The final presentation in the Winter Lecture Series at the Sherburne History Center was a detailed account of the events leading up to the sinking of the RMS Titanic on April 15, 1912, one of history’s greatest peacetime maritime disasters that claimed the lives of more than 1,500 passengers and crew.

The program was created by Ron Breese, a SCSU graduate student in history and a current high school teacher who has been fascinated with the details of the Titanic story for many years.  His presentation included some rare images of the massive liner, including a copy of the last known photograph taken as the ship steamed away from Ireland to begin her ill-fated maiden voyage to New York.

Breese began his presentation with a handout which depicted the many decks and levels on the ship, including the “water-tight” compartments that were damaged when the ship grazed the fatal iceberg early on her final morning.  The press had dubbed the liner as “unsinkable,” and her designers calculated that she could survive even if three of the massive compartments were to be flooded.  The iceberg made a thin but fatal gash along the hull that night, Breese said, which flooded five of the compartments and led to the final disaster.

Titanic was one of three sister-ships built for the White Star Line at the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast, Northern Ireland, Breese said, first with the Olympic, then Titanic and finally the Britannic.  Olympic had a checkered career, colliding with at least two other ships during her lifetime but surviving to be decommissioned and broken up for salvage, while the Britannic was lost after striking a mine off the island of Crete in the Mediterranean Sea during WW I.

While the recent “Titanic” movie featured an imaginary love story, Breese said  many of the historical facts pertaining to the ship and the sinking were correct, including the details of the luxury available to first class passengers, and the decision to free up more deck space by not taking on as many lifeboats as the ship was designed to carry.  The ship could have carried two lifeboats on each davit, with a third stowed on the deck nearby, according to the original design, Breese said.  With an “unsinkable” ship, the White Star Line decided to free-up more deck space and keep the ship looking better with only one lifeboat at each station, not nearly enough for the 2,200 passengers and crew on the ship.

 

The disaster was an unlucky combination of factors that individually could have been dealt with, but, when conjoined, proved fatal.  The moon played a role in the events, Breese said, firstly in that in 1912, the moon and the Earth were much closer than is usual, resulting in much higher tides around the world than normal.  This also led to many more icebergs calving off of the polar ice cap and being carried into the shipping lanes by ocean currents.  The night of April 15 was also moonless, Breese said, making it even more difficult for the lookouts to see the iceberg in the flat calm sea.

 

The ship was also equipped with a Marconi® wireless set.  First class passengers had overwhelmed the wireless operators with messages that they wanted to send to their friends on shore in New York, which may have prevented the ice warnings sent by other ships from reaching Capt. Edward Smith.  A ship in sight of the stricken liner, the S.S. Californian, had turned off its wireless set and stopped for the night because of the heavy ice, and never heard the titanic’s calls for help.  RMS Carpathia did, but could not arrive until the following morning.

 

Speed was also a factor in the disaster, Breese said, as White Star Line manager Bruce Ismay wanted to break the record for the crossing to New York, and had reportedly urged Capt. Smith to increase the speed of the ship to do so.  The ship was moving at around 35 mph at the time of the impact, Breese said, and could not escape the collision even by attempting a “port around” maneuver ordered by the officer of the watch.

 

Among those who lost their lives were Capt. Smith, Chief Officer Wilde, First Officer Murdoch and Sixth Officer Moody.  Survivors included Second Officer Lightoller, Third Officer Pitman, Fourth Officer Boxhall and Fifth Officer Lowe.

 

Among the famous who perished were tycoons John Jacob Astor and Benjamin Guggenheim.  Fellow tycoon J.P. Morgan had planned to be on the ship, but became too ill to travel while in France and elected to remain in Paris.

 

Less than three hours after the impact with the iceberg, the bow section of the ship broke free and sank, after which the stern portion turned away and floated for a short time.  Lookouts on the Californian thought the ship was sailing away when they saw the stern, and did not realize that the ship had broken apart and was sinking, Breese said.

 

Passing ships recovered bodies from the disaster for several weeks, some as far as 200 miles from the site of the sinking, Breese said.