Painting © Ken Marschall THURSDAY • APRIL 12 • 2012 | a NEWSPAPER in EDUCATION SUPPLEMENT to the WASHINGTON TIMES Atlantic Ocean at That Time
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Painting © Ken Marschall History of Titanic four 63 feet tall funnels were functional; the fourth, which only served as a vent, was added to make the ship look more impres- sive. The ship could carry a total of 3,547 passengers and crew. Because she also car- ried mail, her name was given the prefix RMS (Royal Mail Steamer) as well as SS (Steam Ship). For its time, this ship was unsurpassed in luxury and opulence. The domed Grand Staircase formed a spectacular entrance wood paneling, expensive furniture and to the reception area. The ship featured other elegant decorations. Three elevators an onboard swimming pool, gymnasium, transported first-class passengers and, as Turkish & electric baths, a library and an innovation, second-class passengers squash court. First-class common rooms enjoyed one elevator as well. She also had were ornately appointed with elaborate an extensive electrical system powered by “You weren’t there at my first At Noon on Wednesday April 10, 1912, meeting with Ismay, to see the the majestic RMS Titanic began her maid- little red marks all over the blue- en voyage from Southhampton, England, bound for New York. She was the largest prints. First thing I thought was: man-made moving creation on land or sea ‘Now here’s a man who wants at that time. Dignitaries, reporters, work- me to build him a ship that’s men, and a crowd of more than 100,000 gonna be sunk.’ We’re send- gazed in awe at the departure of the mag- ing gilded egg shells out to sea.” nificent ship. She was taller than a ten-story building and nearly a sixth of a mile long. — Thomas Andrews, Managing The Titanic was, for her time, the most lux- Director of Harland and Wolff urious ocean liner ever built. She was des- Construction of the Titanic began nearly Shipyards. tined to become the most famous ship in two-years later at the Harland and Wolff history, just not in the way most expected. Shipyard (HWS) in Belfast, Ireland on the River Lagan on March 31, 1909. At the The Edwardian Era (1901-1919) peak of construction, more than 14,000 The Titanic, embodying human Irish Shipyard workers labored at the site, progress, opulence, and material working from 7:30am to 5:30pm five days a week, plus a half-day on Saturday. excess, epitomizes the Edwardian The great ship’s hull was launched May era. The era is defined by the 31, 1911 as more than 100,000 people reign of King Edward VII in Great watched. It took over 44,000 pounds of Britain, often called the “Gilded grease to lubricate Titanic’s slide down Age.” the slipway. Her outfitting was completed Tremendous technological and Left: Lord Pirrie, Chairman, Harland & by March 31, 1912. Titanic measured an Wolff Shipbuilders incredible 882 feet 9 inches long and 92 social change as well as modern Right: J. Bruce Ismay, Director, White Star feet 6 inches wide. She was run by two industrialization and mass-pro- Line huge steam engines and one low-pressure duced abundance took place. turbine, which powered three propellers. Britain was at its imperial height The concept for a fleet of three ships of Twenty-nine boilers fired by 159 coal burn- with one in three of the world’s population her subjects. Americans unrivaled size and luxury was hatched three ing furnaces made possible a top speed A NEWSPAPER IN EDUCATION SUPPLEMENT TO THE WASHINGTON TIMES THE WASHINGTON SUPPLEMENT TO IN EDUCATION A NEWSPAPER experienced newfound wealth and indulged in cuisine, fashion, enter- | years earlier. On April 30, 1907, Lord Pirrie, of 23 knots (26.5 mph). Only three of the chairman of the Harland & Wolff ship- tainment and travel as never before. builders, held an informal dinner meeting It was a time of great inequality. The privileges of the aristoc- at his mansion. In attendance was J. Bruce racy were made possible by the labor of their working class servants. Ismay, director of the White Star Line. The Inequalities between wealth and poverty were stark. Class status and three ships they planned to build would even one’s occupation were rigidly defined. Mobility of the lower or be the Olympic, Titanic, and Gigantic middle classes to the upper class was restricted by tradition and some- (renamed the Britannic). Their goal was to top their rival, The Cunard Line, which times even by law. THURSDAY • APRIL 12 • 2012 2012 • 12 APRIL • THURSDAY had built the Lusitania and the Mauritania, the most luxurious and fastest liners on the 2 Atlantic Ocean at that time. For Classroom Tips, See Page 15 steam-driven generators and ship-wide lifeboats should be increased. Bruce wiring for electric lights, telephone system Ismay