Could a titanic not drown. Titanic

What happened on April 14, 1912 at 23 hours 40 minutes in the North Atlantic remains a mystery to many. That night, the world's largest passenger liner, the Titanic, collided with an iceberg, and as a result it sank. However, this version has often been called into question. They even say that the ship sank not at all due to a collision with an iceberg ...

Undisclosed Secrets of the Titanic

Rumors of a fatal liner. According to one myth, shortly before the completion of construction, shipbuilders repeatedly heard strange taps in that part of the Titanic, where the second bottom was located. There is an opinion that, since the construction of the vessel was carried out very quickly, one or several builders remained walled up in its hull. This supposedly explains the strange tapping: people tried to break out of the trap they fell into.

It is also widely believed that the anti-Christian code was incorporated into the Titanic. The serial number of the ship's hull is 3909 04. If you believe the myth, some ship builders who were negatively related to the Catholic Church put a secret message in the six-digit number. If you write this number by hand on paper and look in the mirror, then the words "No Pope" will be reflected there (in the translation - "No Pope"). Irish Protestants believed that these words mean "No to the Pope," so divine retribution did not take long, and the liner sank in the first voyage.

According to rumors, modern ships still catch the SOS signal from the Titanic. Moreover, this happens every few years with a certain periodicity. The matter is not limited to receiving radio signals from a long-sunken ship. According to some accounts, decades after the tragedy, ships sailing past the Titanic flooded area periodically caught ... escaped passengers!

So, a middle-aged woman dressed in fashion of the beginning of the 20th century was allegedly caught from the deep sea. She claimed that now it was 1912 and she miraculously managed to survive. After the woman was taken ashore and decided to establish her identity, it turned out that the name with which she introduced herself coincided with the real name of one of the Titanic passengers. However, as one would expect, the further fate of this woman is unknown.

This is not the only case of this kind. Members of the crew of various courts claimed that they managed to pick up a ten-month-old baby in the ocean who was in a life buoy with the inscription “Titanic” and an elderly man who was dressed in the captain uniform of the White Star Line company. The man claimed that he was none other than the captain of the Titanic Smith.

Conspiracy theory

Because of the similarities between the Titanic and another White Star Line ship, Olympic soon after the crash appeared conspiracy theory, according to which a second ship was actually sent to a tragic flight. The basis of this theory is the assumption of possible fraud in order to receive an insurance payment that could cover all the losses of the company White Star Line. According to supporters of the theory, the stern sheets with the name of the vessel, as well as all household items and the interior with the name of the vessel were replaced, as a result, no one could suspect the substitution.

In 1911, when leaving for the 11th flight, the Olympic collided with the English cruiser Hawk. Olympic received only minor injuries, and they were not enough to pay insurance. It was necessary for the ship to receive even greater damage. Therefore, the ship was exposed to the deliberate risk of collision with an iceberg - the company was sure that, even after receiving serious damage, the ship would not sink.

They have repeatedly tried to refute this theory. For example, it was testified against by the fact that many passengers of the Titanic had sailed on the Olympic before and could determine which ship they were actually sailing on. But finally, the conspiracy theory was debunked only after details were lifted from the steamer, on which number 401 (the building number of the Titanic) was knocked out, and the construction number of the Olympic was 400.

Other crash versions

According to the official version, the Titanic sank not so much because it collided with an iceberg, but how much the ship was going with. But not everyone agrees with this.

For a long time there is a version that even before sailing in the coal compartment of the ship, a fire broke out, which provoked an explosion, and then a collision with an iceberg. An expert who has been studying the history of the Titanic for over 20 years, Ray Boston, has put forward new evidence for this theory. According to him, a fire in the sixth hold of the vessel arose on April 2, and it was not possible to put out it. The owner of the vessel, John Pirpont Morgan, decided that the Titanic would quickly get to New York, drop off passengers, and then the fire would be put out. The ship went to sea with a fire on board, and an explosion occurred during the voyage. The high speed of the Titanic at night, when the danger of collision with ice was especially high, can be explained by the fears of Captain Edward John Smith that his ship would fly into the air before arriving in New York. Despite numerous warnings from other ships about ice, Smith did not slow down, as a result of which the Titanic could not slow down when an iceberg was spotted.

There is a version that the Titanic sank not from the damage that the iceberg inflicted on him, but from a torpedo launched by a German submarine, again with the aim of receiving insurance payments. And the submarine commander, who agreed to be a member of the scam, was a relative of one of the owners of the Titanic. But this theory does not have strong arguments in its favor. If the torpedo somehow damaged the Titanic’s hull, this would not have gone unnoticed by both passengers and crew.

