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Hello listeners. Thank you so much for your patience while I was out sick. I was dealing with a rather virulent virus, not COVID, but another virus. I had sinusitis, tonsillitis, and I lost my voice.
So thank you for being patient. It's great to be back with you all. This episode contains discussions of mass accidental death, including the deaths of women and children. If that's not something you want to hear about, this may be a good episode to skip.
The sinking of the Titanic has been meticulously studied for over 100 years. I'm not an expert, but I have read the work of experts in order to provide you with a summary of the incident. I'll also touch briefly on the construction of the ship, the first part of the voyage, the court proceedings after the sinking, and the psychological impact of the incident. If you'd like to hear about the search, discovery, and excavation of the Titanic wreckage, I did a whole episode about the find and the archaeology for Patreon.
So if you'd like to hear it, you can become a patron on Patreon for $2 a month. This gets you access to two ad-free episodes a month. You can join higher tiers if you want other rewards, like outtakes, pub quizzes, bibliographies, and morbid meditations. Go to bit.ly slash morbidpatron to sign up.
That's B-I-T dot-L-Y slash morbidpatron. Humans are fascinated by gore and violence, but even more so, the mysterious and unsolved. Interest in these disturbing and unpleasant subjects is called morbid curiosity, and it has gripped millions of people throughout the ages. I am one of those people.
My name is Halley, and this is the morbid curiosity podcast. Fascination with the RMS Titanic, a British passenger liner operated by white star lines, began before the ship even set sail. It was one of the largest and most opulent passenger vessels of the time, providing luxury even for its third-class passengers. It was marketed as unsinkable due to the inclusion of the latest safety features in its construction.
When this already legendary ship then sank during its first voyage across the Atlantic, killing around two-thirds of its passengers, the legend became a tragedy. The tragedy was then used as a moral lesson, a commentary on Western society, and a metaphor for hubris, the power of nature, and vulnerability of humanity. It was the deadliest sinking in history at the time. When the wreck was finally located in 1986, fascination with the ship, the sinking and the wreck bloomed once more.
To this day, millions find it fascinating, and some pay large sums of money to visit the wreck in submersibles. Unfortunately, it's due to the loss of one of these tourist submersibles, the Titan sub, that the Titanic is back in the public eye. As a lot of interest has been sparked, I put a poll on Patreon to see if the creepy community wanted an episode about the Titanic. The result was a definitive yes.
Let's start from the beginning. The RMS Titanic was one of three Olympic-class ships built by the Harland and Wolf shipyard in Belfast, Northern Ireland. White Star Lines had commissioned the ships in order to compete with the Cunard Lines, their main rival, who had just launched the fastest ships at the time, one of which was the Lusitania, which we discussed in a previous episode. White Star, which was financed by JP Morgan, decided to compete not with the speed of the ships, but their size, safety, and opulence.
Britain was in what historians call the Edwardian Age, an age of invention and optimism surrounding the abilities of humans to create technology. X-rays, the first airplane, the theory of relativity, and the internal combustion engine were all products of the Edwardian Age, as was the steel industry. The Titanic and its sibling ships, the Olympic and Britannic, were designed to be the best of British engineering, milestones in the development of safe transport across the Atlantic. All three were built by Harland and Wolf.
No shipbuilder had ever before attempted to construct vessels of that size, so engineering the construction was a challenge. The Olympic was the first of the three to be completed in 1911, and Titanic was finished in early April of 1912. The people of Belfast were quite proud of their work. It seemed everyone had been part of the build, with 17-23% of the workforce being unskilled labor.
It was a bright light during the political and religious strife that plagued Northern Ireland at the time. There had also been a coal strike near the end of the building of the Titanic, making things even more difficult. Both Olympic and Titanic were fitted with top-of-the-line safety features, including a double-bottom hull, watertight subdivisions, and Marconi wireless telegraph machines. The double-bottom hull was promoted as an extra protection for the underside of the ship in the event of a collision.
