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''', 1912 , and sank two hours and forty minutes later at 2:20 AM Monday morning. 1,523 people perished in the accident, (according to the US Senate investigation), ranking it as one of the worst peacetime Maritime Disasters in history and by far the most famous. ''Titanic'' CONSTRUCTION 1912 .]] ''Titanic'' was a , head of Harland and Wolff's design department Thomas Andrews and general manager Alexander Carlisle, with the plans regularly sent to White Star Line's managing director J. Bruce Ismay for suggestions and approval. Construction of ''Titanic'', funded by the American J.P. Morgan and his International Mercantile Marine Co. , began on March 31 1909 . ''Titanic'' For its time, the ship was unsurpassed in its luxury and opulence. The ship offered an onboard swimming pool, gymnasium, a Turkish Bath , library and Squash Court . First-class common rooms were ornately decorated with elaborate wood panelling, expensive furniture and other elegant decorations. Second-class and even third-class accommodation and common rooms were likewise considered as opulent as first class on many other ships of the day. The ship offered three Lift s for use of first-class passengers and, as an innovation, offered one lift for second-class passengers. The crown jewel of the ship's interiors was undoubtedly its forward first-class grand Staircase , between the forward and second funnels. Extending down to E deck and decorated with oak panelling and gilded balustrades, it was topped by an ornate wrought-iron and glass dome which brought in natural light. On the uppermost landing was a large panel containing a clock flanked by the allegorical figures of Honour and Glory crowning Time. A similar, less ornate staircase, complete with matching dome, was located aft between the third and fourth funnels. ''Titanic'' was considered a pinnacle of Naval Architecture and technological achievement. It was thought by ''The Shipbuilder'' magazine to be "practically unsinkable". ''Titanic'' was divided into 16 compartments with doors that were held by a Magnetic latch and would fall by moving a switch on the bridge; however, the watertight Bulkhead s did not reach the entire height of the Decks (only going as far as E-Deck). ''Titanic'' could stay afloat with any two of its compartments flooded, eleven of fourteen possible combinations of three compartments flooding or the first/last four compartments flooded; any more and the ship would sink. MAIDEN VOYAGE The ship began its maiden voyage from Southampton , England , bound for New York City , New York , U.S.A. on Wednesday, April 10 1912 , with Captain Edward J. Smith in command. As ''Titanic'' left its berth it passed many immobilised ships which were laid up due to a coal strike. The powerful suction created by the ship's propellers caused the liner ''New York'', which was docked nearby alongside the ''Oceanic'' (the large number of immobilized ships in Southampton at the time and the absence of sufficient space to accommodate them meant that many had been berthed two to a dock), to break away from its moorings and was drawn dangerously close (about 4 feet or 120 centimetres) to ''Titanic'' before a tugboat towed ''New York'' away. The near accident delayed the departure for one hour. After crossing the English Channel , ''Titanic'' stopped at Cherbourg , France , to disembark and board additional passengers, and stopped again the next day at Queenstown (known today as Cobh ), Ireland , before continuing towards New York with 2,223 people aboard.The exact number of people on board is unknown, because the only complete passenger and crew list was lost. These numbers were taken from the final report by the U.S. Senate Inquiry . ''Titanic'' had three class sections segregating the passengers. Third class, also known as Steerage , comprising small cabins on the lower decks, was occupied mostly by Immigrant s hoping for a better life in America. Second-class cabins and common rooms, located towards the Stern , were equal to first-class accommodations on other ships. Many second-class passengers were originally booked first class on other ships but, because of the coal strike, transferred to ''Titanic''. Some of the most prominent people in the world were travelling in first class. These included millionaire , who survived, and the ship's builder Thomas Andrews , who was on board to observe any problems and assess the general performance of the new ship. DISASTER .]] On the night of Sunday, . Later that evening, another report of numerous, large icebergs in ''Titanic'' At 11:40 PM while sailing south of the Grand Banks Of Newfoundland , lookouts Fredrick Fleet and Reginald Lee spotted a large iceberg directly ahead of the ship. Fleet sounded the Ship's Bell three times and telephoned the bridge. Sixth Officer Moody answered, "Yes, what do you see?", only to hear Fleet exclaiming, "Iceberg, right ahead!", to which Moody curiously