It is also known that one of the historians, Lord Canterville transported on the Titanic in a wooden box the perfectly preserved Egyptian mummy of the soothsaying soothsayers. Since the mummy had a fairly high historical and cultural value, it was not placed in the hold, but placed directly near the captain’s bridge. The essence of the theory is that the mummy influenced the mind of Captain Smith, who, despite numerous warnings about the ice in the area where the Titanic sailed, did not slow down and thereby doomed the ship to certain death. In favor of this version, there are well-known cases of mysterious deaths of people who disturbed the peace of ancient burials, in particular - mummified Egyptian rulers.

Particularly noteworthy is the version that appeared after the novel was published by the granddaughter of the second assistant captain "Titanic" C. Laitoller lady Patten "worth its weight in gold." According to the version put forward by Patten in his book, the ship had enough time to dodge the obstacle, but the helmsman Robert Hitchens panicked and turned the helm in the wrong direction. The truth about what really happened that fateful night was kept secret in the family of Lightoller, the oldest surviving Titanic officer and the only survivor who knew exactly what caused the death of the ship. Lightoller hid this information, fearing that White Star Line would go bankrupt. The only person to whom Lightoller told the truth was his wife Sylvia, who conveyed the words of her husband to her granddaughter.

Another version appeared in the writer's circles. At the time of the Titanic, there was a prestigious shipping prize awarded to ocean liners for the record speed at which they crossed the North Atlantic - the Atlantic Blue Ribbon. This prize was awarded to the Kunard company Mauritania vessel, which, incidentally, was the founder of the award as well as the main competitor of the White Star Line company. In defense of this theory, it is suggested that the president of the company that owned the Titanic, Ismay, urged the captain of the Titanic Smith to arrive in New York a day ahead of schedule and receive an honorary prize. This supposedly explains the high speed of the ship in a dangerous area of \u200b\u200bthe Atlantic. But this theory has an elementary refutation. “Titanic” simply could not physically reach the speed of 26 knots, at which “Mauritania” set a record that lasted more than 10 years after the disaster in the Atlantic.

There are several dozen versions of the disaster. We chose the most shocking.

Titanic and the Fed

On board the ship were 57 millionaires. Among them, John Astor, Benjamin Guggenheim, Margaret Molly Brown, the owner of Macy's department store Isidor Strauss and others, most of whom opposed the creation of the US Federal Reserve. All of them died.

In December 1913, the Fed system was finally approved. A year later, the First World War broke out, making a wealth of American bankers.

The Titanic is not the Titanic

In the late 1980s, researchers Robin Gardiner and Dan Van der Wat hypothesized that instead of the Titanic, his Olympic twin brother crashed. Wait Star Line was on the verge of bankruptcy, so replacing one ship with another was economically viable. Olympic was cheaper to sink than to repair.
  This hypothesis turned out to be untenable: during one of their expeditions, the serial number of the Titanic was discovered - 401.

"Titanic" chased the prize

In 1840, the prestigious Blue Ribbon of the Atlantic Prize was established for ships that cross the Atlantic faster than others. This gave rise to some conspiracy theorists claim that Captain Edward Smith wanted to arrive in New York faster to receive the award.

Thus, the captain's ambitions and negligence allowed by him (the liner did not have the ability to maneuver due to high speed) could become the cause of the tragedy. However, this version seems doubtful: the Titanic technically could not reach a speed of 26 knots, at which the last record was set.

"Titanic" killed the fire

British researcher Ray Boston, 20 years studying the circumstances of the tragedy, put forward his version. He believes that the Titanic destroyed the fire. Yes, there really was a fire, but even before the start of the voyage - in the port. No significant damage was found after the fire.

Pictures of the ship blew up the net.

The story of the departure of the largest ship of the early twentieth century to the bottom still excites the minds of the public. And all because the historical facts that remain in the frame of scientific films and research materials become questions that do not find their answers. What caused the underwater, unsinkable, as the whole world believed, "Titanic"? There are a huge number of versions on this score: from a collision with an iceberg to a curse. Many skeptics claimed that no Titanic existed, and that the sunken ship is actually the Olympia steamboat, which was built according to the design of the giant ship.

There is another version, according to which the Titanic did not drown, this is also evidenced by the entries in the logbook of the captain of the Norwegian ship, which refuted the data on the death of the liner. However, according to many researchers, this is rather an alternative vision of the situation. In fact, it looks like this: the Titanic sank and this is a fact.

It is the remains of a giant ship that have been repeatedly studied by eminent scientists, amateur researchers and treasure seekers. After 105 years, the photographs of the Titanic burial were compared with photographs of the ship at the time of its first voyage in 1912. The current state of the ship cannot but excite and upset at the same time. After all, the once majestic giant, the ship on which the richest people in the world dreamed to travel, turned into remains, in which it is difficult to recognize the miracle of technology of the last century.