This dual layer ran the length of the ship's bottom, but didn't extend up the sides to the water level. The space between these two layers was wide enough for a person to walk between them. The watertight subdivisions were watertight bulkheads that stretched the width of the ship along its ribs, and broke up the interior of the lower decks. Each bulkhead had watertight doors in them.
These were made of heavy cast iron and were fitted with gears to assist in closing them. The doors could be closed in an emergency by the captain via electromagnetic switch, by lever outside the door, and by automatic pulley. These doors were designed so that if any two adjacent compartments were flooded, the ship could remain afloat. It was stated that if four of the 16 compartments should flood, the ship still could remain afloat.
The Marconi machines made communication between the ship and the shore possible. Titanic's machines had a stronger signal than other ships as well. Two men, Jack Phillips, and Harold Bride oversaw passenger correspondence as well as all official communication with the Titanic. In addition, the body of the ship was strengthened with a series of crisscrossing steel ribs and secondary ribs called web frames.
Shell plating and longitudinal girders ran the length of the hull, adding stabilization. The plating was made of steel plates attached to the internal frame, slightly overlapping, and riveted together with wrought iron and steel rivets. Around three million rivets were used in total. Titanic was also equipped with 16 lifeboat davids, each capable of lowering three lifeboats for a total of 48 boats.
However, the ship only carried 20 lifeboats, four of which were collapsible. Twenty lifeboats could hold 1,178 people, about half the number of passengers on board when the ship sank, and a third of the number of passengers the ship could have carried at full capacity. As for the passenger facilities and decor, White Star Line's reputation for superior comfort and luxury was upheld. Titanic was decorated in the style of a British Country Nana or Luxury Hotel, emphasizing comfort but also elegance.
This was most apparent in the first-class areas, but also noticeable in second and third-class. In fact, second and third-class were considered much more comfortable on the Titanic than most other ships at the time. Third-class passengers were also called steerage passengers, as their quarters were usually deeper in the ship closer to the noise of the ship's machinery. On other liners of the time, third-class passengers had to bring their own food and slept in open dormitory-style quarters separated by sex.
Third-class passengers on the Titanic had their own dining facilities, including meals prepared by the kitchen staff three times a day. They also had their own cabins with a maximum of 10 occupants, which were usually occupied by families. Single men shared cabins in the bow section, while single women and families were in the stern section. Third-class passengers had three outdoor spaces, a smoking room and two gathering spaces, where social activities were often held, such as music and dancing.
One of these rooms, the larger of the two, also had a bar and drinking fountains. Third-class passengers were mostly confined to their area of the ship. The Titanic was fitted with gates between different-class areas to prevent mingling between the classes. The gates were normally kept closed and stewards had to open them in the event of an emergency.
This segregation was for both social reasons and a requirement of the United States' immigration laws, which mandated that third-class passengers be segregated to control immigration and to prevent the spread of infectious diseases. All third-class passengers were subject to health checks and processing at Ellis Island. Second-class passenger cabins were generally located mid-ship. Besides their own dining facilities, second-class also had extra facilities, such as a library, a smoking room, a barbershop, and three outdoor promenades.
There were two staircases and an elevator for second-class passengers. This was the only second-class elevator in existence at the time. In fact, the second-class facilities and rooms were quite spacious and elegant compared to first-class spaces on other liners. First-class cabins and facilities were generally on the upper decks, furthest away from the noise of the engines.
The cabins were beautifully decorated and ranged from single rooms to suites. Numerous sporting and relaxation facilities were also available to first-class passengers, including a gym with various exercise equipment, Turkish baths with steam room and a massage parlor, a swimming pool, squash court, and a barbershop. The dining room was the largest room on the ship. A reception room, lounge, smoking room, reading and writing room were also included, and at the center of it all, the ornate and beautiful grand staircase, which connected all the first-class areas.