responded, "thank you", before informing First Officer Murdoch of the call. Murdoch (who had now already seen the iceberg) ordered an abrupt turn to Port (left) and full speed astern, which stopped and then reversed the ship's engines. A collision turned out to be inevitable, and the iceberg brushed the ship's Starboard (right) side, buckling the hull in several places and popping out Rivet s below the waterline, creating a total of six leaks in the first five watertight compartments. Murdoch then ordered the ship hard right rudder which swung ''Titanic'' The first lifeboat launched, boat 7, was lowered shortly after 12:40 AM on the starboard side with only 28 people on board out of a maximum capacity of 65. The ''Titanic'' carried 20 lifeboats with a total capacity of 1,178 persons for the ship's total complement of passengers and crew of 2,223. 32 lifeboats had been originally specified, but management decided the doubled-up boats spoiled the lines of the ship. Sixteen lifeboats, indicated by number, were in the davits; and four canvas-sided collapsibles, indicated by letter, stowed on the roof of the officers' quarters or on the forward Boat Deck to be launched in empty davits. While only enough space for a little more than half the passengers and crew, ''Titanic'' carried more boats than required by the British Board Of Trade . At the time, the number of lifeboats required was determined by a ship's gross tonnage, rather than its human capacity. The regulations concerning lifeboat capacity had last been updated in 1894, when the largest ships afloat weighed approximately 10,000 Long Tons , compared to ''Titanic'' First and second-class passengers had easy access to the lifeboats with staircases that led right up to the boat deck, but third-class passengers found it much harder. Many found the corridors leading from the lower sections of the ship difficult to navigate and had trouble making their way up to the lifeboats. Some gates separating the third-class section of the ship from the other areas, like the one leading from the aft well deck to the second-class section, are known to have been locked. While the majority of first and second-class women and children survived the sinking, more third-class women and children were lost than saved. Wireless operators Jack Phillips and Harold Bride were busy sending out Distress Signals . Several ships responded, including ''Mount Temple'', ''Frankfurt'' and ''Titanic'' From the bridge, the lights of a nearby ship could be seen off the port side. Since it was not responding to wireless, Fourth Officer Boxhall and Quartermaster Rowe attempted signalling the ship with a . Even though there was much discussion about the mysterious ship, which to the officers on duty appeared to be moving away before disappearing, ''Californian'' did not wake its wireless operator until morning. At first, passengers were reluctant to leave the ostensibly safe ''Titanic'', which showed no outward signs of being in imminent danger, and board small lifeboats. As a result, most of the boats were launched partially empty. One boat, boat number one, meant to hold 40 people, left ''Titanic'' with only 12 people on board. With "Women and children first" the imperative (see Origin Of Phrase ) for loading lifeboats, Second Officer Lightoller , who was loading boats on the Port side, allowed men on only if oarsmen were needed and for no other reason, even if there was room. First Officer Murdoch, who was loading boats on the Starboard side, let men on board if women were absent. As the ship's tilt became more apparent, people started to become nervous, and some lifeboats began leaving fully loaded. Shortly after 2:00 AM the waterline had reached the forward boat deck, and all the lifeboats, save for Collapsibles A and B, had been lowered. Collapsible D was the last lifeboat to be lowered from the davits with 44 of its 47 seats filled. The total number of vacancies was close to 475. Around 2:10 AM, the Stern rose out of the water exposing the Propeller s and the forward boat deck was flooding. Events began to transpire rapidly as the last two lifeboats floated right off the deck, collapsible lifeboat B upside down, and collapsible lifeboat A half-filled with water. Shortly afterwards the forwardmost funnel collapsed, crushing part of the bridge and many of those struggling in the water. On deck, people were scrambling towards the stern or jumping overboard in hopes of reaching a lifeboat. The ship's stern slowly rose into the air, and everything not secured crashed towards the bow. While the stern rose, the electrical system finally failed and the lights went out. Shortly thereafter the stress on the hull caused ''Titanic'' to break apart into two large piecesLarge fragments of the hull discovered suggest the ship brokeinto three major sections rather than the previously believed 2. However, the full analysis will not be published until 2006. USAToday's report on the hull fragments , between the