April 14th, 1912 ~ the infamous ocean liner "Titanic" slips beneath the icy waves carrying over 1500 doomed souls with it.

Even though it’s been almost 100 years since the doomed ocean-liner sank beneath the waves to it’s watery demise, the story of the Titanic and it’s ill-fated maiden voyage still holds a special place in the public eye…  

 It seems people just can’t get enough of this story and understandably so ~ the story of the Titanic will most likely always hold the title of the world’s largest & deadliest maritime disaster. Over 1500 unfortunate souls lost their lives that night, some 400 miles from the nearest shore.  

This is the story of the Titanic and her passengers, along with links to various Public Domain resources concerning the story of the Titanic…(The following narration was compiled from excerpts taken from Wikipedia’s main Titanic article). 

“The RMS Titanic was the largest passenger steamship in the world when she set off on her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, on 10 April 1912. Four days into the trip, on 14 April 1912, she struck an iceberg and sank, resulting in the deaths of 1,517 people in one of the deadliest peacetime maritime disasters in history.”  

“An Olympic-class passenger liner, the Titanic was owned by the White Star Line and constructed at the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast, Ireland (now Northern Ireland). She set sail for New York City with 2,223 people on board; the high casualty rate when the ship sank was due in part to the fact that, although complying with the regulations of the time, the ship carried lifeboats for only 1,178 people. A disproportionate number of men died due to the women and children first protocol that was followed.”  

RMS Titanic departing from Southampton, for the first and only time, on 10 April 1912

 ”The Titanic was designed by some of the most experienced engineers, and used some of the most advanced technologies available at the time. It was a great shock to many that, despite the extensive safety features, the Titanic sank. The frenzy on the part of the media about the Titanic’s famous victims, the legends about the sinking, the resulting changes to maritime law, and the discovery of the wreck have contributed to the interest in the Titanic.”  

“The Titanic surpassed all her rivals in luxury and opulence…”  

The first-class Grand Staircase aboard the Titanic

 ”The First-class section had an on-board swimming pool, a gymnasium, a squash court, Turkish bath, Electric bath and a Verandah Cafe. First-class common rooms were adorned with ornate wood panelling, expensive furniture and other decorations. In addition, the Café Parisien offered cuisine for the first-class passengers, with a sunlit veranda fitted with trellis decorations. There were libraries and barber shops in both the first and second-class. The third class general room had pine panelling and sturdy teak furniture. The ship incorporated technologically advanced features for the period. She had three electric elevators in first class and one in second class. She had also an extensive electrical subsystem with steam-powered generators and ship-wide wiring feeding electric lights and two Marconi radios, including a powerful 1,500-watt set manned by two operators working in shifts, allowing constant contact and the transmission of many passenger messages. First-class passengers paid a hefty fee for such amenities. The most expensive one-way trans-Atlantic passage was US$4,350 (which is more than US$95,860 in 2008 dollars).”  

“The vessel began her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, bound for New York City, New York on 10 April 1912, with Captain Edward J. Smith in command. As the Titanic left her berth, her wake caused the liner SS New York, which was docked nearby, to break away from her moorings, whereupon she was drawn dangerously close (about four feet) to the Titanic before a tugboat towed the New York away. The incident delayed departure for about half-an-hour.”  

Titanic on her way after the near-collision with the SS New York. On the left can be seen the Oceanic and the New York.

 ”After crossing the English Channel, the Titanic stopped at Cherbourg, France, to board additional passengers and stopped again the next day at Queenstown (known today as Cobh), Ireland. As harbour facilities at Queenstown were inadequate for a ship of her size, the Titanic had to anchor off-shore, with small boats, known as tenders, ferrying the embarking passengers out to her. When she finally set out for New York, there were 2,240 people aboard.”  

“On the maiden voyage of the Titanic some of the most prominent people of the day were travelling in first-class. Among them were millionaire John Jacob Astor IV and his wife Madeleine Force Astor, industrialist Benjamin Guggenheim, Macy’s owner Isidor Straus and his wife Ida, Denver millionairess Margaret “Molly” Brown (known afterwards as the ‘Unsinkable Molly Brown’ due to her efforts in helping other passengers while the ship sank), Sir Cosmo Duff Gordon and his wife, couturière Lucy (Lady Duff-Gordon), George Dunton Widener, his wife Eleanor, and son Harry, cricketer and businessman John Borland Thayer with his wife Marian and their seventeen-year-old son Jack, journalist William Thomas Stead, the Countess of Rothes, United States presidential aide Archibald Butt, author and socialite Helen Churchill Candee, author Jacques Futrelle his wife May and their friends, Broadway producers Henry and Rene Harris and silent film actress Dorothy Gibson among others. J.P. Morgan was scheduled to travel on the maiden voyage, but cancelled at the last minute. Travelling in first–class aboard the ship were White Star Line’s managing director J. Bruce Ismay and the ship’s builder Thomas Andrews, who was on board to observe any problems and assess the general performance of the new ship.”  

