The History of the R.M.S. Titanic

Departure

Southampton

Arriving in Southampton on April 3, 1912, just before midnight, the Titanic had to take coal aboard. This was impeded by the fact that a coal miner's strike which had lasted for six weeks had ended just four days before the departure. Therefore, the Titanic took 1,800 tons of coal with her when sailing from Belfast. At Southampton, she picked up more coal which had been brought along by the Olympic on her last voyage. Further supplies were taken from other White Star or IMM-owned vessels whose passages were cancelled due to the strike.
The captain of the Titanic should be Edward John Smith, the sixty-year-old commodore of the White Star Line, who has already steered several White Star vessels on their maiden voyages during the past years. This trip was thought to be the fitting cap to a long and distinguished career of the old seaman before retiring. He went to sea for the first time in 1869 as an apprentice aboard a clipper ship and worked his way up the ladder. He joined the White Star Line in 1880, and was appointed captain of a White Star vessel in 1887. During his 40 years at sea, only one major accident happened to vessels under his command. What is more, Captain Smith was the great favourite among the upper classes and was hence called "the Millionaire's Captain." This made him the ideal candidate for the Titanic's captain on her maiden voyage.

During the stay in Southampton, the senior officers were changed: Henry T. Wilde was transferred from the Olympic, becoming Chief Officer. William M. Murdoch hence moved from Chief to First Officer and Charles H. Lightoller became Second Officer. The former Second Officer, David Blair, left the ship, whereas the junior officers remained unaltered: Herbert J. Pitman (Third), Joseph G. Boxhall (Fourth), Herald G. Lowe (Fifth) and James P. Moody (Sixth).
At 9.30 a.m. on April 10, 1912, most of the third and second-class passengers arrived with the boat train which had left London two hours before, and boarded the ship. One and a half hours later, the majority of the first-class passengers arrived with their boat train.
During the last hour before departure, a final check was carried out by a Board of Trade inspector who did not notice a fire in Number 10 bunker on the starboard side of Boiler Room 6 despite his thorough investigation. Although a bunker fire sounds dangerous, they were common in these days and did not worry the officers. Nevertheless, the fire could have hastened the end of the ship by damaging the adjacent watertight bulkhead. The fire was finally extinguished the day before the disaster. At noon, three loud blasts of the ship's whistles could be heard, the gangway was withdrawn, the mooring lines holding the ship to the pier were dropped, and the Titanic was pulled away by several tugs from the berth, proceeding down the River Test.

The New York Incident

Finally, the tugs dropped the lines and the Titanic headed down the narrow channel under her own steam. Due to the coal miner's strike, more vessels than usual were moored in the port of Southampton, among them the Oceanic and the New York which were moored side by side. The Titanic passed by, and suddenly the ropes holding the New York snapped due to the suction created by the huge vessel. The stern of the New York drifted towards the Titanic, and a collision seemed to be certain. The New York was finally caught by the tug Vulcan, and the Titanic's port propeller gave a sudden surge to create a wash to prevent a collision. So the New York missed the Titanic by only a few feet.
This incident delayed the Titanic's maiden voyage for one hour, and was seen by many as a bad omen.

Cherbourg

After a journey of just 80 miles, which took her over four hours, the Titanic arrived at Cherbourg at dusk and dropped anchor at about 6.30 p.m. Two tenders ferried the passengers and mail waiting at the shore to the Titanic, for there was no dock large enough in Cherbourg to accommodate the large vessel. After the disembarkation of some twenty passengers, who had used the Titanic just as a ferry ship across the Channel, the vessel raised anchor at about 8.00 p.m., and steamed away.

Queenstown

To test manoeuvrability, Captain Smith took the Titanic through some additional practice turns en route to Queenstown (now Cobh) where she arrived just before noon on Thursday, April 11. She anchored two miles offshore, taking aboard mainly third-class passengers ferried out by tenders. Along with the tenders, some boats with merchants, who offered goods such as Irish linen, lace and souvenirs to the passengers, arrived. At Queenstown, seven passengers disembarked. One stoker managed to leave the ship, too. Evidently, he had used the Titanic to get a free ride home. At the same time, another incident happened: A stoker climbed up the ladder inside the fourth funnel, the dummy one used for ventilation only, to throw a last glance at land. Seeing his blackened, soot-covered face, some passengers claimed again that this was a "portent of doom."

