What company owned the legendary titanic. Titanic - the true story of the disaster

SHIP DESCRIPTION: The Titanic is a British transatlantic steamer, the second Olympic-class liner. Built in Belfast at the shipyard "Harland and Wolf" from 1909 to 1912 by order of the shipping company "White Star Line". At the time of commissioning, it was the largest ship in the world. On the night of April 14-15, 1912, during the first flight, it was wrecked in the North Atlantic, colliding with an iceberg. The Titanic was equipped with two four-cylinder steam engines and steam turbine. The entire power plant had a capacity of 55,000 liters. from. The ship could reach speeds of up to 23 knots (42 km/h). Its displacement, which exceeded the twin steamer Olympic by 243 tons, was 52,310 tons. The ship's hull was made of steel. The hold and lower decks were divided into 16 compartments by bulkheads with sealed doors. If the bottom was damaged, the double bottom prevented water from entering the compartments. Shipbuilder magazine called the Titanic practically unsinkable, a statement that received wide use in the press and among the public. In accordance with outdated regulations, the Titanic was equipped with 20 lifeboats, with a total capacity of 1,178 people, which was only a third of the ship's maximum load. The cabins and public areas of the Titanic were divided into three classes. First class passengers were offered a swimming pool, a squash court, an A la carte restaurant, two cafes, and a gym. All classes had dining and smoking lounges, open and closed promenades. The most luxurious and refined were the interiors of the first class, made in various artistic styles using expensive materials such as mahogany, gilding, stained glass, silk and others. Cabins and salons of the third class were designed as simply as possible: steel walls were painted in White color or sheathed with wooden panels.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DISASTER: On April 10, 1912, the Titanic left Southampton on her first and only voyage. Having made stops in French Cherbourg and Irish Queenstown, the ship entered the Atlantic Ocean with 1,317 passengers and 908 crew members on board. Captain Edward Smith commanded the ship. On April 14, the Titanic radio station received seven ice warnings, but the liner continued to move almost at top speed. To avoid meeting floating ice, the captain ordered to go a little south of the usual route. At 23:39 on April 14, the lookout reported to the captain's bridge about the iceberg directly ahead. Less than a minute later there was a collision. Having received several holes, the ship began to sink. First of all, women and children were put on the boats. At 2:20 am on April 15, the Titanic sank, breaking in two, killing 1,496 people. 712 survivors were picked up by the steamer "Carpathia".

SEARCH FOR WRECKAGE: The wreckage of the Titanic lies at a depth of 3,750 m. It was first discovered by the Robert Ballard expedition in 1985. Subsequent expeditions recovered thousands of artifacts from the bottom. The bow and stern parts have sunk deep into the bottom silt and are in a deplorable state; it is not possible to bring them to the surface intact.

WHERE THE TITANIC sank: This question received a lot of answers from Internet users. Here are some of them:

1. Long time the exact coordinates of the location of the wreckage of the Titanic were classified and only inaccurate coordinates from the SOS of the Titanic were mentioned - "41 degrees 46 minutes N and 50 degrees 14 minutes W", but after UNESCO recognized the wreckage of the Titanic as cultural heritage and took them under guard the actual coordinates were published.

2. The collapse of the Titanic, the largest steamship at that time, occurred during its first voyage on the night of April 14-15, 1912 in northern waters Atlantic Ocean 645 kilometers west of Newdowland.

3. The Titanic sank in the Atlantic Ocean, passing more than halfway from Great Britain to New York on April 14, 1912, as a result of a collision with an iceberg. The remains of the Titanic lie at the bottom of the Atlantic, south of the Great Newfoundland Bank, at a depth of 3.75 km, but not compactly: separately, the bow, which sank first, 700 meters to the south is the stern of the Titanic, around for several hundred meters - debris and individual components of the ship.

4. The sinking of the Titanic is one of the biggest tragedies in the world. It happened on April 14, 1912. The Titanic was making its maiden voyage, collided with an iceberg and sank in the North Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Canada.