third and fourth funnels, and the bow section went completely under. The stern section briefly righted itself on the water before rising back up vertically. After a few moments, at 2:20 AM, the stern section also sank into the ocean. Of a total of 2,223 people, only 706 survived; 1,517 perished. If the lifeboats were filled to capacity 1,178 people could have been saved. Of the First Class, 199 were saved (60%) and 130 died. Of the Second Class, 119 (44%) were saved and 166 were lost. Of the Third Class, 174 were saved (25%) and 536 perished. Of the crew, 214 were saved (24%) and 685 perished. Of particular note, the entire complement of the Engineering Department, remaining at their posts to keep the ship's electrical systems running, drowned. The majority of deaths were caused by victims succumbing to Hypothermia in the 28 °F (−2 °C) water. Out of the 16 lifeboats and 4 collapsibles launched only one came back. Another boat helped. Lifeboat 4 was close by and picked up eight crewmen, two of whom later died. Close to an hour later, Lifeboat 14, under the command of fifth officer Harold Lowe, went back and rescued four people, one of whom died afterwards. Other people managed to climb onto the two collapsible lifeboats that floated off the deck. There were some arguments in some of the other lifeboats about going back, but many survivors were afraid of being swamped by people trying to climb into the lifeboat or being pulled down by the anticipated suction from the sinking ship, though this turned out not to be severe. Only 12 people were picked up from the water. As the ship sank into the depths, the two sections ended their final plunges very differently. The streamlined bow planed off approximately 2,000 feet (600 m) below the surface and slowed somewhat, landing relatively gently. The stern fell fairly straight down towards the ocean floor, possibly rotating as it sank, with the air trapped inside causing implosions. It was already half-crushed when it hit bottom. The bow section however, having been opened up by the iceberg, and sinking slowly, had no air left in it as it sank. Rescue Almost two hours after ''Titanic'' sank, . Once the loss of life was verified, White Star Line chartered the ship ''MacKay-Bennett'' to retrieve bodies. A total of 328 bodies were eventually recovered. Many of the bodies were taken to Halifax , Nova Scotia where the majority of the unclaimed were buried in Fairview Cemetery . AFTERMATH AND CONSEQUENCES As news of the disaster spread, many people were shocked that ''Titanic'' could sink with such great loss of life despite all of its technological advances. Newspapers were filled with stories and descriptions of the disaster and were eager to get the latest information. Many charities were set up to help the victims and their families, many of whom lost their sole breadwinner, or, in the case of third-class survivors, lost everything they owned. The people of Southampton were deeply affected by the sinking. According to the ''Hampshire Chronicle'' on April 20 1912 , almost 1,000 local families were directly affected. Almost every street in the Chapel district of the town lost more than one resident and over 500 households lost a member. Before the survivors even arrived in New York, investigations were being planned to discover what had happened to ''Titanic'', and what could be done to prevent a recurrence. The United States Senate initiated an inquiry into the ''Titanic'' disaster on April 19 , a day after ''Carpathia'' arrived in New York with the survivors. The chairman of the inquiry, Senator William Alden Smith , wanted to gather accounts from passengers and crew while the events were still fresh in their minds. Smith also needed to Subpoena the British citizens while they were still on American soil. The American inquiry lasted until May 25 . Lord Mersey was appointed to head the British Board Of Trade's inquiry into the disaster. The British inquiry took place between May 2 and July 3 . Each inquiry took testimony from both passengers and crew of ''Titanic'', members of ''Californian'' The investigations found that many safety rules were out of date and as a result numerous safety measures were not enacted. Both inquiries into the disaster found ''Californian'' and its captain failed to give proper assistance to ''Titanic''. The inquiries found that ''Californian'' was closer to ''Titanic'' than the 19½ miles (36 km) that Captain Lord had believed and that Lord should have awakened the wireless operator after the rockets were first reported to him. As a result of ''Californian'' The disaster also led to the convening of the first International Convention For The Safety Of Life At Sea in London , England , on November 12 1913 . On January 20 1915 , a treaty was signed by the conference and resulted in the formation and international funding of the International Ice Patrol , an agency of the United States Coast Guard that to the present day monitors and reports