At 1.30 p.m., the Titanic raised anchor for the last time and started to steam along the Irish coast. At dusk, the Irish mountains came out of sight. At that time, a piper in third class played "Erin's Lament", a sentimental air, to say good-bye to Ireland. For more than two thirds of the people aboard the ship, this was the last glimpse of land for their whole life.

At Sea

The next three days, the Titanic steamed across the Atlantic Ocean using the more southerly of the two courses which was used by all vessels at that time of the year in order to stay clear of ice. Unfortunately, the winter had been exceptionally mild causing large ice flows to drift towards the shipping lanes.
During the whole trip, the weather was splendid and the sea very calm. From noon on April 11 to noon on April 12, 386 miles were covered, during the next 24 hours 519 miles and finally from noon Saturday to noon Sunday 546 miles. Despite several rumours which spread after the disaster, the Titanic did make no attempt to make a record crossing to get the Blue Ribbon. Nevertheless, it was tried to beat the Olympic and to get into New York on Tuesday night instead of Wednesday morning.
The exact number of people aboard the Titanic can not be established, for there are a lot of various accounts which differ all a little bit. In round figures, it is accepted that there were more than 1300 passengers (of whom about 330 were first-class passengers, 270 second-class passengers and more than 700 steerage passengers) and about 900 crew on board.

Among the (first-class) passengers were a lot of well-known dignitaries:

• Bruce Ismay, the chairman of the White Star Line, was accompanying the ship on its maiden voyage in order to be able to find out any necessary changes.
• Thomas Andrews, the nephew of the managing director of Harland and Wolff, had overseen the construction of the Titanic from the keel up. Now, he was supposed to monitor the effectiveness and to plan any modifications that might be necessary.
• The millionaire John Jacob Astor was returning with his young pregnant wife Madeleine after their honeymoon trip in Europe.
• Mr. and Mrs. Isidor Straus (he was cofounder of Macy's department store)
• Benjamin Guggenheim with his mistress, Mme. Aubert
• The Countess of Rothes
• Sir Cosmo Duff Gordon (a British peer) and his wife Lucille (a famous dress designer)
• Mrs. Margaret ("Molly") Brown
• Charles Hays (president of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railroad)
• John B. Thayer (second vice president of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company) with his family
• Major Archibald Butt (chief aide to the President of the United States, William H. Taft)
• Colonel Archibald Gracie (historian)
• William T. Stead (editor of the "Review of Reviews")
• Jacques Futrelle (french writer)

The list of dignitaries could have been even longer, if some of them had not cancelled their passage in the last moment, for instance John Pierpont Morgan, the owner of the IMM.

Sunday, April 14

At 10.30 a.m., a Church of England service was conducted, presided over by Captain Smith. Usually, the service would be followed by a boat drill where all hands would assemble in life jackets at their boat stations. On the Titanic, however, the Captain omitted to call a boat drill.

During the whole day, at least seven ice warnings were received by wireless, although some of them might not have been delivered to the bridge. If all warnings had been acknowledged, they would have indicated a huge field of ice some 78 miles long, lying directly ahead of the Titanic. Despite the ice warnings, the course of the Titanic was just shifted south some ten miles.

Within three hours, the water temperature had dropped from 43 degrees Fahrenheit to 31 degrees at ten o'clock that evening, which could mean that the vessel was approaching some icebergs or even field ice.

In the meantime, the passengers enjoyed themselves, not beware of the danger ahead: In third class, an informal party was held where music was provided by some passengers, in second class a hymn-sing (led by Rev. Carter) took place, and in first class the passengers enjoyed dinner or took advantage of the many other facilities the Titanic could offer. In the à la Carte restaurant, a party was organised by a millionaire family. It was also visited by Captain Smith who retired just before nine o'clock. Then, he went to the bridge where he talked with Second Officer Lightoller about the unusual calm weather and the difficulties of spotting icebergs in such conditions. At around 9.20 p.m., Captain Smith retired to his cabin, ordering to let him know if "it becomes at all doubtful." At 10.00 p.m., when Lightoller turned over the watch to First Officer Murdoch, the two officers commented again on the weather and on the possibility of encountering ice.

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