5. The Titanic sank in the North Atlantic Ocean. Twenty-five minutes after the Titanic collided with the iceberg, at the command of the captain, the radio operator transmitted the first signal asking for help and indicated the coordinates - 41 degrees 46 minutes northern latitude and 50 degrees 14 minutes west. The approximate coordinates of the location of the remains of the vessel are 41.43.16 N and 49.56.27 ZD. Approximate because the two largest parts of the vessel are located at a distance of 600 meters from each other, and small parts are scattered within a radius of 3-4 kilometers. By the way, the underwater canyon where the Titanic sank now bears the name of the lost ship. (National Geographic source) The site of the death of the Titanic has now been precisely determined, and if we take the location of the steam boilers that fell out of the insides of a broken sinking ship and rapidly fell to the bottom almost vertically as a reference point, then the coordinates of the Titanic crash site are as follows: 41 ° 43 "35" N and 49°56"50" W.

6. The Titanic sank in the North Atlantic Ocean before reaching Bermuda. The exact coordinates are still disputed. "California" gave one coordinates, according to which it is known exactly where the collision with the iceberg occurred - at a point with coordinates 41 degrees 46 seconds; north latitude and 50 degrees 14 seconds; west longitude, but later it was found that these calculated them incorrectly. After the collision, the ship was still moving for some time before it sank.

7. The Titanic sank in the North Atlantic Ocean, at a distance of a little more than half a thousand kilometers to the west of Newdowland Island. The exact coordinates of the site of the sinking of the Titanic are: 41g 43min 57sec north latitude and 49g 56min 49sec west longitude. This is the nose. The stern part is located in a slightly different place: 41° 43min 35sec north latitude and 49° 56min 54sec west longitude.

8. If you are interested in the coordinates of the shipwreck, that is, the exact place where the Titanic sank, then this is 645 km west of the island called Newfoundland. By the way, the exact location of the wreck of the Titanic was only found out in 1985. 2012 marked the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. It was the first and last voyage of the Titanic.

9. The place of the death of the Titanic has the coordinates: 41 degrees 46 minutes north latitude and 50 degrees 14 minutes west longitude.

10. The Titanic sank off the coast of Canada on its very first voyage on April 14, 1912. Coordinates: 41°43min.55 sec. sowing lat. 49°56 min. 45 sec. app. duty. The sinking of the Titanic impressed and continues to impress - the famous film Titanic only fueled interest in the disaster.

11. The Titanic sank in the North Atlantic on April 14, 1912. The exact coordinates of the place of his shipwreck: 41 degrees 46 minutes north latitude and 50 degrees 14 minutes west longitude. On this event, director James Cameron even made the film "Titanic".

12. The expedition was able to determine the exact place where the remains of the Titanic liner are located only in 1985. The Titanic is located at a depth of 3925 meters in the Atlantic Ocean, 375 miles from the island of Newfoundland.

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Even some sailors believe in the common myth that those ships that sank in the deepest parts of the ocean do not reach the bottom. They argue that the pressure at such depths is so huge that heavy ships cannot sink to the end - under pressure, the density of the liquid should increase many times over.

In fact, the density of water even at great depths, for example, at the bottom Mariana Trench, is slightly more than 1000 per cubic meter, while the density of steel, a material used in shipbuilding, is about 8,000 kilograms per cubic meter. Water, like any liquid, compresses poorly and cannot have such a density under such conditions, even under high pressure. In the very deep place ocean by only 5%. Any ships, even light ones, will always reach the bottom.

There are exceptions: if there is air left in the hermetically sealed compartments of the ship, the ship can hover above the bottom, but this is due to the operation of completely different laws of physics.

Burial depth of the Titanic

The huge British "Titanic" can rightly be called the most famous among the sunken ships. His catastrophe, which followed the meeting with the iceberg, was one of the biggest sensations at the beginning of the 20th century. It was wrecked after about two-thirds of its way, almost in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.

