RMS Titanic it was one of the largest and most luxurious passenger ships of its time. The Titanic, as it became known, was built in the early 20th century, in Northern Ireland, at the behest of the White Star Line company. The ship's maiden voyage had more than 2,200 people on board, including passengers and crew, and left the port of Southampton, England, on April 10, 1912, heading for the city of New York. Just four days later, however, the collision with a iceberg interrupted the course of the Titanic, which sank at dawn on April 15, 1912, causing 1500 fatalities.
Read too: Books that have been adapted into movies
Summary about the RMS Titanic
The Royal Mail Steamer (RMS) Titanic was considered the largest and most luxurious passenger ship in the world.
It was built in Belfast, Northern Ireland, between 1909 and 1911.
It had capacity for more than 3,000 passengers and weighed 46,000 tons.
The RMS Titanic left Southampton, England, on April 10, 1912, thus beginning its maiden voyage. fate was new York, us U.S.
At 11:40 pm on April 14, 1912, the side of the ship collided with an iceberg, causing irreparable damage to the hull.
The Titanic sank at 2:20 am on April 15, 1912, causing the death of 1500 people out of the more than 2200 on board.
The wreckage of the RMS Titanic was found in 1985. The discovery was important for understanding how the ship sank.
The disaster was marked as one of the worst accidents in the history of maritime navigation.
Several works were produced about the RMS Titanic. One of the most famous is the film Titanic, from 1997.
What does RMS Titanic mean?
RMS Titanic is the official name of the British ocean liner better known as the Titanic. The acronym RMS stands for Royal Mail Steamer (Steam or Royal Mail Ship), which indicates that this ship was also used to transport correspondence from the British Royal Mail.
History of the RMS Titanic
The RMS Titanic was considered the largest and most luxurious passenger shipin season of its construction, which dates from the beginning of the 20th century. The vessel was developed by the company Harland & Wolff, located in the city of Belfast, capital of Northern Ireland. The RMS Titanic belonged to the Olympic class, and was commissioned by the White Star Line company, which would also take care of its conduction. The Titanic was designed by engineer and builder Thomas Andrews Jr. (1873-1912).
A Construction of the Titanic began in 1909, at the Harland & Wolff shipyard, in Northern Ireland. The ship was the second in a series of three Olympic-class ocean liners developed by that company, and her delivery took place on May 31, 1911. The ship attracted attention for its grandeur and the luxury it boasted. It left on its first and only voyage in April 1912.
→ Titanic features
The ship had 269 meters long, 28 meters maximum width and approximate height of 53 meters. The carrying capacity of the RMS Titanic was 46,328 tons, rising to 52 tons when loaded. During the ship's first and only trip, the luggage alone weighed approximately 900 tons. As for transportation, the Titanic podwas going behave more than 3.3 thousand people between passengers and crew members.
One of the key aspects of the interior of the RMS Titanic was luxury., and the space had a decoration very rich in ornaments. The ship had 840 cabins, 416 in first class, 162 in second class and 262 in third class.
Between the facilities present on the RMS Titanic, were found:
restaurants;
libraries and reading rooms;
pools on deck and reserved (some heated, for first class);
gym (or court);
games room;
barbershops;
elevators (four in total).
It is estimated that the cost dthe construction of the RMS Titanic has been of 7.5 million dollars at the time. Considering that the ship was completed in 1911, the current value, corrected according to the inflation, would be over 234 million dollars.
The security system with which the ship was equipped — 16 watertight compartments that would prevent water from entering in case any fracture occurred in the hull - caused the Titanic to be Classified as an unsinkable vessel.
See too: 15 curiosities about the cold
First and only voyage of the RMS Titanic
In the early afternoon of April 10, 1912, the RMS Titanic left the port city of Southampton, England, to begin its maiden voyage, which was destined for New York, in the United States. Before heading towards American continent, the Titanic made two stops: one at France and another in Ireland. There were 2223 people on board of the ship, including passengers and crew.