There were also three restaurants offering more lavish meals for an extra fee. On the 2nd of April 1912, just two days after finishing touches on the passenger spaces were completed, standard sea trials began for the Titanic, just eight days before the ship was scheduled to begin its first voyage. The trials took place in Belfast Law and then the open sea. For around 12 hours, Titanic was driven at different speeds, turned this way and that, and a crash stop was performed in which the engines were fully reversed, and the ship came to a full stop in three minutes and 15 seconds.
At the end of the trials, Titanic was declared sea-worthy. An hour later, the ship left for Southampton, arriving on April 4th, ready for crew and passengers to board. Ticket prices varied from quite reasonable to very expensive. Third-class fares from London, Southampton or Queenstown to America cost 7 pounds, 5 pence, the equivalent of 800 pounds today, while the lower end of the first-class tickets were about 23 pounds, which is around 2,400 pounds today.
The most expensive first-class suites were around 870 pounds, the equivalent of 92,000 pounds today. Because of this wide range of prices, there was a wide range of people traveling on the ship. The exact number of passengers aboard when the ship sank is unknown, as not all of those who booked tickets made it to the ship, and not all of those who boarded, stayed aboard for the entire journey. The third-class passengers were mostly immigrants, hoping to start anew in the United States or Canada.
The majority were of British, Irish, and Scandinavian descent, but passengers also traveled from Central and Eastern Europe, the Levant, and Asia. Some traveled alone or in small family groups. Several groups of mothers were traveling alone with their young children, possibly joining husbands who had found jobs in America and could finally afford to bring them over. Others were looking for work themselves.
Tourists, academics, clergy members, and middle-class families made up most of the second-class passengers. The ship's musicians also traveled second-class. The only known passengers of African ancestry on the Titanic were traveling second-class. The La Roche family hoped that in Haiti, they could avoid the racial discrimination they had suffered in Paris.
The Titanic's first-class passenger list was full of many of the most prominent upper-class individuals, business magnates, celebrity fashion designers, philanthropists from old money, and one or two truly self-made millionaires. First-class passengers traveled accompanied by personal staff. Daily required servants such as maids, valets, and governesses were in first-class with their employers, though never in the same cabin. Personal staff in first-class cabins were provided with their own dining room, with a menu closer to the second-class menu.
The larger number of third-class passengers, around 709 people, meant that they were the first to board. Second-class was next, with around 284 passengers. Finally, about an hour before departure, around 324 first-class passengers boarded the Titanic. In total, around 1,317 passengers were aboard, despite Titanic being able to accommodate about double that number.
Of these passengers, 107 were children, most of whom were in third-class. Apart from the passengers, just over 900 crew worked aboard the Titanic, most were male, with only 23 being female. There were many specialized crew members, such as engineers, physicians, sailors, kitchen staff, and ship's officers, as well as manual laborers such as coal stokers, greasers, cleaners, and table-busters. Most crew stayed in cramped dormitory-style cabins along the main thoroughfare in the third-class section of the ship.
Stewards and stewardesses, for the first- and second-class passengers, had two-person cabins scattered around those areas of the ship. Sections of the crew ate in separate mess halls, such as the officers' mess hall and the firemen's mess hall. Food was generally provided by the same kitchens as the passengers. The Titanic departed Southampton with much fanfare and thousands of onlookers at noon on April 10.
At 4 p.m. the same day, the ship arrived in Sherbo in northwest France. Around 275 additional passengers came aboard, and 24 passengers disembarked. At 8 p.m., Titanic left for Queenstown on the southern coast of Ireland, arriving at 11.30 a.m.
on Thursday the 11th April, 123 more passengers boarded, and 7 passengers disembarked. At 1.30 p.m., Titanic began its journey across the Atlantic. For four days it was smooth sailing, if not a little cold for that time of year. On the 14th April 1912, six messages warning of drifting ice were received from other ships in the area.
Ice conditions in the north Atlantic were the worst for any April in the previous 50 years. Unfortunately, these messages weren't all related to the captain, as the radio operators prioritized passenger correspondence over weather reports. Despite the visible ice around them, the crew didn't reduce the ship's speed. This decision was later criticized as reckless, but it was standard practice at the time.