The depth of the ocean in this place is huge - the place of occurrence of the ship is located about 3750 meters from the surface of the water. It was discovered in 1985. Despite the depth, a lot of research was carried out with the help of special devices.

Where is the Bismarck

Even more significant is the place where the Bismarck, a German warship, sank. For three months, the ship, which was called a masterpiece of shipbuilding, held out after launching, until it was attacked by British ships in 1941. The ship was sunk along with the entire crew - about two thousand people. Its remains were found in 1989 - they are located at a depth of 4700 meters.

Schooner in Lake Huron

On the Great Lakes North America there is one interesting one - a sunken Canadian schooner in Huron. She plunged into the water in shallow water, this is one of the most shallow sunken ships in the world - it lies at such a shallow depth that it can be clearly seen from the shore, the water in this lake is clear.

This is a great place for beginner divers.

In Huron and the rest of the Great Lakes lie about seventeen thousand various ships: some were discovered, others

Exactly 100 years have passed since the most famous maritime disaster in history - the sinking of the Titanic. On the night of April 14-15, 1912, the ship collided with an iceberg and sank in the waters of the North Atlantic.

Among all maritime disasters that occurred in peacetime, the Titanic ranks third in terms of the number of victims - 1,517 people.

We recall the events of 100 years ago.

The Titanic was built between 1909 and 1911 by the Harland and Wolf shipbuilding company (Belfast, Northern Ireland). In the photo: workers walk from the Harland and Wolf factory in Belfast. On the background a ship still under construction is visible, 1911. (Photo by Photographic Archive | Harland & Wolff Collection | Cox):

The Titanic was launched on May 31, 1911. In the photo: a ship at the Harland and Wolf shipyard before launching, 1911:

In April 1912, the largest passenger liner in the world left the English port of Southampton for New York. on your first and last journey. On board were the richest people peace. (Photo by United Press International):

Departure from the English port of Southampton, April 10, 1912. The dimensions of the Titanic are 269 meters long, 28.2 meters wide, 18.4 meters high. The Titanic was taller than most city buildings of the time. (AP Photo):

Titanic was not only the largest, but also the most luxurious liner of its time: there were GYM's, swimming pools, libraries, upscale restaurants and luxury cabins. In the Foto: one of the restaurants

There were three classes on the Titanic: 1st, 2nd and 3rd. This photo of second class room. (Photo by The New York Times Photo Archives | American Press Association):

English naval officer (27 January 1850 – 15 April 1912). (Photo by The New York Times Archives):

William McMaster Murdoch - First Mate. It was he who kept watch and could not prevent a collision with an iceberg. William Murdoch died with the Titanic.

In the film of the same name by James Cameron, it is shown how Murdoch took money from a wealthy passenger for the right to board the boat, shot two passengers, and then shot himself. All this is not true. In fact, William Murdoch honestly fulfilled his duty and did everything in order to save as many people as possible. 75% of all those rescued from the Titanic were evacuated from the starboard side, where the rescue operation was commanded by William Murdoch. (AP Photo):

A photograph of the 30-meter-high iceberg that the Titanic is believed to have collided with. The picture was taken from the cable-laying ship Mina, which was one of the first ships to find the wreckage of the Titanic. According to the Mina crew, it was the only iceberg near the crash site.

The iceberg belonged to a rare type of "black icebergs", i.e. turned over so that their dark underwater part hits the surface. Because of this, he was seen too late. At the time of the collision of the iceberg with the Titanic, a pressure of 2.5 tons per sq.cm arose. Thick metal would have withstood, but the rivets holding the metal sheets hull of the Titanic. The seams parted to a length of about 90 meters, immediately damaging 5 of the 16 conditionally watertight compartments of the ship. (Photo by United States Coast Guard):

Almost all the women and children from cabins 1 and 2 were saved from the Titanic. More than half of the women and children from the 3rd class cabins died, because. it was difficult for them to get up through the labyrinths narrow corridors. Also, almost all the men died. Total at the sinking of the Titanic 1,517 people died.

