Titanic

Titanic, the 46,328-ton ocean liner owned by the British White Star Line which sank on her maiden voyage in April 1912 after hitting an iceberg. Built to safety flotation standards higher than required by regulations, and with sixteen watertight compartments, she was regarded as being virtually unsinkable. The largest ship in the world when she was built, she sailed from Southampton for New York on 10 April 1912. On 14 April, as she was approaching the Grand Banks, she received four warnings of ice ahead from other ships, but the last message, describing a field right across her track, never reached the captain.

As usual in clear weather, she was steaming at her service speed of 22 knots. There are rumours, but no evidence, that she was out to break records; in fact she had insufficient coal aboard to try. At 2340 the crow's nest lookout reported an iceberg close ahead and the first officer immediately ordered a full turn to port. The bows missed the iceberg, but an underwater spur of ice ripped an intermittent gash down the ship's starboard side extending 91 metres (300 ft) and puncturing six forward watertight compartments. She could not survive this damage, but the passengers were not told for fear of panic. Board of Trade regulations for lifeboats had not kept pace with the increased size of ships, and while there were 1,316 passengers and 885 crew aboard, the lifeboats could only hold 1,178. However, the boats were lowered only partly filled with passengers who refused at first to believe the ship would or could sink.

SOS wireless signals were sent, and rockets were fired when a light appeared on the horizon at about 0100 on 15 April. But the light moved away and the nearest ship to receive the SOS, the Cunard liner Carpathia, could not reach the scene before 0400. The Titanic, after settling slowly by the bows, sank at 0220 leaving 824 passengers and 673 crew members to die in the icy water. Only 25% of the third, or emigrant, class survived and all the engineer officers who were working below until the last moments were lost. Two inquiries into the disaster found a scapegoat in the captain of the steamer Californian. Both stated that the Californian was the source of the light seen on the horizon from the Titanic, though the evidence is quite clear that the light could not have come from this ship. Captain Smith of the Titanic was not blamed as it was not normal practice for liners to reduce speed in clear weather. There is no reason to question this finding: it is likely that the iceberg had recently overturned and was showing a dark side; there was no wind or swell to create ripples around it. The disaster led to the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea and an ice patrol which continues to this day.

In 1985 the remains of the Titanic were found by a joint expedition from two oceanographic institutes, Woods Hole, led by Dr Robert Ballard, and the Institut Français de Recherches pour l'Exploitation de la Mer (IFREMER), led by Jean-Louis Michel. Later expeditions brought to the surface a large number of artefacts which are now on permanent expedition at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich. Legal wrangles about who was allowed to salvage what, and under what conditions, were ongoing in 2004 and there have been calls for the ship's remains to be protected.