The Titanic suffered one of the most astonishing catastrophes in history. Today it lingers in the memory of many fans of the intrigued chronicles of her and makes emphasis on knowing all its ins and outs. If you are a fan of everything that surrounds it, we have curious facts about the Titanic that will fascinate you.
We will remember that this big boat sailed on April 10, 1912 at 12.00:XNUMX p.m. from the port of Southampton, in England. His destination was to reach New York, but On April 15 it collided with an iceberg and one of the worst omens was formulated. It was just enough 2 40 hours and minutes to sink into the icy waters of the Atlantic, 4.000 meters deep.
Curious facts about the Titanic
1-The Titanic was built as a great challenge in aeronautics, since it was one of the great works built due to their dimensions and interior luxury. It had 840 cabins divided between the lower, middle and upper class, making a district between the division of British society.
2-The engine part was a great advance, with 24 boilers and four generators that produced 400 KW. On the outside you can see four chimneys, but three of them were actually functional, since the fourth was only for ventilation and as an aesthetic component.
3-Before your departure would have 64 lifeboats, enough to accommodate all the passengers. In his approach he wanted to reduce it to 32 boats, but finally Only 20 were available. It is worth mentioning that on that night not even all the boats that were available were used, and some of them were even filled with only 24 people, when they had a capacity of 65. Some of these boats could have helped save more lives, as analyzed in other articles. historic shipwrecks.
4-The Titanic It was 24 meters high and weighed 100 tons. It was built along with its two majestic brothers, the Olympic and the Britannic, with the luxurious category. All three eventually had fatal accidents.
5-Its powerful engines were steam, with a special power to be able to move it. It was capable of sailing up to 42 kilometers per hour, with a power of 55.000 horses.
6-Among his crew were rich and powerful men. John Jacob Astor was the richest man, at 47 years old and he could not save himself. His romantic partner was Madeleine Force, 19 years old and pregnant.
7-Another famous couple were the owners of the Macy's store. Isador and Isa Straus died in the incident, as the woman refused to get on one of the boats and leave her husband alone.
8-On board There were a total of 2.223 people. Only 706 people survived, of whom 492 were passengers and 214 were crew members. A total of 333 bodies were recovered from the water, a figure that resonates with the numerous shipwrecks and maritime tragedies along the history.
9-Animals were also among the crew. It was confirmed that There were 12 dogs on board, but only 3 survived., two of them were of the Pomeranian breed.
10-One of his passengers was silent film star Dorothy Gibson where that same year she starred in a film called Saved from the Titanic. She wrote the film's script herself, and even wore the same dress she wore in the film on the day it sank.
11-Another of its crew members who arrived alive was Millvina Dean, when she was only 9 weeks old. He reached the age of 97, where he died in May 2009.
12Morgan Robertson predicted the sinking of the Titanic in 1898. in his book Futility. Furthermore, he wrote a catastrophe of circumstances similar to what happened. In his book, said ship was called Titan.
13Edward Smith was the captain of the Titanic and after his trip he already planned to retire. During his career he had already commanded 18 ships and had been in command for 43 years. He was a man very loved by his crew and passengers, so he refused to save himself and chose to go down with the ship.
14-Within 4 days of navigation, the ship received up to 21 iceberg alerts. On the same day of the event, he was alerted to 6 warnings from other ships sailing the same route. But Captain Edward Smith wanted to maintain his goal of arriving in New York and keep his speed at 41 km / h.
View of the bow of the Titanic
15-The iceberg against which it collided, It was estimated to be 18 meters high and 120 meters long. The cutting ice caused the ship's case to suffer a large gash that lasted up to 8 seconds.
16Said iceberg was seen 450 meters from the ship, It is believed that it could have been dubious and visible due to the very cold night. It was actually a frigid, calm, moonless night, which made any realization of this fateful catastrophe difficult.
17-Yes, it is true that the orchestra He was playing until his collapse. He continued playing until he realized it was finally going to collapse. The body of the orchestra's conductor, Wallace Hartley, was recovered and buried in England.
18-The Titanic It was discovered in 1985, 70 years after the incident, as part of the Woods Hole expedition. Many belongings were rescued, and today there is a museum commemorating the tragedy, which you can visit if you are interested in the museums related to shipsNowadays, only authorized expeditions are allowed to dive.
How was it possible for such an important ship to end with such a great tragedy?
In reality, it had a very tragic and unexpected outcome. He iceberg hit the ship sideways and It destroyed the cross walls in a lightning-fast manner. Even many of the locking systems in certain compartments did not close because they did not work correctly.
Furthermore, the ship's materials were constructed of a much weaker steel than today's. Although the best steel was used in those days, we can't compare it to what we have today. Until the 1940s, many of the ship hulls were made with riveted metal sheets, today welded parts are used.
Why choose welding? It is actually a much more effective and durable process, since melted material is placed between the sheets for a better union and that makes them inseparable. From the Second World War Steel with a lower percentage of carbon and a higher percentage of manganese was used, something that improved its reinforcement and meant that today we have firmer and more robust superstructures.