thought this to be too expensive and two Marconi telegraphy radios. Two and unsightly (a decision he would deeply Marconi Company operators worked in regret). shifts sending and receiving passenger mes- No one thought lifeboats would be need- sages using the 5,000-watt system. First- ed, since Titanic was considered a pinnacle class passengers paid a hefty fee for such of naval architecture and technological amenities; the most expensive one-way trans-Atlantic passage was $4,375 (equiva- lent to $99,237 in 2011). Let the Truth be known, no ship is unsinkable. The bigger the ship, the easier it is to sink her. I learned long ago that if you design how a ship’ll sink, you can keep her afloat. I pro- posed all the watertight com- partments and the double hull to slow these ships from sink- ing. In that way, you get every- one off. There’s time for help to arrive, and the ship’s less likely An inquisitive Mrs. Albert Caldwell asked less than a day because the crew was sure Titanic’s passengers and crew required to break apart and kill someone a deck hand, “Is this ship really unsink- that Titanic would perform the same as her tons of food supplies. Among the supplies able?” He replied, “Yes, Lady, God Himself sister-ship, Olympic, which was completed were: 115,000 pounds of fresh meat & fish, while she’s going down.” couldn’t sink this ship.” The crew, builders, before her. That evening she started the 80,000 pounds of potatoes, 10,000 pounds — Thomas Andrews, patrons, general public, and governments 570-mile trip to Southampton, just south- of rice & beans, 40,000 eggs, 36,000 orang- Managing Director of Harland all believed that the modern technology of west of London, England along the River es, 7,000 heads of lettuces, and 1,500 gal- and Wolff Shipyards the Titanic made her unsinkable. Test, which flows into the English Channel. lons of milk. On April 2, 1912 Captain E. J. Smith and It was an easy location from which London “You could actually walk miles along his officers participated in Titanic’s sea tri- passengers could embark. the decks and passages covering different achievement. Ship Builders magazine pro- als to test the ship. Engines were run. The As Titanic got underway on April 10, she TIMES THE WASHINGTON SUPPLEMENT TO IN EDUCATION A NEWSPAPER claimed the ship “practically unsinkable.” crew practiced port and starboard turns, passed the American liner, S.S. New York Titanic was divided into 16 watertight stopping, turning a full circle, and run- moored at the dock. The smaller ship began Control your Irish passions, compartments, which had doors, held up ning at different speeds. The trials lasted straining at her lines, drawn by the invisible Thomas (builder). Your uncle by magnetic latches, that would drop on suction from the Titanic’s three mammoth here tells me you proposed 64 the command of a switch on the bridge propellers, driven by a power plant capa- lifeboats and he had to pull or automatically if water got too high in “I cannot imagine any condi- ble of 55,000 horsepower. Abruptly, loud a compartment. The bulkheads reached reports shattered the lighthearted mood. your arm to get you down to tion which would cause a ship the height of the E-Deck, but were not to founder. I cannot conceive of The three-inch steel cables securing New 32. Now, I will remind you just enclosed at the top. This was a design flaw any vital disaster happening to York to her moorings snapped, recoiling as I reminded him these are my that would prove deadly. Titanic could stay this vessel. Modern ship build- through the air and landing within a few afloat if flooded in any two of the middle feet of startled onlookers. New York’s stern ships. And, according to our ing has gone beyond that.” contract, I have final say on the compartments or in the first four compart- swung out towards the passing Titanic. ments; beyond that, the ship would sink — Captain Smith, Captain Edward J. Smith, who was plan- design. I’ll not have so many because water would spill over each bulk- Commander of Titanic ning to retire after completion of this voy- little boats, as you call them, head into the next compartment. age, promptly ordered the port propeller cluttering up my decks and put- reversed. ting fear into my passengers.” — J. Bruce Ismay, Director of “When anyone asks how I can the White Star Line. best describe my experience in nearly 40 years at sea, I merely say, uneventful. Of course there have been winter gales, and storms and | ground all the time. I was thoroughly famil- fog the like, but in all my expe- 2012 • 12 APRIL • THURSDAY iar with pretty well every type of ship afloat rience, I have never been in any but it took me 14 days before I could, with accident of any sort worth speak- confidence, find my way from one part of ing about.