Setting the Record Straight
on the Sinking of Titanic
Dear Editor:
Recently a relative of mine sent me a copy of your interesting and informative article published in the May issue of The Celtic Connection about the exhibition of artifacts from RMS Titanic, with a photograph of the ship leaving Southampton on her maiden voyage.
As Halifax has many connections with the Titanic disaster, I found the article particularly interesting. I have a large library of about 40 books concerning these White Star vessels, and prints of most of the photographs of the building of Titanic.
You did not mention Titanic's sister, Olympic, which was put into service in June 1911. She was laid down on December 16, 1908, launched October 20, 1910, and left Belfast the day Titanic was launched.
Olympic and Titanic were the same size, but some additions to the latter made her slightly heavier.
Titanic was laid down on March 31, 1909 and launched on May 31, 1911. Scheduled for completion in March 1912, her completion was delayed because of accidents to Olympic, so that she did not go into service until April 1912.
As well, a third Olympic class liner was built: Britannic. She was slightly larger than her two sisters and was not completed until after the outbreak of war in 1914. Unfortunately Brittanic was sunk by a mine on November 21, 1916 in the Aegean Sea off Greece when in service as a hospital ship.
Titanic left Southampton on her maiden voyage on April 10, 1912, proceeding to Cherbourg, where she anchored that evening and took on passengers from Europe, leaving Cherbourg later that evening. The next morning at about 11:30 AM she anchored off Queenstown (now Cobh), in Ireland. She left later that afternoon, bound for New York.
From there she steamed south westwards, towards her fate. On Sunday, April 14, Californian (not Carpathia as stated in your article) sent out a wireless signal at approximately 10:30 PM saying she was stopped in ice.
This message was picked up by Titanic and other ships. When at 11:40 PM the iceberg was spotted by Titanic. First Officer Murdoch stoped the engines and ordered the helm to starboard (which meant she would go to port) to go around the iceberg but unfortunately a spur made a gash about 300 feet long on the starboard side, sealing her fate.
Some reports say that Murdoch went hard astern on her port engine and full ahead on her starboard engine to better complete this manoeuvre. When Carpathia (a Cunard ship) received her CQD and SOS, she rushed towards the sinking liner and arrived on the scene about 5 AM on Monday, April 15, 1912 to pick up the survivors.
Titanic had gone down at 2:20 AM. Carpathia took the survivors to New York; the dead were picked up by cable ships from Halifax and brought here, though some were buried at sea. There are many rows of Titanic dead in Halifax cemeteries.
I think it is important to know that these great White Star liners were built for luxury, rather than speed. Unfortunately that of the three giants, only Olympic survived to have a relatively long life.
The Cunarders, Lusitania and Mauretania were capable of speeds up to 28 knots; the Olympic class vessels were only capable of about 23 knots.
The Cunarders were considered to be more modern technically as their main engines were turbines rather than reciprocating and they had quadruple screws.
The Olympic class were triple screw vessels and had a combination of reciprocating and turbine machinery. It is also noteworthy that when Titanic hit the iceberg, she was not going full speed (as often reported), as not all her boilers had been lit. It was planned to light them all the next day and see what speed she could do.
By the way, Harland & Wolff never claimed the Titanic to be unsinkable; but some of the publications at the time about these new liners claimed that the were "practically unsinkable," and thereby created a persistent misunderstanding.
I am sorry to have written an "epistle" about this event but it is not a short story and it affected more shipping lives and events than most realize. It was also a very significant event for Halifax and for Nova Scotia.
Yours truly,
William A. Fisher
Bedford, Nova Scotia
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