The Tragedy of Titanic: A Hundred Years Ago...

Image source: wikipedia.

We all know the tragic story of Titanic, the supposedly unsinkable 892-foot vessel. Considered the world’s biggest and the most luxurious “floating palace”. Titanic’s maiden voyage from England to New York turned out to be it’s last when the great ship collided with an iceberg. Out of 2,224 people aboard, 1,513 died. The ship went down in ONLY three hours. Titanic now is a silent graveyard on the bottom of the dark North Atlantic ocean. This disaster is one of the worse in history.

This happened a hundred years ago, on April 15, 1912.

Why so many people perished in this tragic accident? This question has been asked since the time of the disaster. Here are some known facts:

- Titanic had lifeboat space for ONLY HALF of its passengers.

- Evacuation was very disorganized, which resulted in some lifeboats not being full.

- The poorest passengers (in steerage below) were never notified about the accident.

- The near by ship did not hear Titanic’s distress calls.

But out of this tragedy, came courage and inspiration! Many passengers and crew members sacrificed their own lives to save others. And people will never forget the band that played on stoically to the end.

The emotional aspect of this tragedy is far greater than the actual facts. So many lives destroyed, so many lives lost with the “unsinkable” ship.

The tragedy is also a solemn reminder that there is nothing "forever" or "unsinkable", no matter how great or technologically advanced it is, that is created and build by humans.

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Interesting facts:

I read today on National Geographic blog that “If the legendary ship sailed today, it would likely encounter many more icebergs, possibly due to global warming, scientists say.“(http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/04/120403-titanic-100-anniversary-science-icebergs/)

I also learned that “just weeks after the Titanic disaster, companies moved the notoriously iceberg-ridden shipping route from New York to London farther south. The change added 9 to 14 hours to the trip, but made it much safer for ships, said Lowenstein, who has researched Titanic history.” (http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/04/120403-titanic-100-anniversary-science-icebergs/)

Other sources: "Our Lives & Times" an illustrated history, by World Publications Group Inc.

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