disturb the resting place of one and a half thousand people. Perhaps he shouldn't have done this.

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Many people are still interested in how many people died on the Titanic. Endless disputes and debates have not stopped for many years. We will also try to shed light on some of the nuances of what happened. So, we are getting ready to discuss how many people died/were saved on the Titanic. But first, a short excursion into the past.

Who came up with the idea of building a giant liner?

The mystery of the century is the Titanic. How many people died and survived? To determine the exact number, it is necessary to meticulously calculate how many crew members and passengers a powerful ship could theoretically accommodate. The ocean liner was built due to an ongoing dispute between two shipbuilding giants, which at that time were the White Star Line and the Cunard Line. To become an absolute record holder and become famous throughout the world, the first organization needed to create a project of incredible scale, which would be larger than anyone else in terms of capacity and dimensions.

Construction process of a sunken ship

The Titanic steamship took three years to build. The process was regulated at the Harland and Wolf shipyard located in Belfast. The liner was launched on May 31, 1911. The event was solemn, long-awaited and pompous. This is not surprising, because at the time of commissioning it was considered the largest ship in the world. But the fact of launching did not mean the completion of the huge project. Adjustment work continued, equipment and the serviceability of mechanisms were checked.

Technical characteristics and project budget

The parameters of the ship are impressive: it was 269 meters long, 30 meters wide, and had a displacement of 52,310 tons. Power was 55,000 horsepower. The steamer had the ability to reach speeds of up to 24 knots. This effect was achieved thanks to the installation of three propellers and two four-cylinder engines. Special significance had a steam turbine that was modern by those standards. This was the second version of the Olympic class, but more advanced. The shipbuilders tried to correct all the shortcomings inherent in the prototype. The overall dimensions and 15 partitions gave complete confidence that statistics would never count how many people died on the Titanic. Taking into account all the characteristics of the ship, sinking seemed impossible.

Shipbuilding Guide

Irishman Thomas Andrews was the chief shipbuilder responsible for the quality of the Titanic. More than one and a half thousand ordinary workers took part in the extensive process, not counting senior management. How many people died on the Titanic, despite the well-coordinated work of the crew?

Vessel capacity

Let's try to find out how many people died on the Titanic; for this we can use the data from the ship's technical map. It says that theoretically the ship could comfortably accommodate 2,439 passengers and 908 crew members. By simple calculations we determine that a total of 3347 people could be on board at the same time.

Classification of passenger compartments

People with tickets were divided into three classes depending on their cost. First class was considered the most comfortable and belonged to the elite. Guests had at their disposal numerous services: swimming pool, gym for sports, a Turkish steam room, a games court, an electric bath (at that time there was a semblance of a modern solarium). Also, passengers with pets could leave them in a special compartment for the duration of the trip. Incredible luxury was a feature of the dining room and smoking lounge. People high society could enjoy a pleasant meal in a cozy atmosphere of wealth. The level of service even in third class was significantly superior to simple tours on other transatlantic ships. Cabins of all classes were equipped with all necessary amenities. They were always warm, light and spacious. Passengers were offered a simple but balanced menu with a variety of dishes. After a quality meal, they could go on a boat trip on the deck. Passengers had no right to be outside their own territory. The plots were strictly distributed depending on the class.

Equipment

Survivors of the Titanic disaster witnessed a lack of watercraft for all passengers. There were only 20 lifeboats on board the ship. They could only accommodate 1,178 ship passengers. As mentioned above, a total of 3,347 people could travel on the ship. From this we can draw a logical conclusion that the designers were initially aware that in the event of a global crash, less than half of them would be able to survive. total number those present. Such an oversight was justified by the visual unsinkability of the handsome liner. No one could even imagine that soon after the departure of the giant they would have to count how many people died on the Titanic in 1912. The British Merchant Shipping Code calculated the availability of life-saving appliances based on the tonnage of the vessel. Initially, it was planned to equip the Titanic with 48 lifeboats, but in the end the management insisted on only 20. How many people died on the Titanic because of the imaginary confidence in the unsinkability of the ship?

Unlike the situation with lifeboats, life jackets were fully available on the liner. Their number was determined by the figure 3560 pieces. A high-quality product had a cork filler. There were also 49 lifebuoys on board.

