Titanic

Hamilton, New Zealand
​​May 2023

In 1976, Clive Cussler wrote a book called Raise the Titanic! (1), which inspired the making of a 1980 adventure movie of the same name (2). Although the movie did not garner magnificent reviews, I recently watched it for the first time and thought it was quite good.

The RMS Titanic was one of three Olympic-class ocean liners, which were built by the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The ships were named Olympic (built in 1911), Titanic (1912), and Britannic (1914) (3). At the time, these were the largest ships ever constructed and they were virtually identical in their dimensions, with Olympic 269.0 meters in length and Titanic and Britannic a tiny bit longer at 269.1 meters. All three ships were designed to be the last word in luxury and contained ten decks with various amenities including restaurants, a swimming pool, a gymnasium, a squash court, and even a Turkish bath.

The Olympic-class liners were built for maximal safety. First, each ship had both an inner and an outer skin along the bottom, known as a double bottom, such that even if the outer skin was pierced, the watertight inner skin would prevent the ship from sinking. Second, the hull of each ship was divided into 16 separate watertight compartments, each of which had its own water pump, such that up to four compartments could be flooded at any one time and the ship would stay afloat. Third, the bulkheads in each ship were positioned so as to minimize any chance of capsizing.

​Olympic-class sisters RMS Olympic (left) and RMS Titanic (right) line up together (1).

The Olympic-class liners were designed to stay afloat with flooding in up to four watertight compartments.

Given these safety features, the liners were thought to be "unsinkable" so they were fitted with a low number of lifeboats, not enough to accomodate all the passengers. This was done consciously, as the liner itself was seen as the ultimate lifeboat, with the role of the smaller lifeboats relegated to transporting passengers to or from another ship. Of the three liners, only Olympic served her full term after a very interesting career, including service in World War I during which she purposefully rammed and destroyed a German U-boat, and was retired in 1935. Titanic sank after hitting an iceberg in 1912, and Britannic sank after hitting a mine in 1916. Interestingly, an Argentine woman named Violet Jessop was present in Olympic when it collided with another ship, in Titanic when it hit the iceberg, and also in Britannic when it hit the mine (4).

Sinking The Titanic

The fateful story of The Titanic is familiar to most people. She departed on her maiden voyage on April 10, 1912, departing Southampton for New York City (5). She collided with an iceberg 690 kilometers south-east of the coast of Newfoundland on April 14, close to midnight, and sank in just 2 hours and 40 minutes.

Many things went wrong that night. First, of 892 crew members only 39 were able seamen, most of whom were unfamiliar with the ship. Second, iceberg conditions in the Atlantic were the worst in 50 years, but Captain Edward Smith kept Titanic running at nearly maximum speed. Third, multiple warnings of icebergs in the area were relayed to Titanic, but the radio operator, Jack Phillips, ignored many of them and even responded to the final one by telling them to "shut up" (6). Fourth, when they noticed the iceberg, the decision was made to stop the engines and turn, whereas if the engines had been left running for the turn, the iceberg would likely have been avoided.

The Titan had only a glancing collision with the iceberg on her starboard side and her hull was not pierced, but it buckled along a short segment. As a result of design flaws, many of the iron rivets in the hull popped off, creating numerous tiny gaps through which the water flooded. Moreover, the damaged section was 3 meters above the keel and mostly avoided the double bottom, making this safety feature irrelevant. Due to the numerous holes, 7 tons of water entered the ship per second, fifteen times faster than it could be pumped out (8), leading to six watertight compartments flooded, which was two more than she could handle. Distress calls were made, but the stated location was inaccurate and referred other ships to a location 25 kilometers away from Titanic. The crew, untrained in the ships or how to use the lifeboats, allowed the lifeboats to depart only 60% full; if they had been fully loaded, 500 extra people could have been saved. The nearby Californian, by far the closest ship at less than 20 kilometers away, saw Titanic fire off her distress rockets and could have saved hundreds of people, but chose to do nothing, a decision her captain, Stanley Lord, would be criticized for the rest of his life. Titanic broke into two pieces as she sunk, with the bow heading down first, followed later by the stern, which hovered nearly vertically above the ocean before plunging to the seafloor.

The iceberg damaged Titanic above its double bottom, leading to six compartments flooded (5).

Depiction of the sinking of Titanic (5).

When Titanic sunk, she broke into two pieces, and the stern hovered nearly vertically before plunging to the seafloor (9).

Although Titanic was under-capacity at 2,224 people, she still lost 1,514 people, or about 68% of all the people on board. As a result of the Birkenhead drill, a chivalrous code of conduct that emphasizes "women and children first" into the lifeboats, 25% of the women on board perished, 50% of the children, and 80% of the men.

Raising The Titanic

The bow and stern ofTitanic descended rapidly and smashed into the seafloor of the Atlantic Ocean, where they lay undisturbed at a depth of 3,800 meters for 73 years before they were rediscovered (10). 

In 1985, the wreck of Titanic was located by a joint expedition between France and the United States. The bow was found relatively intact in many sections, but the stern was utterly pancaked by the force of its crash into the seafloor, such that none of its ten decks remain higher than 30 centimeters now. Since its discovery, Titanic has been visited numerous times and, controversially, thousands of items have been salvaged and put on public display. For a cost of 250,000 US dollars, tourists can even visit the wreck of Titanic in a submersible (11).
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Some would say Titanic is a graveyard and she should be left in peace, which is reasonable, but the ensuing disruption of this graveyard by commercialism has already disrupted her rest. The wreck will continue to be whittled away by commercialism (and the local sea-life) until there is nothing discernible left. Myself, I must say that I prefer the impossible idea of raising and restoring her, against all odds...like the idea of curing an impossible affliction, against all odds. This would make for a far more beautiful destiny for Titanic than what is happening to her now (watch the short video to the right).

Wreck of the bow of Titanic; the stern is located 600 meters away (9).

Inspiring scenes from Raise The Titanic!

In this version of reality, Titanic was not abandoned to the lonely and desolate darkness, visited mostly by those seeking to to pilfer and demean her remains...no, in this version, Titanic finally, over a century later, completes her maiden voyage. All it took was a few people who believed enough, thought hard enough, and tried hard enough to raise her up out of the depths of her despair...to the inspiration of all.

Solace.

​References
(1) Cussler. 1976. Raise The Titanic! Viking Press.
(2) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raise_the_Titanic_(film).
(3) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympic-class_ocean_liner.
(4) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violet_Jessop.
(5) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinking_of_the_Titanic.
(6) Ryan. 1986. The Titanic Tale. Oceanus. Woods Hole, MA: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution 4 (28).
(7) https://www.walmart.com/ip/Titanic-Shipwreck-1912-Ncross-Section-Of-The-Rms-Titanic-Showing-Iceberg-Breaking-Through-Double-Bottom-On-14-April-Poster-Print-Granger-Collection-I/271391654.
(8) ​Aldridge. 2008. The Sinking of the Titanic. New York: Infobase Publishing. 
(9) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Titanic%27s_sinking_stern.jpg.
(10) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wreck_of_the_Titanic.
(11) https://oceangateexpeditions.com/.