A Titanic Tragedy

The Titanic, the pride of the White Star Line, has sunk during her maiden voyage, killing the majority of those aboard.

The hull of the vessel was critically damaged following a collision with an iceberg in the Atlantic Ocean. Whilst exact figures are as yet unknown, it is known that thousands of people have perished in the disaster.

The Titanic was widely believed to be unsinkable, but a collision with an iceberg during the night of 14 April was to disprove this.

Whilst it was clear that the damage to the vessel was serious, many passengers were slow to react to the danger due to the belief that the Titanic was unsinkable. Some passengers chose to return to their beds instead of boarding lifeboats and abandoning the ship. Survivors report that the first boats left with as few as thirteen people aboard, including J Bruce Ismay, Managing Director of the White Star Line, who has survived the disaster. Witnesses describe how many of these passengers were millionaires, and the majority appeared to be men.

Some time after the liner struck the iceberg, she began to turn gradually on her nose, with the stern rising upwards. As the angle increased, passengers seemingly began to panic with many jumping overboard when all the lifeboats had been lowered. Most of these drowned or died upon impact with the water, although some were able to scramble aboard lifeboats.

Despite the fact that the ship took over two hours to sink, many people were still aboard as she finally went under, including the band who were heard to be still playing until the very last moment. Many survivors describe how crew experienced difficulties in launching the collapsible life boat craft, with rough seas providing additional difficulties.

Many of the passengers who had found their way into lifeboats were heard praying, until the lights of a steamer, the Carpathia, were seen to be approaching.

Most of those passengers in lifeboats were rescued by the Carpathia and survived. Survivors aboard the Carpathia arrived in New York yesterday.

It is thought that almost all of those who failed to find a lifeboat perished in the icy waters of the Atlantic Ocean.