105 years and 4 kilometers of sea water of the Atlantic Ocean destroyed two parts of the ship, which are located at a distance of 600 meters from each other. Scientists claim that the fragments of the ship, personal belongings of passengers, interior items and household items of the Titanic are scattered within a radius of several hundred meters from the liner itself.

Researchers are still studying the remains of the Titanic: old mirrors, rusty chests and the remains of furniture. Now it’s hard to recognize objects that were of great value. The ship was covered with corrosion and algae, many of its elements turned into ruins, household items are often found in the depths of sea sand. The cabins, where in 1912 there were objects of art, are now bombarded with garbage. They will help to unravel the secrets that went under water with the giant ship.

Many people wonder: why is a ship that sank more than 100 years ago so attracted the attention of the public. Firstly, because the Titanic is located at a depth of 4 kilometers under water. For a long time, it was difficult for scientists to get to the ship to conduct full-fledged research. And time worked against us, all irreversible processes have already hit the ship and began to destroy it. Secondly, secrets that have not yet been solved, become the reason for the filming of new films and writing books that foster interest in the history of the Titanic.

What secrets did time hide under the wreckage of the Titanic? Items that could not be found on the ship, suggest a suspicion that the ship sank for a reason. It is noteworthy that in such a giant miracle of technology, where there was something that could not be found even on land, there was no searchlight-seeker that should illuminate the path of the ship. After all, the device itself is rather big, and at least its parts would remain at the depths of the ocean. In addition, the sailors on duty did not have binoculars. These items were never found among the mountain of the wreckage of the Titanic, and they are not remembered in the logbook. It was in this document that another very strange nuance was noticed: during a collision with an iceberg, the captain gave the command "Medium Forward", which only brought the ship closer to death. This is not logical and contradictory for a person who had experience in commanding sea ships.

Unique paintings that were never found on a sunken ship were supposed to be transported on the Titanic. As it turned out later, they stayed on the shore. Why, what caused the conservation of art from the catastrophic consequences of the accident on the Titanic?

It is interesting that critics claim that the remains of the ship are not parts of the Titanic, but Olympus, which was built a year earlier and just before going to sea it was replaced with an inscription. Why this was done is not known. However, only the remains that remained in the waters of the Atlantic Ocean can shed light on this secret.

It is noteworthy that the owner of the Titanic Pearson Morgan and 50 people from his environment refused to sail on the ship. The millionaire himself argued that he was ill. Although a few days after the tragedy, he was seen in the waters of France completely healthy in the company of his mistress. What frightened him on this journey or what Morgan knew was still a mystery.

From the depths of the ocean recently managed to extract 4 thousand items belonging to the ship. However, none of them was marked "Titanic." Researchers are still wondering how this could be. Perhaps the giant ship really remained in the port and served its owner for many years under the inscription "Olympic". And in the depths of the water are the remains of a completely different ship, which we are all used to calling the Titanic.

It is precisely these questions that the very remains of the legendary Titanic will be able to answer that are already difficult to recognize. Perhaps the latest pictures of the ship will help in this.

“Titanic” (English Titanic) - British transatlantic ship, the second liner of the class “Olympic”. It was built in Belfast at the Harland & Wolf shipyard from 1909 to 1912 by order of the White Star Line shipping company.

At the time of commissioning, it was the largest ship in the world.

On the night of April 14-15, 1912, during the first voyage, it crashed in the North Atlantic, colliding with an iceberg.

Vessel Information

The Titanic was equipped with two four-cylinder steam engines and a 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, exceeding the Olympic twin ship by 243 tons, amounted to 52 310 tons.
• The hull was made of steel.
• The hold and lower decks were divided into 16 compartments by bulkheads with sealed doors.
• When the bottom is damaged, water entering the compartments is prevented by a double bottom.

Shipbuilder magazine called the Titanic virtually unsinkable; this statement has become widespread in the press and among the public.

In accordance with the outdated rules, the Titanic was equipped with 20 lifeboats, with a total capacity of 1,178 people, which amounted to only a third of the maximum load of the ship.

The cabins and public spaces of the Titanic were divided into three classes.

First-class passengers were offered a swimming pool, squash court, A la carte restaurant, two cafes, and a gymnasium. In all classes there were dining and smoking salons, open and closed promenades. The most luxurious and refined were the first-class interiors, made in various art 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 white or sheathed with wooden panels.

1 On April 0, 1912, the Titanic departed from Southampton on its first and only flight. Having made stops in French Cherbourg and Irish Queenstown, the ship sailed into the Atlantic Ocean with 1317 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 at almost maximum speed. To avoid meeting with floating ice, the captain ordered to go a little south of the usual route.

