Contradictions between the True Story and the Scientific Story
Many of us have heard and learned about the Titanic disaster thanks to the famous 1997 film. The first film I ever cried watching.
At that time, when I was only 16 years old, I watched this film and was fascinated by it. The film was released and I remember that the theatre was packed. This event affected me so much that my interest in the Titanic story has never faded.
At that time, I made a notebook by cutting and combining articles and photographs published in newspapers and magazines. I followed the story of Titanic with the excitement of a boy in love.
However, now that I think about it, there is a fact that is often overlooked: Titanic is not just a love story. This ship is a management error, a natural disaster and an engineering disaster. I think we should go beyond the love story of a rich girl and a poor man and scientifically question how the Titanic could have sunk in such a simple way.
Titanic is a passenger ship built in 1912. Titanic, the largest ship built at that time, was the largest ship of its era with a weight of 269,168 tonnes, a mass of 46,328 grostons and a capacity of 3,547 passengers. However, three critical mistakes were made during the construction of Titanic.
Firstly, the mistake made during the design phase of the ship was the desire to make the magnificent staircase as magnificent as possible. Therefore, the structural integrity of the ship was pushed to its limits and the intermediate walls were built low to make more room for the stairs.
However, this design error resulted in the compartments designed to trap water, which should have been much higher than the water level, being only 3 metres above the water level. This caused the ship to take on water faster than it should have.
The second mistake was made in the deck design. The number of lifeboats that the ship could carry was actually 64, but the designer Alexander Carlisle thought that so many lifeboats on the deck would create an ugly appearance and wanted the number of lifeboats to be reduced to 16.
It was inevitable that the Titanic would encounter the iceberg as it travelled at speed. As the hours ticked by and the night progressed, the combination of not enough binoculars to attract the crew’s attention and errors in the communications room triggered the disaster.
Titanic was able to spot the iceberg at the last moment, but it was too late for her to manoeuvre. In order to avoid hitting the iceberg, the captain of the ship, Captain Smith, tried to stop the ship with all his might and tried to manoeuvre, but the iceberg rubbed against the right side of the ship and caused serious damage to its lower hull.
At first, the ship’s crew and some passengers did not fully realise the seriousness of the collision. Some remained in bed, while others continued with activities on the ship’s decks. However, as the crew quickly realised the situation, an emergency alarm was sounded and passengers began to be evacuated.
The crew tried to direct passengers to life rafts and boats, but the insufficient number of lifeboats on board was a major problem. The lifeboats on board could only carry half of the passengers, and even these were not utilised to their full capacity. This was a result of deficiencies in Titanic’s design and prevented the passengers from saving their lives.
Calls for help were sent out and neighbouring ships were alerted. One of the nearby ships, RMS Carpathia, received Titanic’s call and moved to reach the scene as soon as possible. However, much time was required for the Carpathia’s arrival and Titanic did not have enough time to take on water and sink.
The crew tried to rescue most of the passengers, but the lack of emergency planning and drills caused a huge mess. The lack of an orderly landing of lifeboats and boats led to some going empty and some not being used to their full capacity.
As the right side of the Titanic began to sink into the water, panic among the passengers and chaos was inevitable. Women and children were prioritised for rescue, but these rescues were inadequate due to insufficient lifeboats. Many people fell into the icy water.
Despair and terror gripped the ship as many fell into the icy water. The decks of the Titanic were filled with people desperately trying to survive. Captain Smith and the crew used their last hope to evacuate people from unsafe parts of the ship.
However, time was running out fast. As the Titanic began to sink beneath the water, people hugged each other in desperation, prayed and said goodbye to their loved ones. That night, thousands of lives were lost to eternity.
When the RMS Carpathia finally arrived on the scene, it began to rescue survivors. However, as rescue efforts were delayed and most of the passengers were exposed to freezing water, the number of survivors was very small.
The Titanic disaster claimed the lives of more than 2,200 people and the ship remains remembered as one of the greatest maritime disasters in history.
This tragic event had a major impact on the maritime industry. International ship safety standards were raised and more stringent inspections were introduced. Measures such as emergency drills and increasing the number of lifeboats on board were taken.
The Titanic disaster became a lesson and a reminder for humanity. The lives lost that night helped to increase awareness and precautions for the safety of sea travel.
Today’s ships have become safer and more reliable with the lessons learnt and improvements made from that terrible event.
The Titanic was a great creation of human hands. Tragically, however, arrogance and overconfidence led to its sinking.
This disaster showed that people cannot underestimate the power of nature and must always be careful and prepared.
Today, the Titanic disaster still arouses the interest and curiosity of many people. Personal artefacts, stories and research found on board keep memories of that night alive and tell people the human stories behind a great tragedy.
Sources
“Titanic: Sinking the Myths” — National Geographic Society
“The Titanic: 100 Years Later — National Geographic”
“Titanic: The Official Website”
- Source: https://www.titanic.com/
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