Picture this: you get on a huge, beautiful, expensive, first-class ship. Everyone says that it is unsinkable, and it was even built to withstand any complications it might have that could lead to flooding, then all of the sudden, you barely scraped the side of this ship with an iceberg, then it sinks the whole ship and kills thousands of people. That is what happened with the Titanic. It was built to withstand severe conditions, including sinking, but because the outside was made of a soft material, that one little scrape on the side of one huge ship, changed thousands of lives and families.
The huge ship set sail, being called the “unsinkable ship”. Ironically, April 14, 1912 (the first day out at sea) at 11:40 P.M. the ship slid past an iceberg. The watchman alerted the captain of the iceberg, so the crew tried to steer right, but reversing also. If they would have hit the iceberg straight on, it would have destroyed only two or three of the water-tight compartments, and the ship wouldn’t have sunk. Since it scraped along the side, it destroyed many of the compartments, leading to the sinking of Titanic. The ship sunk within 2 hours, which is a very fast sinking. Normally, it would take at least a week to sink a ship that big, but it destroyed a good portion of the side of the ship. That one little mistake led to 1522 deaths, and only 705 lives were saved by the life boats. The ship was believed to have sunk in one piece, but the evidence found suggests that it was split in half on the surface due to the pressure and speed of the sinking. In 1985 scientists sent down Alvin, but as soon as the wreck was in sight, they had to make their way back up to the surface. The dive was made several times, and after several attempts and failures, they saw the Titanic, steel engines and all. Through advanced technology, it has been possible to “Dive into History” and find the Titanic at the bottom of the Atlantic.
I think it is so sad that because of one little mistake of the captain, crew, and watchmen, it cost so many lives. If the watchmen would have spotted the iceberg a little bit sooner, and the captain would have turned away from it, or even hit it straight on, the ship wouldn’t have been sunk, and all those people wouldn’t have had to die. It is crazy how one little mistake can cause so many lives to be taken.
In the article “Plunging into History”, it says, “The officer-in-charge tried to reverse engines while turning hard to the right-a combination that proved fatal. Because the ship was in reverse, the change in steering actually moved her to the left, and the Titanic’s starboard side hit the iceberg.” Think. If that little mistake would have been avoided all of the 2227 (approximately) would have been spared, and they would all be living to tell the story of the great ship. Wouldn’t that just be so cool? People that are living, telling what it was like to be on the ship that really was “unsinkable”? That would be amazing!
In conclusion, the Titanic was a horrible accident, that everyone wishes could be avoided, but because of one little mistake, 1522 people died, and only 705 people were saved from the lifeboats of the Titanic.
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