Tuesday, March 27, 2012

The sinking of Titanic


The sinking of the RMS Titanic was one of the worst shipwrecks in history. When Titanic sank a lot of people died that night in the freezing cold water. Ironically, the Titanic was built so wonderfully that the people who built it thought that it would never sink at all.

The RMS Titanic was built in Belfast, Ireland by the Harland and Wolf shipyard for the White Star Line. It took over three thousand men three years to construct the ship. It cost 7.5 million dollars to build. Titanic was 882 feet long and 92 feet wide.  Features on the ship included a swimming pool, gymnasium, squash court, Turkish bath, the Veranda café, and libraries for both First and Second class guests. Titanic was the most luxurious ship ever built at that time.

Titanic began her maiden voyage in Southampton, England and was headed to New York City, New York. The captain of Titanic was Edward John Smith. He was going to retire after this final voyage on Titanic.
  
On the night of April 14, 1912 Titanic struck an iceberg and sank in the early hours of April 15. It took two hours and forty minutes for the ship to sink beneath the ocean surface. There were only 706 survivors and 1, 517 passengers and crew died. One of the passengers, Molly Brown was the only known woman to row a rowboat to safety. Mrs. Straus another passenger refused to leave her husband Mr. Straus, so she stayed and died with him. The people who survived in lifeboats got saved by the RMS Carpathia a few hours after Titanic sank.

After RMS Titanic sank a lot of things changed. First they never let ships go in the area where they were re routed  to avoid ice burgs. Second all ships were required to carry enough lifeboats for everyone on board. Third regulations stated that ships could never turn off their radios.

The sinking of Titanic was a very tragic experience for those who were on it. Titanic was structured to be the finest ship in the world. RMS Titanic took less than three hours to sink to the bottom of the ocean. There was no other ship wrecks before or after April 15, 1912.

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