Crew training

How many people died on the Titanic and who is responsible for this tragedy? One of the main assumptions is a lack of proper training on the part of the crew members. None of the team was properly prepared for emergency. There was practically no training as such, and catastrophically little attention was paid to the rules for operating life jackets and lifeboats. The pilot exercise was conducted only once. Before departure, passengers were also not carried out necessary work(instruction) on how to act in case of danger to life. It is known that on the day before the tragedy, one exercise on boarding lifeboats was planned, but due to windy weather the event was canceled.

On the eve of sailing, the British Department of Trade inspected the ship and made a decision on the serviceability of the equipment and compliance with all regulations.

First and last flight

The cruise ship Titanic set sail from Southampton at 12 noon on April 10th. Near the port, he almost collided with another steamer. Perhaps it was a sign, but at that moment no one paid enough attention to it. At the time of departure there were 1,316 passengers and 908 crew members on board. The numbers are approximate, exact number passengers are unknown. Some canceled their trip and were not removed from the list, others traveled under a false name. Now it is very difficult to restore the full picture. In the spring, transatlantic flights were usually not popular, as happened this time. The ship was half full. Edward Smith, one of the company's most experienced captains, took command of the liner. He had been at sea for 40 of his 62 years. This was his last voyage, and the crew members were the last to be rescued. How many people died in the sinking of the Titanic? We will try to answer this question below.

Iceberg collision

The Atlantic Ocean can be called calm, but bad weather can also be observed here. weather conditions and other unfavorable factors - after all sea element... Judging by the developed plan, the Titanic should not have entered the zone ice blocks, since a safe course was chosen for movement. But on the evening of April 14, the unexpected happened. The public was presented with information that due to the darkness, the crew members did not see the iceberg. It was examined too late, when at a distance of 650 meters it was no longer possible to avoid a collision, despite all the commands given. At 23:40, the luxury liner crashes into the underwater part of a huge block of ice with a glancing blow. How many people died on the Titanic as a result of a failed maneuver?

The damage turned out to be significant: more than 5 holes in the compartments, the hull was damaged approximately 90 meters in length. In a matter of seconds, the crew members realized that the fate of the Titanic was tragic. The designer assumed that in 1 hour 30 minutes the ship would completely go under water.

Evacuation of passengers and death of the legendary liner

First of all, the order was given to save children and women. At first the real reason they didn’t name what was happening. People didn't understand what was happening. The water kept rising, and people panicked. The Titanic was tilting more and more. It soon became clear that there were not enough boats for everyone. At 2 a.m. the last lifeboat was loaded. The rest had no chance of salvation. At 2:20 a.m. the waves closed over the ship.

"Titanic": how many people died and survived

The exact number is unknown. According to various sources, the number of deaths varies from 1490 to 1635. Less than a third of those on board survived, approximately 712 people.

100 years ago, on the night of April 15, 1912, after colliding with an iceberg in the waters of the Atlantic Ocean, the Titanic liner sank, with more than 2,200 people on board.

Titanic is the largest passenger ship of the early 20th century, the second of three twin steamships produced by the British company White Star Line.

The interiors of the cabins on decks B and C were designed in 11 styles. Third class passengers on decks E and F were separated from first and second class by gates located in different parts of the ship.

On April 10, 1912, at noon, the Titanic superliner set off on its only journey along the route Southampton (Great Britain) - New York (USA), with stops in Cherbourg (France) and Queenstown (Ireland).

During the four days' journey the weather was clear and the sea was calm.

In the evening, the temperature began to drop, reaching zero Celsius by 22:00.

At 23:40 "Titanic" in the underwater part of the ship. Of the ship's 16 watertight compartments, six were cut through.

There was a noticeable tilt on the ship's bow. Captain Smith ordered the lifeboats to be uncovered and the crew and passengers to be summoned for evacuation.

Distress signals, but they were too far from the Titanic.

At 00:25, the coordinates of the Titanic were accepted by the ship Carpathia, which was located 58 nautical miles from the site of the wreck of the liner, which was 93 kilometers. ordered to immediately head to the site of the Titanic disaster. Rushing to help, the ship was able to reach a record speed of 17.5 knots - with the maximum possible speed for the ship being 14 knots. To do this, Rostron ordered to turn off all appliances that consume electricity and heating.

At about 02:15, the Titanic's bow dropped sharply, the ship moved forward significantly, and a huge wave rolled across the decks, washing many passengers overboard.

At about 02:20 minutes the Titanic sank.

The material was prepared based on information from RIA Novosti and open sources