On your way through Oatlantic ocean, the RMS Titanic faced normal weather conditions, passing through two cold fronts, the second being the strongest of them, on April 14, marked by winds strong and sudden fall of temperatures.|1|
He was at 23:40 on the 14th of April that the RMS Titanic had its journey definitively interrupted when the ship collided with an iceberg. Although Captain Edward Smith tried to deviate from the collision course, he was unsuccessful in his maneuver. As a result, there was drilling of five of the ship's watertight compartments, which allowed the passage of water into its interior.
A little less than an hour after the accident, at dawn on April 15th, help was requested from the ship RMS Carpathia, which arrived only three hours later. At the same time, the captain gave orders for women and children to be evacuated by lifeboats. About three hours after hitting the iceberg, the RMS Titanic sank completely.
Sinking of the RMS Titanic
The sinking of the RMS Titanic happened at 2:20 am on April 15, 1912. The ship was at an approximate distance of 560 km from Terra Nova, a Canadian island located in the Atlantic Ocean close to the coast of the country.
Aftermath of the sinking of the RMS Titanic
More than 1500 lives were lost with the sinking of the RMS Titanic, which is considered one of the worst maritime disasters in history. Among those killed in the accident was the ship's captain, whose body was not recovered. The ship that came to the rescue of the passengers and crew of the RMS Titanic left the place at 8:50 in the morning, with 705 survivors.
With the sinking of the ship that was considered unsinkable, a series of improvements in vessel safety have been implemented so that the history of the RMS Titanic would not repeat itself. Among these measures were safety protocols, such as increasing the number of lifeguards on board and adopting radars capable of detecting threats such as icebergs, with usage logs after Second World War.|2|
Wreck of the RMS Titanic
The wreckage of the RMS Titanic was located 73 years after the shipwreck. The discovery happened in September 1, 1985, and was made by oceanographers Jean-Louis Michel and Robert Ballard. The remnants of the transatlantic are found at a depth of 3800 meters and are in an advanced state of deterioration caused by sea salt, responsible for the corrosion process of the pieces, and by the colonies of bacteria who consume iron and who settled in the wreckage.
The location of the wreckage of the RMS Titanic was important for having more details about how the accident happened. sinking of the ship, which, according to National Geographic, followed quite violently after the lifting of the stern. It was also found that, in fact, the Titanic broke in half before sinking.
The wreckage of the Titanic became protected by Unescoin 2012 due to its relevance as Underwater Cultural Heritage.
Know more: How does the compass work?
Film Titanic
The tragedy of the RMS Titanic was forever marked in the history of marine navigation and in the imagination of society, having been the main theme of numerous audiovisual productions, such as documentaries, plays in theater, books, shorts and feature films.
One of the most popular productions is the American film Titanic, directed by James Cameron and starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. It is a fictional drama that tells the love story lived by Rose Dewitt Bukater and Jack Dawson aboard the famous ship, portraying the collision with the iceberg and the sinking of the RMS Titanic. The film premiered in 1997 and raised 2.1 billion dollars internationally, being the third highest grossing in the history of the movie theater until now.
Facts about the RMS Titanic
The top speed of the RMS Titanic was 23 knots, or 42.5 km/h.
The Titanic dumped about 100 tons of ash into the ocean daily, resulting from the coal burned during its operation.
The cost to sleep in first class on the Titanic at the time (1912) was 150 dollars, the equivalent of approximately 4500 dollars today.
Elizabeth Gladys Millvina Dean was the youngest passenger and survivor of the Titanic. Born February 2, 1912, she boarded the ship with just two months to live. Millvina Dean passed away at the age of 97 on May 31, 2009.
Seaman Frederick Fleet, who was on watch on the RMS Titanic on the night of April 14, was the one who first spotted the iceberg and warned Captain Smith. Fleet was one of the survivors.
The majority of casualties in the Titanic accident were third-class passengers (536 fatalities) and crew (685 fatalities).
Grades
|1| ESSAY. 100 years of the sinking of the Titanic – Meteorological and climate analysis. MetSul, 14 Apr. 2012. Available here.
|2| VEIGA, Edison. Titanic: curiosities about the famous shipwreck that occurred 110 years ago. BBC News Brazil, 14 Apr. 2022. Available here.
image credits
[1] Anton_IvanovIt is Shutterstock
By Paloma Guitarrara
Geography Teacher
Source: Brazil School - https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/curiosidades/rms-titanic.htm