In the photo: the lifeboat "Titanic", taken by one of the passengers of the steamer "Carpathia", It was the "Carpathia" that took off the boats survivors of the Titanic (712 people). (Photo by National Maritime Museum | London):

Another photo taken by a passenger of the steamship Carpathia, showing the lifeboats with the rescued passengers of the Titanic. (Photo by National Maritime Museum | London):

There were 2,229 people on board the Titanic, and the total capacity of the lifeboats was only 1,178 people. The reason was that, according to the rules then in force, the total capacity of lifeboats depended on the tonnage of the vessel, and not on the number of passengers and crew members. And without a boat, only in a life jacket, it was almost impossible to survive: the temperature of the outboard water was only 0.56 degrees Celsius.

In the photo: the boat picks up a passenger in a life jacket from the water. (Photo by Paul Treacy | EPA | PA):

Survivors disembark from the rescue ship Carpathia, New York, April 17, 1912. (Photo by American Press Association):

Greeting survivors from the Titanic, New York. (Photo by The New York Times Photo Archives | Times Wide World):

In the photo: the family that was on board the Titanic. The daughter and mother survived, the father died. (AP Photo):

New York, April 14, 1912. People on the streets are waiting for news about the fate of the passengers of the sunken Titanic. (AP Photo):

Hanging out on the street in New York latest news about the number of survivors and deaths. (Photo by The New York Times Photo Archives):

The very first articles from the Ogonyok magazine published in April 1912. So in Russia they learned the details at a time when there was no Internet, television and even radio. It is worth noting that when the Titanic sank, in Russia it was the morning of April 2 according to the Julian calendar, and in Europe and America it was the night from 14 to 15 according to the Gregorian calendar:

Postcard with the Titanic, 1912. (Photo by New York Times Archives):

The rarest exhibit ticket on the first and last voyage of the Titanic. (A photo):

The wreck of the Titanic was discovered on September 1, 1985.. This was done by former US Navy Commander and Professor of Oceanology Robert Duane Ballard. Initially, he planned to keep the coordinates of the ship's location secret so that no one could desecrate this place, which he considered a cemetery.

On the first dive, Ballard's team confirmed the fact that the Titanic broke in two during the dive.

Pictured: The Titanic at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean at a depth of 3,750 meters. 1999 (Photo by P.P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology):

Among all maritime disasters that occurred in peacetime, Titanic ranks third in terms of the number of victims- 1,517 people.

Sad 1st place belongs to the Philippine ferry "Dona Paz", which collided in 1987 with an oil tanker. More than 4,000 people died in the collision and subsequent fire.

2nd place belongs to the wooden paddle steamer Sultansha, which sank on April 27, 1865 on the Mississippi River due to a steam boiler explosion and fire. More than 1,700 people died.



The starboard side of the Titanic, August 28, 2010. (Photo by Premier Exhibitions, Inc. | Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution):

(Photo by Institute for Archaeological Oceanography & Institute for Exploration/University of Rhode Island Grad. School of Oceanography):

One of the propellers of the ship, lying at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. (Photo by Ralph White | AP):

The 17-ton part of the Titanic's hull is lifted to the surface, 1998. (Photo by RMS Titanic, Inc. via Associated Press):

The same 17-ton part from the Titanic, July 22, 2009. (Photo by RMS Titanic, Inc., via Associated Press):

Scattered across the seabed were large quantities various items, among which were parts of the vessel, interior items and personal belongings of passengers. At an auction in April 2012, timed to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, 5,000 items were sold in a single lot.

