Before Reading Video link at from Exploring the Titanic thinkcentral.com Narrative Nonfiction by Robert D. Ballard What can we learn from DISASTERS? Have you ever learned a lesson the hard way? Unfortunately, sometimes it takes a disaster to teach us to properly plan for danger. RI 1 Cite several pieces of In the selection you’re about to read, people on an “unsinkable” textual evidence to support what the text says explicitly. ship encounter terrible danger at sea—without enough lifeboats RI 3 Analyze interactions between individuals, events, for everyone. and ideas in a text (e.g., how ideas influence idividuals). RI 5 Analyze the structure an CHART IT When a disaster happens, we try to find out what went author uses to organize a text. wrong so that we know how to be better prepared in the future. Using a chart like the one shown, list different types of disasters and things we can learn from them. Compare your chart with those of your classmates. Disasters What We Can Learn from Them Fires We can learn to build safer buildings. More fire drills will help people know what to do in emergencies. 102 102-103_NA_L07PE-u01s5-brTita.indd 102 1/7/11 11:43:20 PM Meet the Author text analysis: narrative nonfiction Narrative nonfiction uses literary elements, such as plot, Robert D. Ballard setting, and conflict, to tell a story. Unlike fiction, though, born 1942 narrative nonfiction tells a true story about events that Underwater Explorer really happened. To be accurate, narrative nonfiction relies Robert D. Ballard, a pioneer of deep- on source material, such as quotations from real people, sea exploration, traces his interest facts from reliable accounts, and photographs. As you read in the ocean to childhood walks on Exploring the Titanic, notice how literary elements and the beach in San Diego. He was so source material help create a compelling narrative. fascinated by sea lore and by the crabs washed in by the tide that he decided Review: Suspense and Foreshadowing to spend his life by the water. Ballard reading skill: use chronological order is trained as a marine geologist, a geophysicist (a mapper of land and When writers use chronological order, or time order, oceans), and a Navy commander. they present events in the order in which they happened. After years of searching, he found one To help you recognize time order, look for of the most important shipwrecks in history—the remains of the Titanic. • calendar dates, such as Wednesday, April 10, 1912 • clock time, such as shortly after noon and 8:03 P.M. A World Beneath the Water The oxygen-poor water at the • words and phrases that show time order, such as before, bottom of the ocean keeps shipwrecks later, around lunchtime, and for the next ten months in excellent condition. “There’s Use a timeline to track the events of the Titanic’s final day. probably more history now preserved underwater than in all the museums Harold Bride receives iceberg of the world combined,” Ballard has warning from operator. observed. To help excavate that history, Ballard organizes expeditions to areas Sunday morning, April 14, 1912 rich in shipwrecks. He explores the depths with the help of robots and submersibles, or minisubmarines. Review: Make Inferences Mysteries Solved vocabulary in context Ballard’s discovery solved many The boldfaced words help tell the story of this disaster. Use mysteries about the Titanic’s last hours. For instance, ppieces on the context clues to give a definition for each word. ocean fl oor reveal that the ship broke 1. The elegant accommodations thrilled the passengers. in two before sinking.ng. 2. Adjoining rooms kept families together. 3. There were moderate prices for less luxurious rooms. 4. Travelers enjoyed the novelty of the ship’s first voyage. 5. Some believed they had heard a prophecy of tragedy. Author 6. The crews worked feverishly to avoid a collision. Online 7. They were unable to prevent a ghastly disaster at sea. Go to thinkcentral.comm. KEYWORD: HML7-103 Complete the activities in your Reader/Writer Notebook. 