on the location of North Atlantic Ocean icebergs that could pose a threat to transatlantic sea lane traffic. It was also agreed in the new regulations that all passenger vessels would have sufficient lifeboats for everyone on board, that appropriate safety drills would be conducted, and that radio communications would be operated 24 hours a day along with a secondary power supply, so as not to miss distress calls. In addition, it was agreed that the firing of red rockets from a ship must be interpreted as a distress signal. The sinking of ''Titanic'' also changed the way passenger ships were designed, and caused many existing ships, like ''Olympic'', to be refitted for increased safety. Besides increasing the number of lifeboats on board, improvements included increasing the height of the watertight bulkheads. The bulkheads on ''Titanic'' extended 10 feet (3 m) above the Waterline , and after ''Titanic'' sank the bulkheads on other ships were extended higher to make compartments fully watertight. After ''Titanic'' sank, many existing ships' double bottoms were extended up the sides of the hull to a point above the waterline, and newer ships were designed with Double Hull s. ''Titanic'' had a Double–plated Bottom , but the rest of ship's hull was not reinforced. LEGENDS, MYTHS, AND CONTROVERSY The lifeboats No single aspect regarding the huge loss of life from the ''Titanic'' disaster has provoked more outrage than the fact that the ship did not carry enough lifeboats for all its passengers and crew. This is partially due to the fact that an outdated trade law required a minimum of 16 lifeboats for ships of the ''Titanic'''s size—meaning that the ship was legally required to carry only enough lifeboats for ''less'' than half of its capacity. Actually, White Star Line exceeded the regulations by including four more collapsible lifeboats—making room for slightly ''more'' than half the capacity. In a rather ironic twist, the design originally intended for each of the 16 lifeboats to be complemented by another three lifeboats, for a total of 64. This plan was abandoned for several reasons. The most obvious reason is the economics. Furthermore, if the ''Titanic'' had carried enough lifeboats for everyone on board, it would have given the impression that the ship was unsafe, as this was the widely held belief at the time. Use of SOS The sinking of ''Titanic'' was not the first time the internationally recognised Morse Code distress signal " SOS " was used. The SOS signal was first proposed at the International Conference On Wireless Communication At Sea in Berlin in 1906. It was ratified by the international community in 1908 and had been in widespread use since then. The SOS signal was, however, rarely used by British wireless operators, who preferred the older CQD code. First Wireless Operator Jack Phillips began transmitting CQD until Second Wireless Operator Harold Bride suggested, half-jokingly, "Send SOS; it's the new call, and this may be your last chance to send it." Phillips, who perished in the disaster, then began to intersperse SOS with the traditional CQD call. ''Titanic'' .]] Although ''Titanic'' Perhaps more fatal to the design of ''Titanic'' was its triple screw engine configuration, which had reciprocating steam engines driving its wing propellers, and a steam turbine driving its centre propeller. The reciprocating engines were reversible, while the turbine was not. When First Officer Murdoch gave the order to reverse engines to avoid the iceberg, he inadvertently handicapped the turning ability of the ship. Since the centre turbine could not reverse during the "full speed astern" manoeuvre, it simply stopped turning. Furthermore, since the centre propeller was positioned forward of the ship's rudder, the effectiveness of the rudder would have been greatly reduced. Had Murdoch simply turned the ship while maintaining its forward speed, ''Titanic'' might have missed the iceberg entirely. The ship might have been able to be saved if it had rammed the iceberg head on. ''Titanic'' experts have hypothesised that if ''Titanic'' had not altered its course at all and had run head on into the iceberg, the damage would only have affected the first or, at most, first two compartments. ''Titanic'' One of the most famous stories of ''Titanic'' is of the Band . On 15 April , ''Titanic'' None of the band members survived the sinking, and there has been much speculation about what their last song was. Some witnesses said the final song played was the Hymn " Nearer, My God, To Thee ." However, there are three versions of this song in existence and no one really knows which version, if any, was played. Hartley reportedly said to a friend if he was on a sinking ship "Nearer, My God, to Thee" would be one of the songs he would play. Walter Lord’s book '' A Night To Remember '' popularised wireless operator Harold Bride’s account that he heard the song "Autumn" before the ship sank. It is considered Bride either