The great ship, Titanic, sailed for NewYork from Southampton
on April 10th,1912. She was carrying 1316 passengers and a crew of 89l.
Even by modern standards, the 46,000 ton Titanic was a colossal ship.
At that time, however, she was not only the largest ship that
had ever been built, but was regarded as unsinkable, for she had sixteen
watertight compartments. Even if two of these were flooded,
she would still be able to float. The tragic sinking of this great liner
will always be remembered, for she went down on her first voyage
with heavy loss of life.
Four days after setting out, while the Titanic was sailing across
the icy waters of the North Atlantic, a huge iceberg was suddenly spotted
by a look-out. After the alarm had been given, the great ship turned sharply
to avoid a direct collision. The Titanic turned just in time, narrowly missing
the immense wall of ice which rose over 100 feet out of the water beside her. Suddenly, there was a slight trembling sound from below, and the captain
went down to see what had happened. The noise had been so faint that
no one thought that the ship had been damaged. Below,
the captain realized to his horror that the Titanic was sinking rapidly,
for five of her sixteen watertight compartments had already been flooded !
The order to abandon ship was given and hundreds of people plunged
into the icy water. As there were not enough life-boats for everybody,
1500 lives were lost. |