• At 11:39 p.m. on April 14, the forward observer reported to the captain’s bridge about the iceberg right on course. In less than a minute, a collision occurred. Having received several holes, the ship began to sink. The boats were planted primarily by women and children.
• At 2:20 a.m. on April 15, breaking into two parts, the Titanic sank, killing 1,496 people. 712 survivors were picked up by the Karpatia steamboat.

The wreckage of the Titanic rests at a depth of 3750 m. They were first discovered by the expedition of Robert Ballard in 1985. Subsequent expeditions lifted thousands of artifacts from the bottom. The fore and aft parts have gone deep into the bottom silt and are in a deplorable state; raising them to the surface intact is not possible.

The wreck of the ship "Titanic"

The catastrophe claimed the lives, according to various sources, from 1495 to 1635 people. Until December 20, 1987, when the Philippine ferry Doña Pas crashed, killing more than 4,000 people, the death of the Titanic remained the largest disaster at sea in peacetime. Informally, it is the most famous catastrophe of the 20th century.

Alternative versions of the death of the ship

And now there are alternative versions, each of which has its followers in the world club of mystery lovers.

Fire

A fire in the coal compartment, which occurred even before sailing and provoked an explosion, and then a collision with an iceberg. The owners of the vessel knew about the fire and tried to hide it from the passengers. This version was put forward by the British journalist Shenan Moloni, writes The Independent. For more than 30 years, Moloni has been investigating the causes of the collapse of the Titanic.

In particular, he studied photographs taken before the ship left the Belfast shipyard. The journalist saw black marks along the right side of the ship's hull - exactly where the iceberg pierced it. Subsequently, experts confirmed that the traces were probably caused by the ongoing fire in the fuel storage. “We examined exactly the place where the iceberg stuck, and it seems that this part of the hull in this place was very vulnerable, and this happened even before he left the shipyard in Belfast,” says Moloni. A team of 12 people tried to put out the flame, but it was too big to quickly take control of it. It could reach temperatures of up to 1000 degrees Celsius, which made the Titanic’s body very vulnerable in this place. And when he hit the ice, experts say, immediately broke. The publication also added that the leadership of the liner forbade passengers to talk about the fire. “This is a perfect match for unusual factors: fire, ice and criminal negligence. No one has investigated these tags before. This completely changes the story, ”says Moloney.

Conspiracy

Conspiracy Theory: It's Not a Titanic at all! This version was put forward by experts on the study of the causes of the death of the ship Robin Gardiner and Dan Van Der Watt, published in the book "The Riddle of the Titanic." According to this theory, the wreck is not the Titanic, but its twin brother, Olympic. These ships in appearance were practically no different from each other. September 20, 1911 “Olympic” collided with the cruiser of the British fleet “Hawk”, as a result of which both ships were seriously damaged. The owners of Olimpik suffered heavy losses, since the damage that was done to Olimpik was not enough for insurance payments.

The theory is based on the assumption of possible fraud in order to receive insurance payments by the owners of the Titanic. According to this version, the owners of the Titanic intentionally sent Olympic to the area of \u200b\u200bpossible ice formation and at the same time convinced the captain not to slow down so that the ship would be seriously damaged in a collision with an ice block. At first, this version was supported by the fact that quite a large number of objects were lifted from the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, where the Titanic lies, but nothing was found that could bear the name Titanic. This theory was refuted after the details were lifted onto the surface, on which the Titanic’s side (building) number was knocked out - 401. At Olimpik, the side number was 400. In addition, the struck side number of the Titanic was discovered and on the propeller of a sunken ship. And even so, the conspiracy theory still has a number of followers.

German attack

1912 year. Two years remain before the First World War, and the prospect of an armed conflict between Germany and Great Britain is becoming more and more likely. Germany is the owner of several dozen submarines, which during the war launched a ruthless hunt for enemy ships trying to cross the ocean. For example, the reason for America’s entry into the war would be that the U-20 submarine would sink the Lusitania in 1915 - the twin of the same Mauritania that set a speed record and won the Atlantic Blue Ribbon - remember?

Based on these facts, some Western publications proposed in the mid-nineties their version of the death of the Titanic: a torpedo attack by a German submarine secretly escorting the liner. The purpose of the attack was to discredit the British fleet, famous for its power throughout the world. In accordance with this theory, the Titanic either did not collide with the iceberg at all, or received very minor damage in the collision and would stay afloat if the Germans had not finished off the ship with a torpedo.

What speaks in favor of this version? Honestly, nothing.

The collision with the iceberg was - this is beyond doubt. The ship’s deck was even covered with snow and ice crumbs. Cheerful passengers started playing ice-cold football - that the ship is doomed, it will become clear later. The collision itself was surprisingly quiet - almost none of the passengers felt it. The torpedo, you see, was unlikely to explode completely silently (all the more so as some claim that the submarine fired six torpedoes into the ship!).

