There has never been a more famous shipwreck than the Titanic. It has taken on mythical status as the quintessential disaster where all catastrophes are compared. However, this ship started out its maritime life with much loftier expectations. Her British owner, the White Star Line wanted to make her the most opulent vessel ever built. By the time that she was being built in Belfast, Northern Ireland, the White Star Line was purchased by an American conglomerate, International Mercantile Marine, headed by the billionaire J.P. Morgan. Titanic passed all her sea trials and by April, 1912, she was ready for her maiden voyage. Her home port was Southhampton, England and she set sail with stops in Cherbourg, France and Queenstown (Cobh), Ireland. During her departure from Southhampton, Titanic narrowly averted a collision with the liner, New York as the powerful props from Titanic pulled the smaller liner from its moorings. Ironically, that is the closest to New York that she would ever come! On the clear, dark evening of April 14th, 1912, Titanic stuck and iceberg. It was readily apparent that she was to sink and the lifeboats were released. Sadly this most beautiful ocean liner sank within hours of this collision with the loss of over 1500 lives.
Last April 2005, this weblog ran a series of historical articles that contained some interesting facts on Titanic to mark its maiden voyage and sinking. Please visit these articles by selecting from the April 2005 archives on the left or select this link. For viewing of our videos throughout our expedition to Titanic, you will need the Macromedia Flash 7 plug-in to see the video! We have provided a link to this plug-in on the left column of this weblog.
Comments