“On the night of Sunday, 14 April 1912, the temperature had dropped to near freezing and the ocean was calm. The moon was not visible (being two days before new moon), and the sky was clear. Captain Smith, in response to iceberg warnings received via wireless over the preceding few days, had drawn up a new course which took the ship slightly further southward. That Sunday at 13:45, a message from the steamer Amerika warned that large icebergs lay in the Titanic’s path, but as Jack Phillips and Harold Bride, the Marconi wireless radio operators, were employed by Marconi and paid to relay messages to and from the passengers, they were not focused on relaying such “non-essential” ice messages to the bridge. Later that evening, another report of numerous large icebergs, this time from the Mesaba, also failed to reach the bridge.”  

Photograph of an iceberg in the vicinity of the RMS Titanic's sinking taken on 15 April 1912 by the chief steward of the liner Prinz Adelbert who stated the berg had red anti-fouling paint of the kind found on the hull from below Titanic's waterline.

 “At 23:40, while sailing about 400 miles south of the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, lookouts Fredrick Fleet and Reginald Lee spotted a large iceberg directly ahead of the ship. Fleet sounded the ship’s bell three times and telephoned the bridge exclaiming, “Iceberg, right ahead!”. First Officer Murdoch gave the order “hard-a-starboard”, using the traditional tiller order for an abrupt turn to port (left), and adjusted the engines (he either ordered through the telegraph for “full reverse” or “stop” on the engines; survivor testimony on this conflicts). The iceberg brushed the ship’s starboard side (right side), buckling the hull in several places and popping out rivets below the waterline over a length of 299 feet (90 m). As seawater filled the forward compartments, the watertight doors shut. However, while the ship could stay afloat with four flooded compartments, five were filling with water. The five water-filled compartments weighed down the ship so that the tops of the forward watertight bulkheads fell below the ship’s waterline, allowing water to pour into additional compartments. Captain Smith, alerted by the jolt of the impact, arrived on the bridge and ordered a full stop. Shortly after midnight on 15 April, following an inspection by the ship’s officers and Thomas Andrews, the lifeboats were ordered to be readied and a distress call was sent out.”  

Survivors aboard a collapsible lifeboat, viewed from the Carpathia.

 ”Wireless operators Jack Phillips and Harold Bride were busy sending out CQD, the international distress signal. Several ships responded, including Mount Temple, Frankfurt and Titanic’s sister ship, Olympic, but none was close enough to make it in time. The closest ship to respond was Cunard Line’s Carpathia 58 miles (93 km) away, which could arrive in an estimated four hours—too late to rescue all of the Titanic’s passengers.”  

“The first lifeboat launched was Lifeboat 7 on the starboard side with 28 people on board out of a capacity of 65. It was lowered at around 00:40 as believed by the British Inquiry. Lifeboat 6 and Lifeboat 5 were launched ten minutes later. Lifeboat 1 was the fifth lifeboat to be launched with 12 people. Lifeboat 11 was overloaded with 70 people. Collapsible D was the last lifeboat to be launched. The Titanic carried 20 lifeboats with a total capacity of 1,178 people. While not enough to hold all of the passengers and crew, the Titanic carried more boats than was required by the British Board of Trade Regulations. At the time, the number of lifeboats required was determined by a ship’s gross register tonnage, rather than her human capacity.”  

“The Titanic was given ample stability and sank with only a few degrees list, the design being such that there was very little risk of unequal flooding and possible capsize. Furthermore the electric power plant was operated by the ship’s engineers until the end. Hence Titanic showed no outward signs of being in imminent danger, and passengers were reluctant to leave the apparent safety of the ship to board small lifeboats. Large numbers of Third Class passengers were unable to reach the lifeboat deck through unfamiliar parts of the ship and past barriers, although some stewards such as William Denton Cox successfully led some groups from Third Class to the lifeboats. As a result, most of the boats were launched partially empty; one boat meant to hold 40 people left the Titanic with only 12 people on board. With “Women and children first” the imperative for loading lifeboats, Second Officer Lightoller, who was loading boats on the port side, allowed men to board only if oarsmen were needed, even if there was room. First Officer Murdoch, who was loading boats on the starboard side, let men on board if women were absent. As the ship’s list increased people started to become nervous, and some lifeboats began leaving fully loaded. By 02:05, the entire bow was under water, and all the lifeboats, except for two, had been launched.”  

“Around 02:10, the stern rose out of the water exposing the propellers, and by 02:17 the waterline had reached the boat deck. The last two lifeboats floated off the deck, collapsible B upside down, collapsible A half-filled with water after the supports for its canvas sides were broken in the fall from the roof of the officers’ quarters. Shortly afterwards, the forward funnel collapsed, crushing part of the bridge and people in the water. On deck, people were scrambling towards the stern or jumping overboard in hopes of reaching a lifeboat. The ship’s stern slowly rose into the air, and everything unsecured crashed towards the water. While the stern rose, the electrical system finally failed and the lights went out. Shortly afterwards, the stress on the hull caused the Titanic to break apart between the last two funnels, and the bow went completely under. The stern righted itself slightly and then rose vertically. After a few moments, at 02:20, this too sank into the ocean.”  