Supporters of the theory of the German attack argue, however, that people in boats heard a terrible rumble just before the Titanic’s immersion - well, that was two and a half hours later, when only the poop in the sky remained above the water and the death of the ship did not raise any doubts. It is unlikely that the Germans would have fired a torpedo over an almost sunken ship, wouldn't it? And the rumble that the survivors heard was explained by the fact that the Titanic feed rose almost vertically and huge steam boilers fell from their places. Also, do not forget that at about the same minutes the Titanic broke in half - the keel could not bear the weight of the raised stern (though they learn about it only after detecting the liner at the bottom: the break occurred below the water level), and this also hardly happened silently . And why would the Germans, two years before the start of the war, start drowning a passenger liner? This seems to be dubious, to say the least. And to put it bluntly - an absurdity.

Curse

Mystical version: the curse of the pharaohs. It is known for certain that one of the historians, Lord Canterville, transported on the Titanic a perfectly preserved Egyptian mummy of a priestess in a wooden box. Since the mummy had a fairly high historical and cultural value, it was not placed in the hold, but placed directly near the captain’s bridge. The essence of the theory is that the mummy influenced the mind of Captain Smith, who, despite numerous warnings about the ice in the area where the Titanic sailed, did not slow down and thereby doomed the ship to certain death. In favor of this version, there are well-known cases of mysterious deaths of people who disturbed the peace of ancient burials, in particular - mummified Egyptian rulers. Moreover, the deaths were associated precisely with the clouding of the mind, as a result of which people committed inappropriate actions, often there were cases of suicide. Did the Pharaohs have a hand in the death of the Titanic?

Steering error

One of the latest versions of the death of the Titanic deserves special attention. She appeared after the novel by Lady Patten's granddaughter of the second assistant to the captain of the Titanic, C. Patrick Laitoller, was published. According to the version put forward by Patten in his book, the ship had enough time to dodge the obstacle, but the helmsman Robert Hitchens panicked and turned the helm in the wrong direction.

A catastrophic error led to the fact that the iceberg inflicted damage on the ship, which became fatal for him. The truth about what really happened that fateful night was kept a secret in the Lightoller family - the oldest surviving Titanic officer and the only survivor who knew exactly what caused the death of the ship. Lightoller hid this information from fears that the White Star Line company that owned the ship would go bankrupt and his colleagues would lose their jobs. The only person to whom Lightoller told the truth was his wife Sylvia, who conveyed the words of her husband to her granddaughter. In addition, according to Patten, such a large and reliable liner as the Titanic sank so quickly because after a collision with an ice block it was not immediately stopped, and the rate of water entry into the holds increased hundreds of times. The liner was not immediately stopped because the White Star Line manager Bruce Ismay convinced the captain to continue sailing. He feared that the incident could cause considerable material damage to the company he led.

Pursuit of the Atlantic Blue Ribbon

There have been and still are many supporters of this theory, especially among writers, since it appeared in the writer's circles. The Atlantic Blue Ribbon is a prestigious shipping prize awarded to ocean liners for the record speed of crossing the North Atlantic.

In the days of the Titanic, the Mauritania vessel of the Kunard company won this prize, which, incidentally, was the founder of this award, as well as the main competitor of the White Star Line company. In defense of this theory, it is suggested that the president of the company that owned the Titanic, Ismay, urged the captain of the Titanic Smith to arrive in New York a day ahead of schedule and receive an honorary prize. This supposedly explains the high speed of the ship in a dangerous area of \u200b\u200bthe Atlantic. But this theory can easily be refuted, because the Titanic simply could not physically reach the speed of 26 knots, at which the Mauritania of Kunard set a record that, by the way, lasted more than 10 years after the disaster in the Atlantic.

But how was everything really?

It is regrettable, but, studying the history of the most famous sea catastrophe, one has to admit that the Titanic owes its death to a long chain of fatal accidents. If at least one link in the sinister chain had been destroyed, tragedy would have been avoided.

Perhaps the first link was the successful start of the journey - yes, that's right. On the morning of April 10, during the departure of the Titanic from the quay wall of Southampton Port, the super liner went too close to the American ship New York, and a phenomenon known in navigation as the suction of ships appeared: New York began to be attracted to a moving nearby The Titanic. However, thanks to the skill of Captain Edward Smith, the collision was avoided.

Ironically, if an accident happened, it would have saved one and a half thousand lives: if the Titanic had been delayed in the port, the ill-fated meeting with the iceberg would not have happened.

This is the time. It should also be mentioned that the radio operators who received a message from the Mesaba vessel about the ice fields of the icebergs did not transmit it to Edward Smith: the telegram was not marked with a special prefix “personally to the captain” and was lost in a pile of papers. These are two.