Gold-plated pocket watch salvaged from the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. (Photo by Kirsty Wigglesworth Associated Press):

Money. (Photo by Stanley Leary | Associated Press):

Photographs from the collection of Lillian Asplund (right), survivor of the sinking of the Titanic. Then she was 5 years old. (Photo by Kirsty Wigglesworth | Associated Press):

Binoculars, comb, dishes and a cracked lamp. (Photo by Michel Boutefeu | Getty Images, Chester Higgins Jr. | The New York Times):

Glasses. (Photo by Bebeto Matthews | Associated Press):

Chronometer from the captain's bridge. (Photo by Alastair Grant | AP):

(Photo by Chang W. Lee | The New York Times):

Spoons. (Photo by Douglas Healey | Associated Press):

Gilded handbag. (Photo by Mario Tama | Getty Images):

More photos of the Titanic. The bow and stern parts of the vessel were found on the ocean floor 650 meters apart. (Photo by COPYRIGHT© 2012 RMS TITANIC, INC; Produced by AIVL, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution):

This is the first Full image of the sunken Titanic, compiled from 1,500 individual high-resolution images obtained using sonar - a means of sound detection of underwater objects using acoustic radiation. View from above. (Photo by COPYRIGHT© 2012 RMS TITANIC, INC; Produced by AIVL, WHOI). (Clickable, 2400×656 px):

Starboard. When diving into the ocean, the Titanic first hit the bottom of the bow. (Photo by COPYRIGHT© 2012 RMS TITANIC, INC; Produced by AIVL, WHOI). (Clickable, 2400×668 px):

Broken stern. Side view. In addition, the best steel of the time, from which the Titanic was made, became brittle at low temperatures. (Photo by COPYRIGHT© 2012 RMS TITANIC, INC; Produced by AIVL, WHOI). (Clickable, 2400×824 px):

Broken stern. View from above. (Photo by COPYRIGHT© 2012 RMS TITANIC, INC; Produced by AIVL, WHOI):

(Photo by COPYRIGHT© 2012 RMS TITANIC, INC; Produced by AIVL, WHOI). (Clickable, 2400×1516 px):

Two engines of the Titanic - the largest passenger liner in the world at the time of construction, which was considered unsinkable. (Clickable, 2400×1692 px):

An interesting fact: the last of the surviving passengers of the Titanic, Millvina Dean, who at the time of the crash of the liner was 2.5 months old, died on May 31, 2009 at the age of 97 years.

You have already read and heard about the Titanic many times. The history of the creation and crash of the liner is overgrown with rumors and myths. For more than 100 years, the British steamship has been haunting the minds of people trying to find the answer - why did the Titanic sink?

The history of the legendary liner is interesting for three reasons:

  • it was the largest ship for 1912;
  • the number of victims turned the catastrophe into a global failure;
  • finally, James Cameron, with his film, singled out the history of the liner from general list maritime disasters, and there were quite a few of them.

We will tell you everything about the Titanic, as it was in reality. About how long the Titanic is in meters, how much the Titanic sank, and who was really behind the massive disaster.

Where did the Titanic sail from and to?

We know from Cameron's film that the liner was bound for New York. The American up-and-coming city was to be the final stop. But far from everyone knows for sure where the Titanic sailed from, considering that London was the starting point. The capital of Great Britain was not in the ranks of seaports, and therefore the steamer could not leave from there.

The fateful flight began from Southampton, a major English port, from where transatlantic flights ran. The path of the Titanic on the map clearly shows the movement. Southampton is both a port and a city located in the southern part of England (Hampshire).

See how the route of the Titanic ran on the map:

Dimensions of the Titanic in meters

To understand more about the Titanic, the causes of the disaster must be disclosed, starting with the dimensions of the ship.

How many meters is the Titanic in length and in other dimensions:

exact length - 299.1 m;

width - 28.19 m;

height from the keel - 53.3 m.

There is also such a question - how many decks did the Titanic have? Only 8. Boats were located on the top, therefore the upper deck was called the boat deck. The rest were distributed according to the letter designation.

A - deck I class. Its peculiarity is limited in size - it did not lie down the entire length of the vessel;

B - anchors were located in the front of the deck and its dimensions were also shorter - by 37 meters of deck C;

C - deck with a galley, a mess for the crew and a promenade for class III.

D - walking area;

E - cabins I, II classes;

F - cabins II and III classes;

G - deck with boiler rooms in the middle.

Finally, how much does the Titanic weigh? The displacement of the largest ship of the early 20th century is 52,310 tons.

