The Titanic

The sinking in 1912 of the world's largest ocean-liner, the Titanic, taking with it more than 1,200 lives, remains in the imaginations of many people. This is evident by the enormous number of books, films, documentaries, TV movies, and other events dedicated to the Titanic, nearly a century after its sinking. Zani (2003) reveals that:

The Onion newspaper's faux headline for the sinking of the Titanic is �World's Largest Metaphor Hits Iceberg'. The irony of an �unsinkable' ship sinking on its maiden voyage is an obvious testament to the hubris of mankind in the face of the Real (125).

Indeed, the Queen Elizabeth, II, recently took to the seas, a ship as large as the Chrysler Building in Manhattan if stood on end. Yet the ship that was labeled �unsinkable' did sink, taking with it many lives. In reviewing the incidents surrounding what the Apr 16, 1912, edition of the Daily Sketch called "the first disaster of such magnitude to befall a mammoth liner at sea", one comes to the conclusion that of all the factors most responsible for the sinking of the Titanic, human pride remains chief among them (1).

The headline of the Apr 16, 1912, edition of the Baltimore American read: "TITANIC SINKS WITH 1,200 MEN; 866 WOMEN AND CHILDREN SAVED" (1). Only a day earlier, Logan Marshall (1998), author of The Sinking of the Titanic and Great Sea Disasters, reports that on Mon Apr 15, 1912, a wireless message was sent that read, "The Titanic in collision, bu

Related Essays

The Titanic as a Microcosm of the Edwardian World When the Titanic sank on April 14, 1912, only approximately 700 of her more than 2,200 passengers were rescued. Out of those only .... (1590 6 )

Sinking of The Titanic The sinking in 1912 of the world's largest ocean-liner, the Titanic, taking with it more than 1,200 lives, remains in the imaginations of many people. .... (2733 11 )

Class & Society in Accounts of Titanic Survivors Class & Society in Accounts of Titanic Survivors When the Titanic sank on April 14, 1912, only approximately 700 of her more than 2,200 passengers were rescued .... (1742 7 )

Media Coverage of Disasters .... in reporting disasters (both those which occur naturally and those which are caused by man), and considers two disasters, the sinking of the Titanic and the .... (3247 13 )

Independent Film .... Titanic is a rare modern example of an "event" film that is reminiscent of the Hollywood Golden Era when films made huge profits and were artistically .... (1920 8 )

that nobody thought could ever happen, happened with even more frightening consequences: We can now estimate that a gash was torn in her almost 100 meters long. The ship's builder, Thomas Andrews, inspected the damage with the Captain. They found that the first five compartments were flooding rapidly and the sixth leaking. As the front compartments filled, and the bow sank, the transverse hull between the fifth and sixth compartments would drop over 10 feet below the waterline. The water would spill over into the next compartment. So the ship would sink further. Andrews underestimated her remaining time at only an hour. She lasted nearly two. (Anesi 1998, 3) Despite flawed design, many felt the waterline should have been higher than 10 feet. Other factors contributing to the disaster include poor judgment on behalf of Captain Smith. Despite repeated warnings that the vessel was entering an ice field, Smith refused to lower the ship's speed, moving full speed ahead when it collided with the iceberg. In the inquiry into the disaster in July of 1912, the Mersey Wreck Commissioner determined the cause of the accident to be a direct result of the vessel's speed in dangerous waters, "The Court finds, that the loss of the sa

Category: History - T