North Atlantic liners prioritized staying on schedule, going full speed and treating ice alerts as informative, but not as a call to action. It was widely believed that ice posed little risk. Close calls were not uncommon, and even head on collisions had not been disastrous. Most passengers had gone to bed as Titanic journeyed amongst the icebergs.
The air temperature had fallen to near freezing, and the ocean was completely calm, reflecting the stars like a mirror. It's now known that calm water like this is a sign of nearby pack ice. There was no moon, and there were no waves, making it difficult to see any icebergs. At 11.40 pm, ships look out Frederick Fleet, spotted in icebergs straight ahead of Titanic, and sounded the alarm.
It was too late to slow down, so the first officer turned the ship just in time to avoid a head-on collision. Pieces of ice fell onto the decks, and the starboard side of the ship scraped across an underwater spur of ice. Once past the iceberg, Titanic's engines were stopped, leaving the bow facing north as the ship slowly drifted south. The collision was long thought to have produced a huge opening in Titanic's hull.
Modern ultrasound surveys of the wreck have found that the actual damage to the hull consisted of six narrow openings, covering a total area of about only 13 square feet, or 1.2 meters squared. The hull was not punctured, but rather dented, causing it seems to buckle and separate, allowing water to rush into five of the watertight compartments. Above the waterline, hardly any impact was noticed. The first-class passengers and crew noticed a shutter.
Second-class felt more of an impact, and those on the lowest decks, the third-class passengers, engine room, and off-duty crew, were startled by a heavy jolt and what was described as a grinding, tearing sound. Water poured into the punctured sections, creating an extremely dangerous situation, as the ship's boilers were still full of hot, high-pressure steam and could explode if they suddenly encountered cold seawater. The stokers and firemen reduced the fires and vented the boilers, sending great quantities of steam up the funnel venting pipes. They were waist-deep in freezing water by the time they had finished this.
An unfortunate flaw in design came into play at this point. While the watertight bulkheads extended well above the waterline, they were not sealed at the top. As the bow filled with water, it dipped down, and the water in the compartments began to spill over the top of the bulkheads into adjacent, non-breached compartments. Within 45 minutes of the collision, the first five compartments were completely flooded.
The officers knew the Titanic was doomed. They predicted the ship would be underwater in roughly two hours. The flooding wasn't constant or evenly distributed throughout the ship. It began to list or lean to the starboard side, and the bow began to sink noticeably.
About half an hour after the ship had hit the iceberg, now after midnight, the captain ordered the lifeboats uncovered and the passengers woken. He ordered distress calls be sent by the radio operators, but unfortunately, they didn't know the position of the ship as it had drifted. There was no PA system on board, so the stewards in each class went door-to-door, waking passengers in any crew still asleep. As the first class stewards oversaw only a few cabins, they could personally help the passengers to the deck.
The second and third class stewards were responsible for larger numbers of people, and moved as fast as they could, throwing open doors and ordering life preservers be equipped. Third class passengers were mostly just told to come on to the deck. Many passengers hesitated, disbelieving that the mighty Titanic had encountered a problem that would require such measures. It was bitterly cold out, and passengers wanted to remain in their warm cabins.
No one had been told the ship was sinking. At 1215, passengers were ordered into their life preservers, though many took this order as a joke. It was also hard to hear these orders, as air was being forced out of the ship as water rushed in, and the boilers were still venting high-pressure steam. The crew prepared the lifeboats.
At the time, lifeboats were intended to transfer passengers off one ship and onto another, therefore due to the assumption of time for multiple trips and a place to empty the lifeboats, most liners carried far fewer lifeboats than necessary to accommodate all passengers and crew. Also, only one lifeboat drill had been conducted before the ship set sail, and not all crew had participated. They didn't know how many people would safely fit in a lifeboat. Most crew weren't sailors, and many had no prior experience roving a boat.
