RMS Titanic Remembrance

On April 15, 192, the RMS Titanic, the grandest ship of it's time, known as unsinkable, came to rest on the on the Atlantic ocean floor after hitting an iceberg two hours earlier. Warnings had been delivered to the Titanic about ice but they did not listen. After hitting the iceberg, five of its water tight rooms filled when only four rooms could be filled without the ship loosing its equilibrium. Women and children passengers were placed in the lifeboats first but it was known right away their would be enough. There were twenty boats total which could have gotten off over 1,500 people out of the 2,200 passengers and crew aboard. But the boats were not filled to capacity for it was believed another ship was coming to help them. Help was tried to be raised on the telegraph but no one heard, the telegrapher on the closest ship had gone to bed. Only a little over 700 people survived and were rescued in the morning by the Carpathia (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2012).

Today is the 100^th year anniversary of this disaster. Let us remember the brave men who gave up lives to in order to give women and children a place in the lifeboats and the women who stayed behind with the ones the loved as well as the souls who got off and told their stories. Let's also remember some of the good that followed this. In 1913 the first ever International Conference for Safety of Life at Sea was held and new rules, such as enough lifeboats for each person, a twenty-four hour radio watch be held, and lifeboat drills are done on each voyage. An international Ice Patrol was also launched to warn ships and brake the ice (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2012). Let us remember these things today and honor the memory of the men, women, and crew who lost their lives on board the RMS Titanic and those who survived.

Works Cited

Encyclopaedia Britannica. “The Story of the Titanic: The Titanic.” Titanic: The Unsinkable Ship. Last modified in 2012. http://www.britannica.com/titanic/article-9072642