Nevertheless, this message was not the only one, and the captain knew about the ice danger. Why didn’t he slow down the ship? The pursuit of the Blue Ribbon, of course, is a matter of honor (and, more importantly, big business), but why did he risk the lives of passengers? Yes, not so risky, in fact. In those years, captains of ocean liners often went through ice-hazardous areas without slowing down: it was like crossing the road to a red light: it’s like you can’t do this, but it always works. Almost always.

To the credit of Captain Smith, it must be said that he remained faithful to maritime traditions and remained on the sinking ship until the very end.

But why wasn’t the iceberg bulk seen? Everything turned out to be one to one: moonless, dark night, calm weather. If there were at least small waves on the surface of the water, those who looked ahead could see white lambs at the foot of the iceberg. Calm and moonless night are two more links of the fateful chain.

As it turned out later, the chain was continued by the fact that the iceberg, shortly before the collision with the Titanic, turned upside down with its underwater, saturated with water, the dark part, due to which it could hardly be seen from afar (an ordinary, white iceberg would be distinguishable per mile ) The sentinel saw it only 450 meters away, and there was almost no time for maneuver. Maybe the iceberg would have been noticed earlier, but the next link in the fateful chain played a role here - there were no binoculars in the crow's nest. The box where they were stored turned out to be locked, and the second assistant to the captain, who was removed from the vessel just before departure, took the key to it in a hurry.

After the forward looking nevertheless saw the danger and reported the iceberg to the captain’s bridge, a little more than half a minute remained before the collision. The officer on duty, Murdoch, on duty, ordered the helmsman to turn left, while at the same time transferring the command “full back” to the engine room. Thus, he made a gross mistake by adding another link in the chain that caused the liner to die: even if the Titanic crashed head-on into the iceberg, the tragedy would be less. If the bow of the ship turned out to be crushed, part of the crew and those passengers whose cabins were located in front would die. But only two watertight compartments would have been flooded. With such damage, the liner would stay afloat and could wait for the help of other ships.

And if Murdoch, turning the ship to the left, ordered to increase, rather than reduce speed, collisions, perhaps, would not have happened at all. However, frankly, the order to change the speed hardly plays a significant role here: in thirty seconds he was hardly able to execute it in the engine room.

So the clash happened. The iceberg damaged the fragile skin of the ship along the six starboard compartments.

Looking ahead, we say that only seven hundred managed to escape: the next link in the chain of failures was that some sailors too literally understood the captain’s order to put women and children in boats, and did not let men go there, even if there were empty seats. However, at first no one was especially eager to sail into boats. Passengers did not understand what was happening, and did not want to leave the huge, comfortably lit, such a reliable liner and it is unclear why they should go down to a icy water in a small unstable boat. However, pretty soon, anyone could already notice that the deck tilted forward more and more, and panic began.

But why was there such a monstrous discrepancy of places on lifeboats? The owners of the Titanic, praising the merits of the new ship, stated that they had even exceeded the instructions of the code: instead of the assigned 962 seats on the ship, there were 1,178. Unfortunately, this number was not attached to the number of passengers on board.

It is especially bitter that, quite close to the dying Titanic, another passenger steamer, California, stood waiting for the ice danger. A few hours ago, he notified neighboring vessels that he was locked in ice and forced to stop, so as not to accidentally run into an ice block. The radio operator from the Titanic, who was nearly stunned by the Morzian from the California (the ships were very close, and the signal of one was too loud in the headphones of the other), impolitely interrupted the warning: “Go to hell, you interfere with my work!” What was the Titanic radio operator so busy with?

The fact is that in those years, radio communication on board was more a luxury than an urgent necessity, and this miracle of technology aroused great interest among a wealthy public. From the very beginning of the flight, the radio operators were literally overwhelmed with messages of a private nature - and no one saw anything reprehensible in that, the Titanic radio operators paid such attention to wealthy passengers who wished to send a telegram to the ground directly from the ship. So at that moment, when colleagues from other vessels reported floating ice, the radio operator transmitted another message to the continent. Radio communication was more like an expensive toy than a serious instrument: the ships of that time did not even have a round-the-clock watch at the radio station.

More than 100 years have passed since the terrible catastrophe of one of the largest airliners of its time. But so far the world does not know all the secrets that the huge, and seemingly indestructible "Titanic" hides. As the ship sank, the material will tell.

The fight of the giants

The twentieth century has become a century of technological progress. Skyscrapers, cars, cinema - everything developed at a supernatural rate. The process affected the ships.

In the early 1900s, there was great competition on the market due to customers between two large companies. Kunard Line and White Star Line, two hostile transatlantic carriers, have been competing for leadership in their field for several years in a row. opened up interesting opportunities for companies, so over the years their ships became larger, faster and more magnificent.