With the call of women and children first, the crew began moving passengers into the lifeboats. Many first class passengers weren't willing to board the boats, still believing the Titanic wouldn't sink, as the tilting of the bow had slowed. Third class passengers were mostly absent from the boat deck. In the rush of waking passengers and leading women and children to the boat deck, some stewards had neglected to open all the gates to the third class, leaving those passengers trapped below deck as the ship filled with water.
Some third class survivors later stated that some of these gates had been closed on purpose by stewards to keep those passengers from rushing the lifeboats. Other stewards, such as John Edward Hart, bravely guided as many third class passengers to the boat deck as they could. Many third class passengers couldn't speak English, making it difficult to find a way to the boat deck on their own. The first lifeboat, No.
7, on the starboard side, was launched at 12.45 am. Not knowing the lifeboat's capacity, the crew aired on the side of caution, putting 28 people in a boat that could have held 65. Steam from the boilers was still spewing out of the funnels, causing a deafening roar, making the loading go even slower. Lifeboat No.
6 on the port side was the next boat launched, again with 28 people aboard. Lifeboats were lowered every few minutes on either side of the ship, most under-filled. The evacuation didn't go smoothly, with several passengers suffering accidents and injuries. A woman fell between Lifeboat No.
10 and the side of the ship, was caught by her ankle and hauled back onto the promenade deck. She made it safely into a boat on her second try. Another woman broke several ribs and was knocked unconscious when two men jumped into the boat behind her. By 1.20 am, the seriousness of the situation became apparent to the passengers, as distress flares were fired every few minutes, to attract the attention of any nearby ships.
The radio operators repeatedly sent the distress signals. They contacted several other ships, one of which was the RMS Carpathia, which was the closest at 58 miles or 93 kilometers away. It would take at least four hours for Carpathia to reach Titanic. Meanwhile, hundreds of crewmen fought to maintain vital services, as water continued to pour into the ship.
Chief Engineer Bell and his team, plus a handful of volunteer firemen and greasers, stayed below, continuing to vent steam from the boilers, and keeping the electrical generators running so the lights would stay on and the radio could keep broadcasting. Several witness accounts state that these men kept the electricity going until just before the ship went under, dying at their stations. By 1.30, Titanic's downward angle was increasing. The remaining lifeboats were filled much closer to capacity and in an increasing rush.
Some were overfilled as well. Panic set in. A group of male passengers attempted to rush into lifeboat number 14 as it was being lowered. Fifth Officer Lowe, who oversaw that boat, fired three warning shots in the air to control the crowd.
At 2.05 am, the last boat, Collapsible Lifeboat D, was launched with 25 people aboard. Collapsible boats A and B could not be properly launched. Collapsible beef flimmed away from the ship upside down, while Collapsible A became half-filled with water after the supports for its canvas sides were broken as it was pulled out of storage. The icy water had reached the boat deck.
Most remaining passengers and crew headed towards the stern. A priest was hearing confessions and giving up solutions, and Titanic's band continued to play outside the gymnasium. At about 2.15, Titanic's angle in the water began to increase rapidly as water poured in through the deck hatches. An icy wave washed along the ship, sweeping many people into the sea.
The forward funnel collapsed, crushing several people, and only narrowly missing a lifeboat. The stern rose high into the air as the bow sank further. There was a loud noise, possibly the boilers exploding, then the ship's lights flickered and went out, plunging the scene into darkness. The Titanic disappeared beneath the waves at 2.20 am, two hours and 40 minutes after striking the iceberg.
Hundreds of passengers and crew were left floating in the ICC, surrounded by debris. At negative 2 degrees Celsius, or 28 degrees Fahrenheit, the water was lethally cold. Almost everyone in the water died within 15 to 30 minutes, either from cardiac arrest, hyperventilating water into the lungs, or cold shock. A small number of people were able to make their way to the two unlaunched collapsible boats and climb in or on top of them.