meant the hymn called "Autumn" or "Songe d'Automne," a popular ragtime song of the time. Others claimed they heard "Roll out the Barrel." Hartley's body was one of those recovered and identified. Considered a hero, his funeral in England was attended by thousands. The White Star Line billed his family for the cost of his lost uniform. David Sarnoff An often-quoted story that has been blurred between fact and fiction states that the first person to receive news of the sinking was David Sarnoff , who would later found media giant RCA . Sarnoff was not the first to hear the news (though Sarnoff willingly promoted this notion), but he and others did man the Marconi wireless station atop the Wanamaker Department Store in New York City, and for three days relayed news of the disaster and names of survivors to people waiting outside." More About Sarnoff, Part One ," PBS. Faults in Construction Though this topic is seldom-spoken, there is some speculation on whether or not ''Titanic'' was even constructed properly. Faults in the construction included problems with safety doors, and missing or detached bolts that were on the side of the ship. Some people say that this was most of the cause of the sinking, and that the iceberg, in part with the missing bolts and screws, eventually led to the demise of ''Titanic''. Many believe that if the watertight bulkheads had completely sealed the ship's compartments (they only went 10ft above the waterline), the ship would have stayed afloat. Alternative theories and curses See Also: Titanic alternative theories As with many famous events, many alternative theories about the sinking of ''Titanic'' have appeared over the years. Theories that it was not an iceberg that sank the ship or that a curse caused the disaster have been popular reading in newspapers and books. Most of these theories have been debunked by ''Titanic'' experts, citing inaccurate or incomplete facts on which the theories are based. Another theory is that the Titanic was sacrificed because once construction had been completed, she was expected (like the Channel Tunnel ) to be a potential perpetual financial loss. Supporters of this theory cite the fact that everyone concerned, the company and the officers aboard, had received iceberg warnings and yet the Titanic maintained a Northern course instead of sailing to the South of the warning limit. REDISCOVERY submersible.]] The idea of finding the Wreck of ''Titanic'', and even raising the ship from the ocean floor, had been around since shortly after the ship sank. No attempts were successful until September 1 1985 , when a joint American-French expedition, led by Jean-Louis Michel of Ifremer and Dr. Robert Ballard of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution , sailing on the Research Vessel ''Knorr'' , located the wreck using the video camera sled '' Argo ''. It was found at a depth of 12,500 feet (3800 m), south-east of Newfoundland at , 13 nautical miles (24 km) from where ''Titanic'' was originally thought to rest. The most notable discovery the team made was that the ship had split apart, the stern section lying 1,970 feet (600 m) from the bow section and facing opposite directions. There had been conflicting witness accounts of whether the ship broke apart or not, and both the American and British inquiries found that the ship sank intact. Up until the discovery of the wreck, it was generally assumed the ship did not break apart. In 2005, a theory was presented that a portion of ''Titanic'' The bow section had embedded itself 60 feet (18 m) into the silt on the ocean floor. Besides parts of the hull having buckled, the bow was mostly intact, as the water inside had equalised with the increasing water pressure. The stern section was in much worse condition. As the stern section sank, water pushed out the air inside tearing apart the hull and decks. The speed at which the stern hit the ocean floor caused even more damage. Surrounding the wreck is a large debris field with pieces of the ship, furniture, dinnerware and personal items scattered over one square mile (2.6 km²). Softer materials, like wood and carpet, were devoured by undersea organisms. Human remains suffered a similar fate. Although the British inquiry had determined mathematically that the damage to the ship could not have comprised more than twelve inches square (30 cm × 30 cm), the popular notion was that the iceberg had cut a 300 foot (90 m) long gash into ''Titanic'' The samples of steel rescued from the wrecked hull were found to have very high content of in temperatures of 32 °C (for longitudinal samples) and 56 °C (for transversal samples—compare with transition temperature of −27 °C common for modern steels—modern steel would become as brittle between −60 and −70 °C). The Anisotropy was likely caused by Hot Rolling influencing the orientation of the sulphide Stringer inclusions. The steel was probably produced in the acid-lined, open-hearth furnaces in Glasgow , which