Titanic: the story of the crash

What year did the Titanic sink? The famous disaster occurred on the night of April 14, 1912. It was the fifth day of the trip. Chronicles indicate that at 23:40 the liner survived a collision with an iceberg and after 2 hours 40 minutes (2:20 a.m.) it went under water.


Things from the Titanic: photo

Further investigations showed that the crew received 7 weather warnings, but this did not prevent the ship from reducing its speed limit. The iceberg was sighted directly ahead of us too late to take precautions. As a result - holes in the starboard side. Ice damaged 90 m of hull and 5 bow compartments. This was enough to sink the liner.

Tickets for the new liner were more expensive than for other ships. If a person was used to traveling in first class, then on the Titanic he would have to transfer to second class.

Edward Smith, the captain of the ship, began the evacuation after midnight: a distress call was sent, the attention of other ships was attracted by flares, lifeboats went to the water. But the rescue was slow and uncoordinated - there was an empty place in the boats while the Titanic was sinking, the water temperature did not rise above two degrees below zero, and the first steamer arrived in time only half an hour after the disaster.

Titanic: how many people died and survived

How many people survived on the Titanic? No one will say the exact data, as they could not say this on the fateful night. The list of Titanic passengers initially changed in practice, but not on paper: some canceled the trip at the time of departure and were not crossed out, others traveled anonymously under assumed names, and others were listed as dead on the Titanic several times.

Photos of the sinking of the Titanic

It is only approximately possible to say how many people drowned on the Titanic - about 1500 (minimum 1490 - maximum 1635). Among them was Edward Smith with some assistants, 8 musicians from the famous orchestra, large investors and businessmen.

Classiness was felt even after death - the bodies of the dead from the first class were embalmed and placed in coffins, the second and third classes were given bags and boxes. When the embalming agents ran out, the bodies of unknown third-class passengers were simply thrown into the water (according to the rules, unembalmed corpses could not be brought to the port).

The bodies were found within a radius of 80 km from the crash site, and due to the current of the Gulf Stream, many were dispersed even further.


Photos of dead people

Initially, it was known how many passengers were on the Titanic, although not completely:

crew of 900 people;

195 first class;

255 second class;

493 people of the third class.

Some passengers left at intermediate ports, some called. It is believed that the liner went to the fatal route with a staff of 1317 people, of which 124 are children.

Titanic: scuttling depth - 3750 m

The English steamer could accommodate 2,566 people, of which 1,034 seats were for first-class passengers. The half-load of the liner is due to the fact that transatlantic flights were not popular in April. At that time, a coal strike broke out, this disrupted coal supplies, schedules and changes in plans.

The question of how many people escaped from the Titanic was difficult to answer because the rescue operations took place from different ships, and the slow connection did not provide fast data.

After the crash, only 2/3 of the delivered bodies were identified. Some were buried locally, the rest were sent home. In the disaster area, bodies in white vests were found for a long time. From 1500 dead people found only 333 bodies.

How deep is the Titanic

When answering the question about the depth at which the Titanic sank, one must remember about the pieces carried by the currents (by the way, they learned about this only in the 80s, before that it was believed that the liner sank to the bottom entirely). The wreckage of the liner on the night of the crash went at a depth of 3750 m. The bow was thrown 600 m from the stern.

The place where the Titanic sank, on the map:


In which ocean did the Titanic sink? - in the Atlantic.

Titanic lifted from the bottom of the ocean

They wanted to raise the ship from the moment of the crash. Initiative plans were put forward by relatives of the dead from the first class. But 1912 did not yet know necessary technologies. The war, lack of knowledge and funds delayed the search for the sunken ship for a hundred years. Since 1985, 17 expeditions have been carried out, during which 5,000 items and large plating have been raised to the surface, but the ship itself has remained at the bottom of the ocean.


What does the Titanic look like now?

In the time since the crash, the ship has become covered in marine life. Rust, painstaking work of invertebrates and natural decomposition processes have changed the structures beyond recognition. By this time, the bodies had already completely decomposed, and by the 22nd century, only anchors and boilers, the most massive metal structures, would remain from the Titanic.