The people in the lifeboats nearest the ship reported hearing the horrifying sound of people dying in the water. Many survivors likened it to the sounds of a crowd at a sporting match or swarm of insects. Lawrence Beasley, an English science teacher who survived and wrote a book about his experience, reported hearing, quote, every possible emotion of human fear, despair, agony, fierce resentment, and blind anger mingled, end quote. After about 20 minutes, the cries began to fade.
The silence that followed was even worse. Fifth officer Lowe mounted a rescue attempt at this point, gathering five of the lifeboats together and transferring occupants between them to free up space in number 14. Lowe and a small team then rode back to the site of the sinking. By the time they reached the site, almost everyone in the water was dead.
Hundreds of bodies in life preservers drifted in the water, many with their limbs drawn up against the cold. Only a few voices still called for help. Lowe found four men still alive, one of whom died shortly after being pulled into the boat. In the other lifeboats, there was nothing the survivors could do but hope and wait for rescue.
The air was bitterly cold. Several of the boats had seawater in them. There wasn't any food or drinkable water, and hardly any lights. Collapsible B, which was still upside down and kept afloat only by an air pocket, had around 30 people clinging to it.
As dawn approached, the wind rose and the sea became choppy, forcing those on Collapsible B to stand up to balance it. Some were so exhausted that they slipped into the sea and drowned. The RMS Carpathia steamed through the night at high speed and considerable risk, dodging numerous icebergs. Its lights became visible to the lifeboats at around 3.30 AM, granting a sliver of hope to the survivors.
It arrived at the scene at about 4 AM. The passengers and crew of Carpathia were startled by what they saw. There was so much ice that the sea looked like an undulating snowfield dotted with iceberg hills. Captain Arthur Rastran of Carpathia recounted 20 large birds measuring up to 200 feet or 61 meters high, numerous smaller birds and ice flows scattered with debris from Titanic.
The men standing on Collapsible B finally managed to board two other lifeboats, but one survivor died just before he made it into a boat. Collapsible A was nearly filled with water, and around half its occupants had died overnight. The survivors were transferred into another lifeboat, leaving the bodies. The survivors boarded the Carpathia as they were able.
Some were strong enough to climb up rope ladders, others had to be hoisted up in slings. It took several hours to bring all the survivors aboard, but by 9 AM, around 700 people had been rescued. The last lifeboat to reach the ship was number 12, with 74 people aboard a boat designed to carry 65. Had all the lifeboats been filled to capacity, an additional 500 people could have been saved.
Carpathia had been bound for Europe, but without the supplies to support all the new passengers, a return course to New York was set. The voyage was difficult, with pack ice, fog, thunderstorms, and rough seas to contend with. It took three days to reach New York after the rescue, but news of the disaster reached shore on the same day by radio. The ship's unscheduled return to New York whipped the press into a frenzy.
Journalists fought to be the first to report on the incident. Crowds gathered outside newspaper offices to see the latest reports. When Carpathia arrived on the evening of April 18, around 40,000 people were gathered in the driving rain awaiting the details. It was only after Carpathia docked that the severity of the situation became apparent.
The public reaction to the disaster was one of shock, grief, and outrage. It took four days after Carpathia docked for a complete list of casualties to be released, leaving relatives in agony as they waited for news of their loved ones. Of the 2,200 or so people aboard, only 706 people had survived. 1,517 died in the sinking.
The heaviest losses were in Southampton, the home port to about 700 crew members. In Belfast, shipyard workers wept in streets in grief, but also guilt, as the builders felt they were responsible in some way. In Liverpool, the scene was one of rage rather than sorrow. White Starline representatives were forced to announce the casualty list from the balcony of the company headquarters, or risk being assaulted.
Immediate relief for the survivors came in the form of clothing and transportation to shelters, provided by the Women's Relief Committee, the Travelers Aid Society of New York, and the Council of Jewish Women, among other organizations. The Pennsylvania Railroad provided free train transport to Philadelphia. Titanic's 214 surviving crew members were taken to the Red Star Line steamer SS Lapland, where they were accommodated in passenger cabins. Carpathia was hurriedly restocked with food before resuming its journey to Europe.