would explain the high content of phosphorus and sulphur, even for the times. Katherine Felkins, A. Jankovic, and H.P. Leighly, Jr., The Royal Mail Ship Titanic: Did a Metallurgical Failure Cause a Night to Remember? ; Alan Bruzel, Analysis of Steel from the Titanic Dr. Ballard and his team did not bring up any artifacts from the site, considering it to be tantamount to grave robbing. Under international maritime law, however, the recovery of artifacts is necessary to establish salvage rights to a shipwreck. In the years after the find, ''Titanic'' has been the object of a number of court cases concerning ownership of artifacts and the wreck site itself. OWNERSHIP AND LITIGATION On June 7, 1994, RMS Titanic Inc. was awarded ownership and salvaging rights of the wreck Comprehensive resume of ownership questions by the U.S. District Court For The Eastern District Of Virginia . (See Admiralty Law )5 RMS Titanic Inc., a subsidiary of Premier Exhibitions Inc., and its predecessors have conducted seven expeditions to the wreck between 1987 and 2004 and salvaged over 5,500 objects. The biggest single recovered artifact was a 17-ton section of the hull, recovered in 1998.6 Many of these artifacts are part of travelling museum exhibitions. Beginning in 1987, a joint American-French expedition, which included the predecessor of RMS Titanic Inc., began salvage operations and, during 32 dives, recovered approximately 1,800 artifacts which were taken to France for conservation and restoration. In 1993, a French administrator in the Office of Maritime Affairs of the Ministry of Equipment, Transportation, and Tourism awarded RMS Titanic Inc's predecessor title to the artifacts recovered in 1987. In a motion filed on February 12, 2004, RMS Titanic Inc. requested that the District Court enter an order awarding it "title to all the artifacts (including portions of the hull) which are the subject of this action pursuant to the law of finds" or, in the alternative, a salvage award in the amount of $225 million. RMS Titanic Inc. excluded from its motion any claim for an award of title to the 1987 artifacts. But it did request that the district court declare that, based on the French administrative action, "the artifacts raised during the 1987 expedition are independently owned by RMST." Following a hearing, the district court entered an order dated July 2, 2004, in which it refused to grant comity and recognize the 1993 decision of the French administrator, and rejected RMS Titanic Inc's claim that it should be awarded title to the artifacts recovered since 1993 under the maritime law of finds. RMS Titanic Inc. appealed to the United States Court Of Appeals . In its decision of January 31, 2006 United States court of appeals for the fourth circuit, R.M.S. TITANIC, INCORPORATED vs. THE WRECKED AND ABANDONED VESSEL - January 31, 2006 the court recognized "explicitly the appropriateness of applying maritime salvage law to historic wrecks such as that of ''Titanic''" and denied the application the maritime law of finds. The court ruled also that the district court lacked jurisdiction over the "1987 artifacts", and therefore vacated that part of the court's July 2, 2004 order. In other words according to this decision RMS Titanic Inc. has ownership title to the artifacts awarded in the French decision (valued $16.5 million earlier) and continues to be salvor-in-possession of the ''Titanic'' wreck. The Court of Appeals remanded back to the District Court to determine the salvage award ($225 million requested by RMS Titanic Inc.) Commented excerpts of the Court of Appeals decision . CURRENT CONDITION OF THE WRECK Many scientists, including Robert Ballard, are concerned that visits by tourists in Submersible s and the recovery of artifacts are hastening the Decay of the wreck. Underwater microbes have been Eating Away at ''Titanic'' Ballard's book ''Return to Titanic'', published by the National Geographic Society , includes photographs showing the deterioration of the Promenade Deck and alleged damage caused by submersibles landing on the ship; however, Ballard was the first person to crash a camera sled into the wreck, and also the first person to repeatedly land on its deck in a submersible. The Mast has almost completely deteriorated and repeated accusations were made in print by Ballard that it had been stripped of its bell and brass light by salvagers, despite his own original discovery images clearly showing that the bell was never actually on the mast- it was recovered from the sea floor. Even the memorial plaque left by Ballard on his second trip to the wreck was alleged to have been removed, however Ballard replaced the plaque in 2004. Recent expeditions, notably by James Cameron , have been diving on the wreck to learn more about the site and explore previously unexplored parts of the ship before ''Titanic'' decays completely. COMPARABLE MARITIME DISASTERS ''Titanic'' was at the time one of the worst maritime disasters in