Why and how the Titanic drowned is still a mystery. There are many versions. The most daring of them is a scam. It was held by the aforementioned Star Line company.

But he opened the world of amazing Kunard Line airliners. By their order, two unusual steamships, Mauritania and Lusitania, were built. The audience was struck by their greatness. The length is about 240 m, the width is 25 m, the height from the waterline to the boat deck is 18 m. (But after a few years, the size of the Titanic exceeded these parameters). Two twin giants were launched in 1906 and in 1907. They won first places in prestigious competitions and broke all speed records.

For competitors, Kunard Line was a matter of honor to give a decent answer.

The fate of the three

White Star Line was founded in 1845. In the years of the gold rush, she made money by flying from Britain to Australia. Throughout the years, the company has been competing with Kunard Line. Therefore, after Lusitania and Mauritania were launched, the Star Line engineers were tasked with creating fantastic projects that would surpass the brainchild of competitors. The final decision was made in 1909. So the idea of \u200b\u200bthree ships of the class "Olympic". The order was carried out by Harland & Wolfe.

This maritime organization was famous throughout the world for the quality of its ships, comfort and luxury. Speed \u200b\u200bwas not a priority. Several times, Star Line proved, not in word, but in deed, that it cares about customers. So, in 1909, when two airliners collided, their ship stood on the water for two more days, which proved its quality. However, the three “Olympic” suffered a misfortune. repeatedly had an accident. So, in 1911 it collided with the cruiser Hawk, from which it received a 14-meter hole and went into repair. There was misfortune and the Titanic. At the bottom of the ocean, he was in 1912. "Briton" found the First World War, where he played the role of a hospital, and in 1916 was blown up by a German mine.

Miracle of the seas

Now we can safely say that great ambitions became the reason for the collapse of the Titanic.

The construction of the second of three Olympic-class vessels was not without casualties. 1,500 people worked on the project. The conditions were difficult. Safety was cared for a little. Due to the fact that it was necessary to work at height, many builders were frustrated. About 250 people were seriously injured. The wounds of eight men were incompatible with life.

The size of the Titanic was astounding. Its length was 269 m, width 28 m, height 18 m. It could reach speeds of up to 23 knots.

On the day the liner was launched, 10,000 spectators gathered on the embankment, among whom were VIP guests and the press to see an unusually large ship,

The date of the first flight was previously announced. Swimming was scheduled for March 20, 1912. But due to the collision of the first ship in September 1911 with the cruiser Hawk, some of the workers were transferred to Olympic. The flight was automatically rescheduled for April 10th. It is from this number that the fateful story of the Titanic begins.

Fateful ticket

Its height was equated to an eleven-story building, and the length was four blocks of the city. Phones, elevators, a private electric grid, a garden, a hospital, shops - all this was placed on the ship. Chic rooms, gourmet restaurants, a library, a pool and a gym - everything was accessible to high society, first-class passengers. Other clients lived more modestly. The most expensive tickets, with the conversion to today's rate, cost more than $ 50,000. Economical option from

The history of the Titanic is the story of different layers of the then society. Expensive cabins were occupied by successful, famous personalities. Tickets to the second grade were bought by engineers, journalists, and representatives of the clergy. The cheapest decks were for expats.

Landing began at 9:30 a.m. on April 10 in London. After several planned stops, the liner headed for New York. A total of 2208 people boarded.

Tragic meeting

Immediately after entering the ocean, the team realized that there were no binoculars on the ship. The key to the box in which they were kept was missing. The ship followed the safest route. He was chosen depending on the season. In spring, the water was full of icebergs, but they theoretically could not greatly damage the liner. Nevertheless, the captain gave the order to drive the Titanic in full steam. How the ship sank, which, according to the owners, it was impossible to sink, was later told by passengers who were lucky to survive.

The first days of the voyage were quiet. But already on April 14, radio operators received repeated warnings about icebergs, which were largely ignored. In addition, by night the temperature dropped significantly. As you know, the team did without binoculars, and such a grandiose ship was not equipped with spotlights. Therefore, the forward observer noticed the iceberg only 650 meters from himself. The man gave a signal to the bridge, where the first assistant Murdoch gave the order: “Turn left” and “Reverse”. This was followed by the command: "Right." But the hulking ship was slow in maneuvering. The board collided with an iceberg. That is why the collapse of the Titanic.

Distress alert

The collision happened at 23:40, when people were almost all asleep. On the upper deck, the blow was invisible. But the bottom was pretty shocking. The ice made holes in 5 sections, they instantly began to fill with water. Overall, the hole was 90 meters long. The designer said that with such damage the ship will last a little more than an hour. The crew was preparing for an emergency evacuation. Radio operators transmitted the SOS signal.