Its crew was given a month's extra wages as a reward for their actions. In the days after, public inquiries occurred in both Britain and the United States. The US inquiry began on the 19th of April, and the British inquiry commenced on May 2nd. Both reached similar conclusions.
The regulations on the number of lifeboats that ships had to carry were out of date and inadequate. Captain Smith had failed to take proper heat of ice warnings. The lifeboats had not been properly filled or crude, and the collision was the direct result of entering a danger area at too high a speed. However, neither court claimed negligence by the parent company, International Mercantile Marine Company, or White Star Lines.
Standard practice had been followed, so the incident was called an act of God. White Star chartered four ships to retrieve the dead. Each ship carried embalming supplies, undertakers, and clergy. Upon recovery, each body was numbered and a detailed description written to aid in identification.
The physical appearance of each body, the height, weight, age, hair, and eye color, visible birthmarks, scars or tattoos, were catalogued, and any personal effects on the bodies were gathered and placed in small canvas bags with corresponding numbers. There were so many bodies that the embalming supplies were quickly exhausted. Health regulations permitted that only embalmed bodies could be returned to port. Therefore, captains decided to preserve all the bodies of first-class passengers, as wealthy men's confirmed identities were necessary to resolve disputes over large estates.
116 bodies of third-class passengers and crew were therefore buried at sea, only 56 having been identified. Once again, first-class was put before all others. Complaints were filed by the families of those buried at sea. Later ships found fewer bodies, and were able to limit burials at sea to bodies that were too damaged to preserve.
In total, 328 bodies were recovered, with 119 being buried at sea, and 209 being brought ashore at Halifax, Nova Scotia. A temporary morgue was set up in a curling rink, and undertakers came from across Eastern Canada to assist. Relatives came to identify and claim their dead. Some bodies were transported for burial in their hometowns.
Only two-thirds of the bodies were identified. The remaining 150 unclaimed bodies were buried in various cemeterias in Halifax, with simple black granite headstones paid for by the White Star Lines. The Titanic disaster led to major changes in maritime safety regulations, such as adequate numbers of lifeboats for passengers, mandated lifeboat drills, 24-7 radio operators, priority given to emergency and hazard messages over private radio messages, radio messages being accepted across all radio networks, and an international ice patrol was set up to monitor the presence of icebergs in the North Atlantic. Maritime safety regulations were also internationally standardized.
Many survivors suffered from what we know today as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD. Male passengers who survived by getting into lifeboats, such as Jay Bruce Ismay, managing director of White Star, were villainized by the press, being called cowards, which led many to become reclusive. Jack Thayer, then 17, survived by diving into the water and clinging to the upturned collapsible boat. The press called him a hero, yet he suffered from severe depression for years after and eventually took his own life.
Frank Goldsmith, a third-class passenger, could never attend a sporting event again, due to the similarity of the noise of the crowd to the sounds of those dying in the water. Most survivors refused to talk about that night in detail. In many retellings of the Titanic tragedy, Blame is placed on an unforeseen brush with nature, instead of the ship's owners, designers, navigators and regulators. The sacrifice of the elite white males is highlighted, as is the stoicism of the musicians who continued to play as the ship sank.
This is not consciously done, but it happens nonetheless. The myth surrounding the sinking perpetuates this, ignoring the thousands of lives of non-elite passengers. Only 123 of the 1500 victims were first-class passengers. Most were crew members, followed by second and third-class passengers.
The story of the demise of the unsinkable ship that sank during its first voyage is sometimes referred to as a metaphor for humanity itself, a chilling testimony to greed, classism, arrogance and catastrophic disrespect for the destructive forces of nature. But Titanic has more to teach us if we are patient and persistent enough to gather information about all its passengers, not just first-class. History is about people, and through thorough study we can glean even more information about all those who traveled with the Titanic. It is in this way that we respect the dead, and also tend to our sparks of morbid curiosity.
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