history, a comparable loss of life never having happened before on the heavily travelled North Atlantic route. It remains the worst civilian maritime disaster in British history. The biggest civilian maritime disaster in the Atlantic Ocean up to that time had been the wreck of SS ''Norge'' off Rockall in 1904 with the loss of 635 lives. However, ''Titanic'' The worst maritime disasters happened during wartime. The three worst were German ships. The sinking of the ''Wilhelm Gustloff'' with an estimated death toll between 6,000 and 9,000 remains the worst disaster in shipping history, in terms of loss of life in a single vessel (sunk on 30 January 1945 by a Soviet torpedo). The SS ''Cap Arcona'' was sunk by the Royal Air Force on May 3 , 1945 , with an estimated death toll of more than 7,700. The ''Goya'' was sunk with an estimated 7,000 dead, again by Soviet submarine on 16 April 1945 . The worst peacetime maritime disaster happened on December 21 , 1987 , when the passenger ferry '' Doña Paz '' sank in the Philippines after colliding with the oil tanker ''Vector'' and catching fire. The sinking of ''Doña Paz'' claimed between 1,500 and 4,000 lives. ''Titanic'' was not the first White Star Line ship to sink with loss of life. RMS ''Tayleur'' , which has been compared to the sinking of ''Titanic'', sank after running aground in Ireland. ''Tayleur'' was also technically innovative when it sank on its maiden voyage in 1854. Of its 558 passengers and crew, 276 were lost. The White Star Line had also previously lost the RMS ''Atlantic'' on rocks near Nova Scotia in 1873 with 546 fatalities, and SS ''Naronic'' in 1893, probably in an iceberg collision near the ''Titanic'' Also similar to ''Titanic'' was s in World War One. POPULAR CULTURE The sinking of ''Titanic'' has been the basis for many Novel s describing fictionalised events on board the ship. Many reference books about the disaster have also been written since ''Titanic'' sank, the first of these appearing within months of the sinking. Survivors like Second Officer Lightoller and passenger Jack Thayer have written books describing their experiences. Some like Walter Lord , who wrote the popular ''A Night to Remember'', did independent research and interviews to describe the events that happened on board the ship. Morgan Robertson 's 1898 novella ''Futility'' , which was written 14 years before RMS ''Titanic'' Clive Cussler 's 1976 Dirk Pitt novel Raise The Titanic is about raising ''Titanic'' in order to recover a mineral vital to national security. It was written before ''Titanic'' was discovered, so at the time it was considered possible to raise ''Titanic.'' It was made into a movie in 1980 , which flopped at the box office. The producer Sir (later Lord ) Lew Grade famously remarked "It would have been cheaper to lower the Atlantic!" ''Titanic'' has featured in a large number of Film s and TV Movies , most notably:
The most widely viewed is the 1997 film (2003) for the most awards won. The story was also made into a Broadway Musical , ''Titanic'' , written by Peter Stone with music by Maury Yeston . ''Titanic'' ran from 1998 to 2000. The 1960 Broadway musical '' The Unsinkable Molly Brown '' tells survivor Margaret Brown 's life story, which included the events onboard ''Titanic''. The musical was written by Richard Morris with music by Meredith Willson . A film version starring Debbie Reynolds was released in 1964. Other media include '''' which was a 1996 computer game that took place on ''Titanic''. '' Starship Titanic '' was another computer game that takes place in the '' Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy '' universe and was a parody of the ''Titanic'' disaster. Many Television shows have also referenced the ''Titanic'' disaster. The show '' The Time Tunnel '' featured a visit to the ship on its first episode, a character on the British drama '' Upstairs, Downstairs '' died on ''Titanic'', and the animated series ''Futurama'' did a parody where it had the cast boarding a space–faring vessel called ''Titanic''. The spaceship was torn in half by a Black Hole on its maiden voyage. In movies like '' Time Bandits '' and '' Cavalcade '', ''Titanic'' has had brief appearances and in '' Ghostbusters 2 '', ''Titanic'' briefly appeared as a Ghost Ship . ''Titanic'' was once used in the plot of the NBC Soap Opera '' Passions '', where the lovers Luis and Sheridan discovered that they were passengers on the ship in past lives (and that the witch Tabitha caused the iceberg). Songs about the disaster include Folk Songs and popular music including the Polish rock group Lady Pank 's song "Zostawcie Titanica" which is a plea to not disturb the wreck. Using ''Titanic'' as humor has not been exclusive to popular entertainment. The Intel Itanium Microprocessor has often been jokingly called " Itanic ", since ( As Of 2005 ) its sales have fallen far short of expectations. DECKPLANS OF TITANIC |
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