The captain gave the order to put women and children in boats. The team itself also wanted to survive, so strong sailors picked up oars. First of all, the wealthy passengers of the Titanic escaped. But there was not enough space for everyone.

From the very beginning, the liner was not sufficiently equipped with everything necessary. A maximum of 1,100 people could be saved. In the first minutes it was completely imperceptible that the ship began to sink, so the relaxed passengers did not understand what was happening, and reluctantly climbed into half-empty boats.

The last moments of the miracle ship

When the nose of the liner leaned strongly, mass panic among passengers increased.

The third class was left closed in its part. Riots began, and people in horror tried to escape, as best they could. The guards tried to put things in order and scared the crowd with shots from pistols.

At that time, the Californian steamboat was passing by, but it did not receive a signal for help from a neighboring vessel. Their radio operator overslept messages. How the Titanic was drowning, and how fast it was going to the bottom, only the Carpathia knew, which was heading in their direction.

Despite the distress signals, independent attempts to escape did not stop. Pumps pumped out water, there was still electricity. At 2:15 a pipe fell. Then the lights went out. Experts believe that the liner was torn in half, because the bow got water and sank. The stern first went up, and then, under the pressure of its own weight, the ship broke.

Chill in the abyss

The nose was sinking fast. The feed also went under water in a few minutes. But at the same time, its sheathing, body, furniture floated upstairs. At 2:20, the great ship Titanic was completely under water. As the ship sank, dozens of feature films and documentaries are shown today.

Some passengers tried hard to survive. Dozens jumped in vests into the black abyss. But the ocean was ruthless to man. Almost everyone froze to death. After a while, the two boats returned, but only a few remained alive at the scene. An hour later, "Carpathia" arrived and picked up those who remained.

Together with the ship, the captain went to the bottom. 712 people were saved from all who bought a ticket for the Titanic. The victims of 1496 were mainly representatives of the third class, people who, on this journey, wanted to touch something unrealizable and desirable.

Century scam

Two Olympic-class vessels were built according to one project. After the first ship went sailing, all its flaws crawled out. So, the management decided to add some details to the Titanic. Reduced the place for walking, completed the cabins. A cafe was attached to the restaurant. To protect passengers from bad weather, the deck was closed. As a result, an external difference appeared, although earlier it could not be distinguished from the Olympic liner.

The version that the "Titanic" was not accidental under water was made public by Robin Rardiner, an expert on shipping matters. According to his theory, the senior and battered Olympic was sent to swimming.

Ship replacement

The first liner was launched without insurance. Having survived several accidents, it became an unpleasant burden for the company. Permanent repairs required tremendous funds. After the damage inflicted on him by the cruise, the ship was again sent on vacation. Then it was decided to replace the old ship with a new one, which was insured and very similar to the Titanic. As the liner sank, it is known, but few people know that after the tragedy, the company White Star Line received a round compensation.

It was not difficult to arrange a catastrophe. Both ships were in the same place. “Olympic” was redecorated, rebuilt the deck and stuck a new name. The hole was patched with cheap steel, which weakens in ice water.

Theory confirmation

An important proof of the veracity of the version is undeniable facts. For example, the fact that world tycoons and successful, wealthy people abruptly and unreasonably refused the long-awaited trip on the eve. Among them was the owner of the company, John Pierpont Morgan. Only 55 first-class customers canceled tickets. Also, all expensive paintings, jewelry, gold reserves and treasures were removed from the liner. There is an idea that the privileged passengers of the Titanic knew some secret.

Interestingly, Smith was appointed captain, who still went to the Olympic. Repeatedly, he noted that this is his last flight in life. People around him took the words literally, because the sailor was going to retire. Researchers believe that this was a punishment to the commander for past mistakes on the previous ship.

Many questions arise because of the first assistant captain William Murdoch, who ordered to turn left and turn on the reverse. The right decision in such a situation would be to go straight and mash your nose. In this case, the Titanic would not be at the bottom.

The Curse of the Mummy

For years, there have been stories that there were innumerable treasures aboard. Among them is the mummy of the seer Pharaoh Amenhotep. Even 3000 years ago, a woman predicted that her body would fall under water and this would happen under the cries of innocently dead people. But skeptics do not consider the prophecy to be true, although they do not exclude the fact that the secrets of the Titanic have not yet been revealed.

There is also such a version: a catastrophe was planned to suspend a technical one. But this theory is even less believable than the myth of the mummy.

The ruins lie at a depth of 3750 meters. Dozens of grand dives were carried out to the liner. James Cameron, the filmmaker of the famous film, was repeatedly in the group of researchers.

A century has passed, and the secrets of the Titanic still interest and excite humanity.