“Only two of the 18 launched lifeboats rescued people after the ship sank. Lifeboat 4 was close by and picked up five people, two of whom later died. Close to an hour later, lifeboat 14 went back and rescued four people, one of whom died afterwards. Other people managed to climb onto the lifeboats that floated off the deck. There were some arguments in some of the other lifeboats about going back, but many survivors were afraid of being swamped by people trying to climb into the lifeboat or being pulled down by the suction from the sinking the Titanic, though it turned out that there had been very little suction.”  

“As the ship fell into the depths, the two sections behaved very differently. The streamlined bow planed off approximately 2,000 feet (609 m) below the surface and slowed somewhat, landing relatively gently. The stern plunged violently to the ocean floor, the hull being torn apart along the way from massive implosions caused by compression of the air still trapped inside. The stern smashed into the bottom at considerable speed, grinding the hull deep into the silt.”  

“After steaming at 17.5 knots for just under four hours, the RMS Carpathia arrived in the area and at 04:10 began rescuing survivors. By 08:30 she picked up the last lifeboat with survivors and left the area at 08:50 bound for New York.”  

“Of a total of 2,223 people aboard the Titanic only 706 survived the disaster and 1,517 perished. The majority of deaths were caused by hypothermia in the 28 °F (−2 °C) water. At this water temperature, death could be expected in less than 15 minutes.”  

Sinking of the Titanic by Henry Reuterdahl, drawn based on radio descriptions.

 ”Men and members of the 2nd and 3rd class were less likely to survive. Of the male passengers in second class, 92 percent perished. Less than half of third-class passengers survived.”  

“Six of the seven children in first class survived, all of the children in second class survived, whereas less than half were saved in third class. 96 percent of the women in first class survived, 86 percent of the women survived in second class and less than half survived in third class. Overall, only 20 percent of the men survived, compared to nearly 75 percent of the women. Men in first class were four times as likely to survive as men in second class, and twice as likely to survive as those in third.”  

“Four of the eight officers survived. About 21 of the 29 able seamen survived and all of the 7 quartermasters and 8 lookouts survived. 3 of the 13 leading firemen survived, around 45 other firemen survived and around 20 of the 73 coal trimmers survived. 4 of the 33 greasers survived and 1 of the 6 mess hall stewards survived. Around 60 of the 322 stewards and 18 of the 23 stewardesses survived. 3 of the 68 restaurant staffs survived. All of the postal clerks, guarantee group and eight-member orchestra perished.”  

“Another disparity is that a greater percentage of British passengers died than American passengers; some sources claim this could be because many Britons of the time were polite and queued, rather than forcing their way onto the lifeboats. The captain, Edward John Smith, shouted out: “Be British, boys, be British!” as the ocean liner went down, according to witnesses.”  

Captain Edward J. Smith, captain of the Titanic

Public Domain Books Regarding The Titanic Available For Immediate Download…  

• Titanic (1912) 
• “Titanic” Disaster Hearings (1912)
• Sinking of the Titanic and Great Sea Disasters
• In Memoriam, the Titanic Disaster (1913)
• The Loss of the S. S. Titanic: Its Story and Its Lessons
• The Titanic : (An Ode of Immortality) (1912)
• The Story of the Titanic, As Told By Its Survivors (1960)
• An Unsinkable Titanic; Every Ship Its Own Lifeboat (1912)
• Wreck and Sinking of the Titanic; the Ocean’s Greatest Disaster (1912)
• The Sinking of the Titanic, and Other Poems (1915)
• The Titanic Disaster: Poem (1912)
• Loss of the Steamship “Titanic”: Report of a Formal Investigation (1912)
• Memorials of Henry Forbes Julian. With introductory notices by J.O. Bevan and H. Livingstone Sulman, also letters from the “Titanic” and the “Carpathia” – Julian, Hester (Pengelly)
• The Truth About the Titanic (1913)

Even today, more than 98 years after the April 14th, 1912 tragedy occured, references to the Titanic can still be found abundantly in all media outlets including the Internet.

This presents an interesting publishing opportunity for us as Public Domain publishers to bring forth the real story of this disaster to a whole new generation of readers.

The Public Domain is full of stories concerning history’s greatest maritime disasters ~ for instance, have you ever heard the story of the Titanic’s sister ship, the Britannic? Personally, I find the story of the Britannic disaster equally as riveting (if not more so) than the story of the Titanic ~ check out the Britannic’s story here on Wikipedia.

To paraphrase Captain Smith, “Be British, boys & girls, be British!”.

About The Author:

Logan Andrew is an online entrepreneur, information publisher, and author that has been using Public Domain material to create profitable products and businesses since 2001. He is also co-author of "The Public Domain Treasure Hunter's Survival Kit" available here. For more info Logan, click here.

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