Even now the interiors of the decks have been destroyed, the cabins and halls have collapsed.

Titanic, Britannic and Olympic

All three ships were manufactured by the Harland and Wolf shipbuilding company. Before the Titanic, the Olympic saw the world. It is easy to see a fatal predisposition in the fate of the three ships. The first liner was wrecked as a result of a collision with a cruiser. Not such a large-scale disaster, but still an impressive failure.

Then the story of the Titanic, which received a wide response in the world, and, finally, the Gigantic. They tried to make this ship especially durable, given the mistakes of previous liners. He was even launched into the water, but the First World War disrupted the plans. The giant became a hospital ship called the Britannic.


He then just managed to carry out 5 quiet flights, and on the sixth there was a disaster. Having been blown up by a German mine, the Britannic rapidly sank. The mistakes of the past and the preparedness of the captain made it possible to save the maximum number of people - 1036 out of 1066.

Is it possible to talk about evil fate, remembering the Titanic? The history of the creation and crash of the liner were studied in detail, the facts were revealed, even through time. And yet the truth is only now being revealed. The reason the Titanic is attracting attention is to hide its true motive - to create a currency system and destroy opponents.

The unsinkable Titanic, the pride and curse of the White Star Line.

This week humanity is celebrating the anniversary of famous ship in the world: exactly 100 years ago, on May 31, 1911, the passenger liner of the Olympic class was launched, which was beautifully and powerfully called the Titanic.

Millvina Dean (1912-2009) is the youngest passenger on the Titanic who miraculously escaped death. Millvina was two months and 27 days old at the time of the crash.

According to another (fortunately comic) theory, the Titanic sank from a collision with the Japanese lizard Godzilla.

Everyone knows that on April 15, 1912, in less than twelve months, the brainchild of the White Star Line sank in the waters of the Atlantic after colliding with an iceberg. Some people, however, think that real reasons catastrophes still remain in the shadows. In other words, for a whole century we have been fooled and deceived, but in fact “it was not like that, it was not like that at all.”

"Titanic" and "Olympic": changed!

In 1998, a book by a well-known expert on the unknown, Robin Gardiner, “Titanic”: the ship that did not sink? The absurd death of the ship and the mass of coincidences that led to the disaster forced Gardiner to look for a conspiracy in what had happened. And such a plot was discovered, or rather, reconstructed in Gardiner's brain: it turns out that it was not the Titanic that sank in the Atlantic Ocean, but the Olympic, skillfully disguised as it, the first ocean liner of the eponymous series.

In September 1911, while the Titanic was still under construction, the already launched Olympic collided near Southampton with the Royal Navy cruiser Hawke. The Olympic team was found guilty of the collision, which means that the White Star Line could not receive insurance. The company faced a huge financial gap. It was then that it was decided to go for a monstrous forgery: renaming the ships, passing off the damaged Olympic as the Titanic, sinking it and getting insurance. According to Gardiner, after the death of the pseudo-Titanic, the real Titanic continued to plow the seas under the name of Olympic until 1935, when it was finally sent to retire.

But what about the iceberg? Forget: there was no iceberg! There was a black-painted ship with its lights out, waiting for the Titanic at a predetermined spot, and in the darkness mistook the passengers for an iceberg. Of course, there were officers on board the Titanic who carried out a sinister plan. The owners of the White Star Line miscalculated in only one thing: their "unsinkable" ship sank too quickly to save all or almost all of the passengers (there would be enough lifeboats for everyone, because if the liner was sinking slowly, each boat would have time to make several raids).

Immediately upon the release of the book, specialists in the history of the Titanic did not leave stone unturned from Gardiner's theory, which does not prevent it from existing to this day. The hour is uneven, someone will remember the third ship, the Britannic: during the First World War it was converted into a floating hospital, in November 1916 it hit a mine and sank, taking the lives of thirty people with it.

