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| Sunday, 11 December 2005 |
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Famous Trials that shook the world - Inquiry on Titanic disaster by Lionel Wijesiri The steamer Titanic was built at the Harland & Wolff shipyards of Belfast, Ireland by a company known as White Star Line. She was the second in a trio of the 'Olympic Class' of ships. Olympic was the first and Gigantic (later renamed Britannic) the last. Maiden Voyage
Titanic out on her maiden voyage on April 10, 1912. Her Captain, Edward J. Smith was in command. He was known as 'the millionaires Captain' and was one of the highest paid in the world. This would be his last voyage however, since he was planning to retire to spend more time with his wife and daughter. Among Titanic's First Class passengers were some of the richest, most powerful industrialists of her day. Together, their personal fortunes were worth $ 600 million in 1912, a later investigation revealed. Second Class mainly consisted of professionals on holiday and families who may have booked First Class passage on other ships but were excitedly 'forced' to downgrade to Second Class accommodations on Titanic. The passengers in Third Class consisted mainly of Irish immigrants and those of Mediterranean descent, planning to make a new life in a new country. Life aboard the Titanic was anything but boring. First Class truly lavished in lustrous surroundings. The beauty and elegance of her exquisite Grand Staircase, A La Carte Restaurant, Palm Court. Cafe Parisian, Smoking Room, Library, elegantly decorated staterooms, elevators, state-of-the-art gymnasium, Turkish bath and heated swimming pool rivalled the most luxurious hotels of Europe. In Second Class the library, smoking room and dining room were the enlightenment and enjoyment of many. There was even an elevator for the Second Class passengers. Even Third Class, with its smoking room, general rooms and dining saloons, rivalled second Class on many another ship. Warnings The evening on Sunday, April 14, was reasonably uneventful. The sea was flat calm, the air was brisk but there was no wind. Most passengers were now getting ready to retire for the evening. Some First Class passengers could be found in the lounge playing bridge and other card games. There was talk about a couple of ice warnings which had been received during the day from other steamers; no cause for alarm. At 11:40 p.m. one of the lookouts stationed in the crow's nest, noticed something in the distance. He rang the warning bell, signalling the bridge of an object directly ahead, and picked up the bridge-cro's-nest telephone. A terse exchange over the telephone effectively warned the bridge of the impending danger, however, the warning had come too late to avert a collision. First Officer, William Murdoch was entering the bridge from the starboard wing when the warning came and quickly ordered the ship's helm turned hard starboard. He was hoping to manoeuvre Titanic's bow away from the danger, then attempt to work the stern around but the iceberg was too close. The ship brushed along a submerged spar of the iceberg along her starboard side, opening several varying sized holes along her length to an inrush of water. The engineers informed the Captain that the pumps were incapable of keeping up with the amount of water entering the vessel and would only buy them some extra time. The crew began hastily uncovering and readying the lifeboats to evacuate the vessel. Being aware that there was barely enough lifeboat accommodation for slightly more than half of those on board must have weighed heavily on the captain's mind. Tragedy At 2:20 a.m. two hours and forty minutes after the collision, the vessel broke in two and sank, taking with her over 1,500 lives. The steamship Carpathia arrived on the disaster scene shortly after 4 in the morning. Her captain expected to see Titanic,but was instead confronted with a lone green light,lying low on the water, one of Titanicboats, As daylight crept over the disaster area, lifeboat after lifeboat was sighted as they closed in on the Carpathia's position. The following hours were expended embarking the survivors and retrieving what little remained of Titanic and her boats. Shortly after sunrise the Leyland steamer Californian arrived. Carpathia's captain requested that the California continue searching the area for any survivors. He then turned West and steamed for New York with 705 survivors. The United States and Britain simultaneously initiated inquiries into the Titanic disaster on April 19, a day after the Capathia arrived in New York with the survivors. Each inquiry took testimony from both passengers and the crew of Titanic, members of Californian's crew, and other experts. By July 3, both enquiries were over. Investigations The investigations found that many safety rules were out of date and as a result numerous safety measures were enacted. Both inquiries into the disaster found the Californian and its captain failed to give proper assistance to the Titanic. The inquiries found that the Californian was just 19 miles to the Titanic when the disaster was detected and the captain of the steamer should have awakened the wireless operator after the rockets were first reported to him although the operator was off duty. As a result of the finding, 29 nations ratified the Radio Act of 1912, which streamlined radio communications, especially in the event of emergencies New regulations The disaster also led to the convening of the first International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea in London, England, on November 12, 1913. On January 20, 1915, a treaty was signed by the conference and resulted in the formation and international funding of the International Ice Patrol, an agency of the United States Coast Guard that to the present day monitors and reports on the location of North Atlantic Ocean icebergs that could pose a threat to transatlantic sea lane traffic. It was also agreed in the new regulations that all passenger vessels would have sufficient lifeboats for everyone on board, that appropriate safety drills would be conducted, and that radio communications would be operated 24 hours a day along with a secondary power supply, so as not to miss distress calls. In addition, It was agreed that the firing of red rockets from a ship must be interpreted as a distress signal. The sinking of Titanic has been the basis for many novels describing fictionalised events on board the ship. Titanic has also featured in a large number of films and TV movies. The most widely viewed is the 1997 film Titanic, directed by James Cameron. It became the highest-grossing film in history and won 11 Academy Awards out of 14 nominations, The story was also made into a Broadway musical, Titanic, written by Peter Stone. It ran continuously from 1998 to 2000. |
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