103 102-103_NA_L07PE-u01s5-brTita.indd 103 1/7/11 11:43:27 PM xploring the Robert D. Ballard he story of the Titanic began before anyone had even thought about T building the great ship. In 1898, fourteen years before the Titanic What do the words and sank, an American writer named Morgan Robertson wrote a book called images in the poster emphasize? The Wreck of the Titan.1 In his story, the Titan, a passenger ship almost identical to the Titanic, and labeled “unsinkable,” sails from England headed for New York. With many rich and famous passengers on board, the Titan hits an iceberg in the North Atlantic and sinks. Because there are not enough lifeboats, many lives are lost. prophecy (prJfPG-sC) n. a prediction of the The story of the Titan predicted exactly what would happen to the future 10 Titanic fourteen years later. It was an eerie prophecy of terrible things to come. a a CHRONOLOGICAL In 1907, nearly ten years after The Wreck of the Titan was written, two ORDER Why do you think Ballard men began making plans to build a real titanic ship. At a London dinner begins his narrative with party, as they relaxed over coffee and cigars, J. Bruce Ismay, president a reference to The Wreck of the White Star Line of passenger ships, and Lord Pirrie, chairman of of the Titan? Harland & Wolff shipbuilders, discussed a plan to build three enormous 1. Titan: In Greek mythology, the Titans were a race of giants. The word titanic has come to be applied to any person or thing of great size or power. Titanic, Olympic, White Star Line (1912), 104 unit 1: plot, conflict, and setting Montague B. Black. Christie’s Images/Corbis. 104-118_NA_L07PE-u01s5-Titan.indd 104 1/7/11 11:43:58 PM 104-118_NA_L07PE-u01s5-Titan.indd 105 1/7/11 11:43:59 PM ocean liners. Their goal was to give the White Star Line a competitive edge in the Atlantic passenger trade with several gigantic ships whose accommodations would be the last word in comfort and elegance. accommodations 20 The two men certainly dreamed on a grand scale.2 When these floating (E-kJmQE-dAPshEnz) palaces were finally built, they were so much bigger than other ships that n. rooms and food, especially in a hotel new docks had to be built on each side of the Atlantic to service them. or on a ship or train Four years after that London dinner party, the first of these huge liners, the Olympic, safely completed her maiden voyage.3 On May 31, 1911, the hull of the Titanic was launched at the Harland & Wolff shipyards in Belfast, Ireland, before a cheering crowd of 100,000. Bands played, and people came from miles around to see this great wonder of the sea. Twenty-two tons of soap, grease, and train oil were used to slide her into the water. In the words of one eyewitness, 30 she had “a rudder as big as an elm tree . propellers as big as a windmill. b b NARRATIVE Everything was on a nightmare scale.” For the next ten months the Titanic was outfitted and carefully NONFICTION What details help you prepared down to the last detail. The final size and richness of this new picture the setting of ship was astounding. She was 882 feet long, almost the length of four city the Titanic’s launch? blocks. With nine decks, she was as high as an eleven-story building. Among her gigantic features, she had four huge funnels, each one big enough to drive two trains through. During construction an astonishing three million rivets had been hammered into her hull. Her three enormous anchors weighed a total of thirty-one tons—the weight of 40 twenty cars. And for her maiden voyage, she carried enough food to feed a small town for several months. As her name boasted, the Titanic was indeed the biggest ship in the world. Nicknamed “the Millionaires’ Special,” she was also called “the Wonder Ship,” “the Unsinkable Ship,” and “the Last Word in Luxury” by newspapers around the world. c c NARRATIVE NONFICTION The command of this great ocean liner was given to the senior captain What do the newspaper of the White Star Line, Captain Edward J. Smith. This proud, white- quotations add to your bearded man was a natural leader and was popular with both crew understanding? members and passengers. Most important, after thirty-eight years’ service 50 with the White Star Line, he had an excellent safety record. At the age of fifty-nine, Captain Smith was going to retire after this last trip, a perfect final tribute to a long and successful career. On Wednesday, April 10, 1912, the Titanic’s passengers began to arrive in Southampton for the trip to New York. Ruth Becker was dazzled as she boarded the ship with her mother, her younger sister, and two-year-old brother, Richard. Ruth’s father was a missionary in India. The rest of the 2. on a grand scale: in a large or impressive way. 3. maiden voyage: very first trip. 106 unit 1: plot, conflict, and setting 104-118_NA_L07PE-u01s5-Titan.indd 106 1/7/11 11:44:07 PM Ruth Becker Jack Thayer Illustration © Onslow Auctions Limited/Mary Evans Picture Library. family was sailing to New York to find medical help for young Richard, who had developed a serious illness in India. They had booked second- The photographs of Ruth Becker and Jack class tickets on the Titanic.