April 10th, 1912!
It was on this date, one hundred years ago, that the ill fated White Star liner Titanic set out on its maiden voyage from Southampton, England on its way to New York City in the United States. There were slightly over 2,200 souls aboard the ship as it set forth and only slightly over 700 hundred of them would ever live to see the new world. Although the ship had never been advertised as “unsinkable” it was widely believed that it was. This had provoked, along with its name, a great uneasiness among those associated intimately with the sea who knew that bragging was not a good thing to do when confronted with the great uncertainties that traditional sea adventures and travels often brought about. It was early in the travel season when Titanic set out and she could have held far more passengers than she did on her maiden voyage, Even with the reduced passenger load, she carried barely enough life boats for half of those aboard if each boat had been loaded to its 60 passenger complement.
Titanic was a beautiful ship for her age, or any age at all. She had classic lines along her 850 foot length and her four smoke stacks bespoke of great luxury and power to cross the seas in, if not record time, in good enough time to bring her mixture of the wealthy and the powerful and those simply wanting a new life away from pre world war one Europe who could afford the 400 dollar ticket. The 4000 dollar first class stateroom price that the wealthy jet setters of her day could easily afford was not the real reason that Titanic and her two sister ships had come into existence. It was the multitude of 400 dollar tickets that those in her third class steerage would save a lifetime for that Titanic really was made to capitalize on. For those in first class this was simply another journey in a lifetimes journey of luxury and privilege. The hopes and dreams of Titanic really revolved around those immigrants crammed into her third class environs that were, for their time, the very best that an immigrant could hope to occupy on their way to a new life in America. There are probably few starker contrasts in any world than that between steerage aboard Titanic and those who sat, just a few decks above, in the lap of luxury that the gilded age world afforded those who were either lucky enough to be born into it or who had worked intelligently and hard enough to be able to be admitted into. Titanic, although really American owned, was a British steamer and the separation of the classes as reflected between third, second and, first class was stark and strictly maintained as the classes had separate sleeping eating and even strolling areas and never the twains would be allowed to meet. Those in first class dined on sumptuous meals while those in steerage got the very basic necessities of life. Even so, Titanic and her sister ship Olympic had far better quarters for those down below than any other ships of their day and passage on them was widely sought after when letters sent back to the old country spoke of the horrors that so many others had to contend with aboard other, less well outfitted ships.
There had been a coal strike in England that spring of 1912 and the White Star Line had to hustle around to even come up with enough fuel to power the 49,000 ton Titanic across the ocean on this so anticipated maiden voyage. So many things had been rushed about Titanic from her final days of construction ending on March 31, 1912 to the crew that had been thrown together from other White Star ships to the fact that she did not even have one complete day of sea trials when other ships of her type often had at least a week to prove themselves to their captains crew and owners. When Titanic left Belfast, Northern Ireland on April second her captain had orders a series of lazy s curves be performed by the ship to begin to see just what they had underneath them. The reason for all of this haste was that the North Atlantic travel season was soon to begin in earnest and the White Star Line wanted to be able to advertise that the Titanic had been able to make the crossing in record time for a ship of her size. The 1912 crossing race among the various shipping concerns had been won regularly by the Cuniard lines whose smaller ships could make much greater speed than anything that the White Star Lines could put to sea. They could not, however, provide the great luxury, even in third class, that Titanic and her sisters could provide.
Many very wealthy people had crossed the Atlantic for a stay in Europe with the expressed desire of traveling back to America aboard this largest in the world ship. The ships architect was aboard as well as J. Bruce Ismay, the president of the White Star Line. Among those not aboard was the billionaire owner of the International Shipping Combine, whose mother had told him not to take this ship because of uneasy feelings that she had about the whole thing. Among others aboard was Archibald Boe, President Taft’s chief military advisor, on his way back home to tell the president what he thought of the situation in Europe that he had personally viewed. The list of the wealthy, the very wealthy, and the ultra wealthy on board is simply to long to list. When Titanic had first left port on April second, she had almost had a collision with a smaller ship that only a deft move with the propellers by her captain, the very experienced Edward Smith, had avoided. Smith had been with White Star for almost forty years and this was his last crossing as a captain before his retirement. Smith had never had even a close call in his career with White Star and the company had, as per usual, entrusted its new ship to its most experienced master for its maiden voyage.
That late winter and early spring, the moon had come as close to the earth as it had in 1400 years causing very high tides which had set many more than normal icebergs adrift in the Atlantic. Titanic had a date with one of those, but, on this date of April 10th, 1912, all was well with the new ship and those who were so very hopeful about their futures and the world in which they lived. As Titanic departed the coast of Ireland, a child snapped a picture of her receding stern not realizing that it would be the last that the world would ever see of her.
IOVHO,
Regards,
Joe
To say that "God exists" is the greatest understatement ever made across space and time.
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