Teacher's
Guide
Titanic Stories
At the time, the Titanic was the largest and supposedly safest ship ever
created. But errors in construction, design and naval judgement, including
a captain who cancelled the mandatory lifeboat drill, led to her unfathomable
sinking.
Edward
J. Smith Captain, Titanic
Bruce
Ismay set out to create the
world's most luxurious ship. He succeeded. The Titanic had enclosed palm
courts with vine trellises, and passengers could sip tea at the Cafe Parisian.
But Ismay thought the Titanic's lifeboat deck was too cluttered. So he
removed 28 lifeboats. He, however, found space on one.
Bruce Ismay
Mrs.
Bess Allison and her three-year-old
daughter, Loraine, made it safely to lifeboat No. 6. The crewmen started
lowering the boat. But Mrs. Allison stopped it. She did not know where
her baby, Trevor, was. So, with her daughter, she got out to search for
him. But she never found him. And she and Loraine never made it to another
lifeboat. Trevor did.
Loraine & Trevor Allison
Margaret
Brown, known to history as The "Unsinkable Molly," became a
leader of the women survivors of the Titanic. Onboard the rescue ship
Carpathia, she helped organize rescue efforts. She made lists of survivors
and arranged for information to be radioed ahead to their families. Together
with a committee of other wealthy survivors, Maggie helped raise money
for destitute victims. Before the Carpathia reached New York, nearly $10,000
was pledged.
Margaret Brown
Learn
the stories of other passengers at Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition
Titanic
Timeline
Wednesday,
April 10, 1912
7:30am
Captain Edward J. Smith boards the Titanic for its maiden voyage. He also
announces his retirement and that this would be his final voyage.
12pm
Titanic departs from Southampton, England, but not before narrowly avoiding
a collision with the New York, whose mooring lines snap in Titanic's wake.
Tugboats push the New York aside.
6:30pm
Titanic arrives in Cherbourg, France and anchors two miles offshore. Small
tenders bring aboard more mail and passengers. Some of the wealthiest
and best known passengers boarded in Cherbourg.
Thursday, April 11, 1912
Afternoon
Titanic makes its final stop in Queenstown, Ireland before the Atlantic crossing. A large number of third class passengers emigrating to the United States board the ship
Friday, April 12, 1912
The Titanic is well out in the Atlantic running at 21 knots. By 12pm, Saturday, April 13, Titanic covered approximately 805 miles. The first ice warning was received on April 12. By the Sunday, April 14, Titanic would receive eight ice warnings.
Sunday, April 14, 1912
9pm
Captain Smith joins 2nd officer Charles Lightoller on the bridge. After a conversation, both agree that they will see anything large enough to damage the ship in time to take action. Smith leaves the bridge with the words "If in the least bit doubtful let me know."
10pm
1st Officer Murdoch takes over on the bridge, and Lightoller goes to his cabin.
10:21pm
The nearby ship Californian comes upon the ice field, Captain Lord decides to stop and wait out the night. With 24 of 29 boilers fired, the Titanic is running at 22 knots, the highest speed it had ever achieved.
11pm
Californian sends ice warning to Titanic. Titanic's operators, who are backlogged with passenger messages, send back a reply of "Shut up, shut up I'm busy." Lookouts Fleet and Lee shiver in the cold night air in the lookout tower. The whereabouts of their binoculars is unknown after a change of crew in Southampton, so Fleet and Lee make do without.
11:40pm
Fleet sees a large iceberg dead ahead of the bow and signals the bridge. 6th Officer Moody acknowledges the message and relays to 1st Officer Murdock, who instinctively orders hard to port and telegraphs the engine room to stop all engines. He also closes the watertight doors. Unfortunately, the iceberg scrapes the Titanic under the waterline for more than 300 feet. The scrape opens up five of the front compartments and floods the coal bunker servicing boiler number nine.
11:55pm
After inspection reports to Thomas Andrews, the ship designer, Captain Smith knows the worst... the Titanic is sinking with more than 2,200 people on board.
Monday, April 15, 1912
12:15am
Titanic begins sending out distress signals. By 1am, numerous ships have heard the Titanic's distress signal and many are on their way to assist, including Carpathia, which is 44 miles to the Southeast.
12:25am
Captain Smith gives the order to begin loading the lifeboats with women and children. If every lifeboat is filled to capacity, there is only enough room for 1,178 people out of the estimated 2,227 on board.
12:45am
Starboard lifeboat #7 is lowered with only 28 of its 65-person capacity full. Crew begins launching distress rockets off the Boat deck.
1:15am
Water has reached Titanic's name on the bow of the boat. Seven boats have now been lowered.
1:30am
Signs of panic begin to appear as boat #14 is lowered. Officer Lowe is forced to fire three warning shots to keep a group of unruly passengers from jumping into the already full boat.
1:40am
Most of the boats have been launched and remaining passengers begin to move to the stern area.
2am
Water is 10 feet below the Promenade Deck. Captain Smith releases the wireless operators from duty.
2:17am
Titanic's bow plunges under. A minute later a huge roar is heard as all movable objects inside Titanic crash toward the submerged bow. The lights blink once and then go out. The ship is now almost perpendicular, then snaps in two between the third and fourth funnel. The bow slips into the Atlantic. The stern crashes on the surface and for a moment rights itself. Within a few seconds, however, the stern turns upward pointing to the sky and finally sinks to the bottom of the cold Atlantic.
4:10am
The first lifeboat is picked up by Carpathia. By 8:50am all the lifeboats are aboard and Carpathia leaves the searching for survivors to other vessels as it heads to New York with 705 survivors.
