100 years ago, precisely at this very moment, RMS Titanic, the largest ship built till then, which was supposed to be an unsinkable ship, sank to the bottoms of the Atlantic Ocean, 4 kilometers below the water surface.
As depicted in the 1997 movie directed by James Cameron and according to the book “Titanic: An Illustrated History ” written by the Donald Lynch, the historian with the Titanic Historical Society, RMS Titanic, the largest vessel till 1912 that could float, sunk into the ocean causing the death of 1514 people out of 2223 onboard.
RMS Titanic, a ship built by White Star Line based out of Liverpool in England was the biggest ship at the time and was on its maiden voyage. Titanic was 296 meters in length and 29 meters in breadth, by all means a mighty structure. The ship had multiple boiler compartments. Even, if the four boiler compartments were filled with water, the ship would remain afloat, making it absolutely unsinkable. The makers of ship had said – “Only God can sink this ship.”
Titanic left the coasts of England on 10th April 1912 and was headed towards New York, US. Since, the ship was made of the latest technology available at the time was considered unsinkable, the precautionary measures for a disaster were also not taken care of well enough e.g. the number of life boats on the ship was very less, not sufficient for all the passengers aboard (enough only for 1178 to be precise).
The ship had 3 main classes for the passengers. The most privileged called the “First” class, then the medium called the “Second” class and the least privileged called the “Third” class. According to the interviews of the survivors and the study of the ship plans, the First class enjoyed their stay in the top most part of the ship and the Third class had their stay in the lowest inhabitable part of the ship.
Four days into its voyage while the ship was passing through the northern part of the Atlantic, 600 kilometers south of Newfoundland, the ship noticed an iceberg ahead, on its course. Because of the bad visibility, the iceberg was sighted very late and was at an unavoidable distance. Due to the momentum of the ship, despite of all the attempts made by the crew, the hit could not be avoided and ultimately, at 11:40 pm (ship’s time), Titanic hit the iceberg fatally.
The bow was badly hit and broken at the bottom (though it was made of iron/steel), submerging the FIVE boiler compartments. This was a tragedy. The ship was unsinkable if FOUR boiler compartments were full of water, NOT FIVE. Now, the ship had to sink, inevitably. Exactly, 2 hours and 40 minutes after the hit, the Titanic sank into the ocean killing 1514 people. Only 709 upper class passengers were saved on the very few lifeboats available. The life-boats’ rescue was offered only to First class, and the Third class was held by the guards under locks in the basement, so as to let First class leave and not cause a hullaballoo.
As the whole world acknowledges this historic date and this tragic event today, ironically, today’s world possesses a very similar situation or fate with the RMS Titanic.
Our world is divided into 3 classes – Developed countries, Developing countries and Under-developed countries. The under-developed countries are struggling at every course. Residents of these countries find it difficult to feed themselves and their dependents every day. They find it difficult to fulfill their bare-necessities of the life. Millions and millions of people of the under-developed nations and many from the developed ones sleep every day without food, without shelter, without clothes to protect them from environment.
However, we - the “Third World”, are advancing at a great pace towards an ice-berg. It could be a climate change, global warming or some similar disastrous future. We cannot avoid our hit with this ice-berg due to our momentum, our great pace – same as the Titanic couldn’t. Again, the sufferers would be the third class of our world – the under-developed nations. The millions would die and there is nothing they would be able to do to avoid this fatal state. Increasing nuclear threat, increasing climatic degradation, increasing global warming and many other worsening situations in our world would certainly lead us to the ice-berg that we are certain to hit.
The solution is still to be found.
Source: “Titanic: The Final Word with James Cameron” Documentary on NGC, Internet and MY HEAD.
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| Titanic leaving the shore |
As depicted in the 1997 movie directed by James Cameron and according to the book “Titanic: An Illustrated History ” written by the Donald Lynch, the historian with the Titanic Historical Society, RMS Titanic, the largest vessel till 1912 that could float, sunk into the ocean causing the death of 1514 people out of 2223 onboard.
RMS Titanic, a ship built by White Star Line based out of Liverpool in England was the biggest ship at the time and was on its maiden voyage. Titanic was 296 meters in length and 29 meters in breadth, by all means a mighty structure. The ship had multiple boiler compartments. Even, if the four boiler compartments were filled with water, the ship would remain afloat, making it absolutely unsinkable. The makers of ship had said – “Only God can sink this ship.”
Titanic left the coasts of England on 10th April 1912 and was headed towards New York, US. Since, the ship was made of the latest technology available at the time was considered unsinkable, the precautionary measures for a disaster were also not taken care of well enough e.g. the number of life boats on the ship was very less, not sufficient for all the passengers aboard (enough only for 1178 to be precise).
The ship had 3 main classes for the passengers. The most privileged called the “First” class, then the medium called the “Second” class and the least privileged called the “Third” class. According to the interviews of the survivors and the study of the ship plans, the First class enjoyed their stay in the top most part of the ship and the Third class had their stay in the lowest inhabitable part of the ship.
Four days into its voyage while the ship was passing through the northern part of the Atlantic, 600 kilometers south of Newfoundland, the ship noticed an iceberg ahead, on its course. Because of the bad visibility, the iceberg was sighted very late and was at an unavoidable distance. Due to the momentum of the ship, despite of all the attempts made by the crew, the hit could not be avoided and ultimately, at 11:40 pm (ship’s time), Titanic hit the iceberg fatally.
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| Sinking of the Titanic |
The bow was badly hit and broken at the bottom (though it was made of iron/steel), submerging the FIVE boiler compartments. This was a tragedy. The ship was unsinkable if FOUR boiler compartments were full of water, NOT FIVE. Now, the ship had to sink, inevitably. Exactly, 2 hours and 40 minutes after the hit, the Titanic sank into the ocean killing 1514 people. Only 709 upper class passengers were saved on the very few lifeboats available. The life-boats’ rescue was offered only to First class, and the Third class was held by the guards under locks in the basement, so as to let First class leave and not cause a hullaballoo.
As the whole world acknowledges this historic date and this tragic event today, ironically, today’s world possesses a very similar situation or fate with the RMS Titanic.
Our world is divided into 3 classes – Developed countries, Developing countries and Under-developed countries. The under-developed countries are struggling at every course. Residents of these countries find it difficult to feed themselves and their dependents every day. They find it difficult to fulfill their bare-necessities of the life. Millions and millions of people of the under-developed nations and many from the developed ones sleep every day without food, without shelter, without clothes to protect them from environment.
However, we - the “Third World”, are advancing at a great pace towards an ice-berg. It could be a climate change, global warming or some similar disastrous future. We cannot avoid our hit with this ice-berg due to our momentum, our great pace – same as the Titanic couldn’t. Again, the sufferers would be the third class of our world – the under-developed nations. The millions would die and there is nothing they would be able to do to avoid this fatal state. Increasing nuclear threat, increasing climatic degradation, increasing global warming and many other worsening situations in our world would certainly lead us to the ice-berg that we are certain to hit.
The solution is still to be found.
Source: “Titanic: The Final Word with James Cameron” Documentary on NGC, Internet and MY HEAD.
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