THE TITANIC;HOW GOOD IS YOUR SHIP

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THE TITANIC SHIP: HOW GOOD IS YOUR OWN SHIP It was called a ship of dream, “even God cannot sink it” a charlatan passenger of the ship boasted unconsciously. The British luxury passenger liner Titanic sank on April 14-15, 1912, en route to New York City from Southampton, Eng., during its maiden voyage. The vessel sank with a loss of about 1,500 lives at a point about 400 miles (640 km) south of Newfoundland. The great ship, at that time the largest and most luxurious afloat, was designed and built by William Pirie’s Belfast firm, Harland and Wolff to service the highly competitive Atlantic Ferry route. It had a double-bottomed hull that was divided into 16 presumably watertight compartments. Because four of these could be flooded without endangering the liner's buoyancy, it was considered unsinkable. Shortly before midnight on April 14, the ship collided with an iceberg; five of its watertight compartments were ruptured, causing the ship to sink at 2:20 AM April 15. Inquiries held in the United States and Great Britain alleged that the Leyland liner Californian, which was less than 20 miles (32 km) away all night, could have aided the stricken vessel had its radio operator been on duty and thereby received the Titanic's distress signals. Only the arrival of the Cunard liner Carpathia 1 hour and 20 minutes after the Titanic went down prevented further loss of life in the icy waters. Many of those who perished on the ship came from prominent American, British, and European families. Among the dead were the notable British journalist William Thomas Stead and heirs to the Straus and Astor fortunes, his death was more painful to me, perhaps because he was on the same career with me. The glamour associated with the ship, its maiden voyage, and its notable passengers magnified the tragedy of its sinking in the popular mind. Legends arose almost immediately around the
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