The Titanic

[Thunder]

On the 14th and 15th of April marks the 100th year anniversary of the sinking of the world's famous ship, the Titanic, after hitting an iceberg and sank within 3 hours. Over 1,500 people lost their lives and only 713 were saved. Please take a moment to remember those lost souls and everyone connected to the tragedy. There has been many Titanic documentaries airing on cable channels the past few weeks, so hopefully you all were able to remember and DVR those shows. On Saturday, ABC is doing a three-episode series (new) special reenacting the event. There are other documentaries airing on many cable channels. It's great education! Titanic were already claiming lives before she even sailed when 8 men as young as 15 died building her.

Trivia: Did you know the Titanic was the first ship to have a swimming pool?

Trivia: Did you know the Titanic was the first ship to have new left/right steering?

Feel free to share stories, facts, never known before info, and anything.



http://life.time.com/history/titanic...d-years-later/

http://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org...assenger_list/

Lots of material available on Google.

On the behalf of OKCTalk members, we honor all lives lost and survivors.

[Larry OKC]

Amazing that there are those that didn't know that the Titanic was a real ship etc (they thought it was just a movie).

[Larry OKC]

Also, the ships owners in a very callous/cold move, before they had even been identified as being among the dead or survivors, presented the families of the employees with a bill for the brass buttons on their uniforms and stopped their pay at the time of the ships sinking.

[Thunder]

There were a lot if internal fights within the company since the planning of the Titanic to the end. This includes a man fighting to have more lifeboats on board, but the others thought it was more important to have deck space with open view. So many things to learn about.

Trivia: Did you know that the hulls of the Titanic were only an inch thick? At the time, they thought it was remarkable. Really...one inch? Wow!

[Mel]

(Really...one inch? Wow!)

Thats what Hedwig said.

[Thunder]

(Really...one inch? Wow!)

Thats what Hedwig said.

Yes, I just learned that the other day! Things were different back in that time. Remember, it was the years leading up to 1912. It was considered an engineering marvel.

[MikeOKC]

Yes, I just learned that the other day! Things were different back in that time. Remember, it was the years leading up to 1912. It was considered an engineering marvel.

Check out this link for a collection of audio recordings of Titanic survivors.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/titanic/

It's quite fascinating!

Also, check this out:

[Just the facts]

There were a lot if internal fights within the company since the planning of the Titanic to the end. This includes a man fighting to have more lifeboats on board, but the others thought it was more important to have deck space with open view. So many things to learn about.

Based on that this seems about right then:

The Chariman of the White Star Line was aboard the ship. Here is his 'survival' story.

http://www.webtitanic.net/ismay.html

Bruce Ismay

Bruce Ismay, chairman of the White Star Line, (his father owned the company at one time, make your own conclusions from that), was the driving force behind the building of the Titanic. Legend has it that he sketched his original ideas for the ship on a napkin. Passengers have stated that during the voyage they heard him pressuring Captain Smith to go faster, in order to arrive in New York ahead of schedule, so as to generate some free press about the new liner. One passenger claimed to have seen Ismay flaunting one of the iceberg warnings at dinner time, waving it around, then placing it back in his pocket.

During the sinking, Ismay boarded a lifeboat before all the women and children had been evacuated from the ship, an act that would haunt him for the rest of his life. In doing so, he left his own (female) secretary still on board. After being picked up by the Carpathia, Ismay secured a room belonging to the Carpathia's doctor, and never left it until arriving in New York. During the trip to New York, Ismay supposedly was under the influence of opium the entire time.

After the disaster, he was savaged by both the American and the English press for deserting the ship while women and children were still on board. Some papers called him "J. Brute Ismay", some ran negative cartoons of him deserting the ship. London society ostracized him, and in 1913, he resigned.

In 1937, after retiring and moving to Ireland with his American wife, Julia Florence, he died of a stroke.

[Mel]

The BBC has been putting out some pretty interesting articles about the Titanic. Keeps me and Momma off the cruise ships. ;-)

[boscorama]

My earliest recollection is from The Weekly Reader, eons ago, when it told us children about the "icebird'.

Then, there was this song from Girl Scouts:

They built the ship Titanic
To sail the ocean blue.
They built it strong
So the water couldn't get through.
But the good Lord raised his hand
That the ship would never land.
It was sad when the great ship went down.

It was sad (it was sad)
It was sad (it was sad)
It was sad when the great ship went down
To the bottom of the seaaaa
(husbands and wives, even children lost their lives)
It was sad when the great ship
Went down to the bottom of the sea.