"Titanic" and "Titan": a prophecy

Immediately after the death of the Titanic, the editors of several publishing houses recalled the story of the marine painter Morgan Robertson's story "Futility, or the Wreck of the Titan", created 14 years before the ill-fated voyage. According to its plot, the world's largest ocean liner "Titan" makes a voyage across the North Atlantic and dies on a windless April night when it collides with an iceberg, and most of the passengers drown because the ship does not have the proper number of boats. Main character, a degraded Navy officer, is hired on the Titan as a sailor, saves his young daughter from death ex-lover and in the end he finds everything that he once lost.

According to the characteristics of the "Titan" Robertson differed slightly from the "Titanic": the length of the hull - 20 meters less, maximum speed- four knots more, passengers - 2500 (on the Titanic - 2207), lifeboats - 24 (on the Titanic - 20). The iceberg, and the Atlantic Ocean region, and a quiet night in April coincided. True, only 13 people escaped the Titanic, while 705 passengers survived the death of the Titanic. In addition, the Titan did not sail from England to the United States, but in the opposite direction.

In 1898, when Morgan Robertson wrote Futility, no publisher dared to publish his manuscript on the grounds that it was too fantastical. The story was published in 1914 in the same collection with a story describing a future naval war between Japan and the United States, which begins with a Japanese surprise attack on American ships near the Philippines and Hawaii. In reality, kamikaze attacked the American fleet in Pearl Harbor on Oahu, an island in the Hawaiian archipelago.

How the author of "Futility" himself reacted to the death of the "Titanic" is unknown. On March 24, 1915, Robertson died at the age of 53 at the Alamak Hotel in Atlantic City. The fault was, perhaps, an overdose of mercury iodide, which was considered a medicine in those days, and was later banned from sale.

Interestingly, the matter is not limited to Robertson's story: when the Titanic sank, the next issue of the American Popular Magazine was already sent to print with Main Clue Garnett's story "The White Ghost of Catastrophe" - again about the tragic collision of an ocean liner with an iceberg in the Atlantic. ocean.

Titanic, Pope and Mummy

Immediately after the disaster, numerous legends arose about the curse that lay on the ship. The press immediately connected the death of the Titanic with the fact that the bosses of the White Star Line company deliberately refused to baptize their ships. They also said that when the liner was launched into the water, the traditional bottle of champagne was not broken on the side of the ship.

In Belfast, where the Titanic was built, a strange belief arose: that the ship was assigned the number 390904, which, if you look at it in the mirror, resembles the word “NOPOPE”, that is, the call “No Pope” common among Irish Protestants - “ No to the Pope." It was believed that in this way the owners of the Harland and Wolff shipyard, which built the ship, decided to demonstrate their anti-Catholic sentiments. This shipyard was famous for hiring mostly Protestants - either because Messrs. Harland and Wolf really despised catholic church, or due to the fact that the shipyard was located in the eastern part of Belfast, where there were one or two Catholics and counted. Be that as it may, in fact, the number of the Titanic was not 390904, but 401.

There are also legends associated with the most famous (after Leonard DiCaprio) passenger of the Titanic - the British journalist and writer William Thomas Stead who died in the disaster. Stead spent his life vehemently castigating the vices of Victorian society, including child prostitution, and as a journalist earned himself a scandalous reputation. Among other things, he published the story "From the Old World to the New" (1892), in which he described (presciently?) the death of a certain ship from a collision with an iceberg.

However, in connection with the Titanic, Stead is most often referred to in the context, paradoxically, of the "curse of the mummy." According to legend, shortly before the disaster, the journalist purchased a cursed mummy from the British Museum. Egyptian pharaoh. Hiding the mummy under the bottom of the car, Stead secretly delivered it to the Titanic and allegedly told other passengers about it the night before the ship met its icy fate.

Of course, the British Museum did not sell any mummy to Stead. Another thing is that no one can forbid people to believe in the curse of the Titanic. How else to come to terms with the catastrophe, if you do not explain it by the intervention of otherworldly forces?

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