The Truth About The Titanic

The truth about the Titanic:
The sinking of the Titanic on its first voyage has fascinated people all over the world for
nearly a hundred years. It is a story surrounded by mystery and speculation. Here we
answer the questions most often asked about the most famous ships.
Why weren´T there enough lifeboats?

The regulations controlling the number of lifeboats that a ship should carry were
terribly out of date. The Titanic only had to have 16 lifeboats, enough for 962 people,
which was ridiculous as the ship could carry 3.511 people. Nobody would have died on
April 14th 1912 if the Titanic had had enough lifeboats for all the passengers.
Was there another ship which could have helped the Titanic?
A small ship called the Californian was only 20 kilometres away from the Titanic. It had
stopped for the night because of the icebergs. It was so near that the two ships could
see each other’s lights. The radio operator had just gone to bed so he didn´t hear the
Titanic’s S.O.S message. Later, sailors saw the Titanic’s eight white rockets in the sky.
They woke up their captain but he didn´t do anything as he didn’t think the rockets
were important. If the Californian had known the Titanic was sinking, it would have
rescued everybody. The captain of the Californian was later blamed for not going to
help the Titanic and his reputation was destroyed.
Was Captain Smith to blame?

Although they had received several warnings of icebergs from other ships in the area,
the Titanic was going at top speed. The captain of the Titanic, like other captains, was
under great commercial pressure to make the Atlantic crossing as quickly as possible.
Also Bruce Ismay, the director of the White Star Line which owned the Titanic, was on
board and he wanted his ship to beat the company record for the fastest crossing.
Another criticism of Captain Smith is that he was not on the bridge at the time of the
collision. Perhaps if he had been there, his ship would not have hit the iceberg. Captain
Smith and the ship’s designer Thomas Andrews both drowned.
Why didn’t the lifeboats go back to rescue survivors?

In the confusion on the evacuation, many lifeboats left the Titanic half empty. This was
partly because Captain Smith and his crew found it difficult to persuade people to
leave the “Unsinkable” Titanic. Many were terrified at the idea of being lowered down
into the sea in a tiny lifeboat. When the Titanic finally sank, some of the passengers in
the lifeboats wanted to go back and rescue some of the people swimming in the
freezing water. If they had gone back, many more people might have been saved. But
other people in the lifeboats argued that they had to put their own lives first and that
if too many people in the water tried to get into the lifeboats, they would overturn and
everybody would drown. Finally, only one of the sixteen lifeboats went back to pick up
survivors. They only managed to rescue five people. Everyone else was dead.
Did the orchestra really play until the end?
After the collision, the little group of musicians started playing in the first-class lounge
to keep the passengers calm, but later they moved up onto the deck. Some survivors in
the lifeboats said they could still hear the musicians playing a waltz called “Autumn”
until just before the ship finally sank. If they hadn’t continued playing until the end,
there would have been much more panic on the ship. Not one of the orchestra
survived.
What happened to Bruce Ismay after the disaster?

The public were extremely suspicious about any of the 58 men who survived the
disaster, especially as about 150 women and children died (mostly from Second and
Third class). But Bruce Ismay received the most criticism. When his beautiful ship sank,
Ismay, in one of the lifeboats, turned his head so as not to see it. Later, numerous
articles were written in newspapers attacking him for saving his own life. Ismay had to
retire from the company and from public life. Nobody was ever allowed to mention the
Titanic in his presence.
Answer the following questions about the text:

1. What radio message did they send?
2. What did the orchestra? Why?
3. Who was the Captain of the Titanic?
4. What Bruce Ismay did wrong?
5. In what date happened the sink of the Titanic?
6. How many lifeboats were there?

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The truth about the Titanic:

Why weren´T there enough lifeboats?

Was Captain Smith to blame?

Why didn’t the lifeboats go back to rescue survivors?

What happened to Bruce Ismay after the disaster?

Answer the following questions about the text:

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