Titanic: 100 Years of Tragedy

RMS Titanic

"I know this isn’t scientific, but this ship’s warning me she’s gonna die and take a lot of people with her."
-Thomas Andrews, Managing Director of Harland and Wolff Shipyards, Titanic's builder

Most people remember the '97 film staring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet- star-crossed lovers Jack and Rose, who struggle in a fight for their lives on the maiden voyage of the 'unsinkable' White Star Line luxury liner Titanic. We all know the ending- Jack dies of hypothermia; Rose survives. But there's more to the story than what we saw in theaters.

Over 1500 people died when the ship sank in the middle of the Atlantic on April 15th, 1912 at 2:20 AM. The majority were third class passengers and crew members, and the majority of those- men. Over 600 survived, the majority women and children. Very little of the crew survived, and none of the animals on board.



The Titanic was quoted as being the "grandest luxury ship of her time." J. Bruce Ismay, the director of White Star Line, spent the majority of his time before the voyage making sure the world knew that the Titanic was "unsinkable." Unfortunately, Ismay would later be called responsible for causing over 1,000 deaths in the greatest maritime disaster to date.

The Grand Staircase

First and second class passengers stayed in luxury, enjoying private promanade decks and-at the time- the first Turkish bath to ever be on a liner. Perhaps the most well known part of the ship, however, is the Grand Staircase that lead down to the dining saloons on D-deck. Topped with a huge glass dome and situated on the landing- the clock situated between the figures of Honor and Glory Crowning Time- the staircase was most likely an absolutely beautiful piece of architecture.

The first few days of Titanic's maiden voyage went well enough. Nothing truly eventful happened until the night of April 14th. At 11:40 pm, Titanic struck the iceberg that Lookout Frederick Fleet had tried to warn Captain Smith and First Officer Murdoch about.

At first, passengers were told not to panic, but as the ship began to sink further and further into the ocean, panic began to set in. Of the over 1,800 people on board, only about 700 would survive in only 20 lifeboats. One of those lifeboats would capsize, allowing men to scramble aboard after the ship sinks.

The majority of the survivors would be women and children; the men that did survive were crew members who manned the boats and the few men who managed to climb into boats before they were being lowered. However, several prominent men went down the ship, including Captain Edward Smith, businessmen Benjamin Guggenheim and John Jacob Astor IV, and Titanic's builder Thomas Andrews.

Isidor and Ida Straus

One such man was Isidor Straus, the co-owner of Macy's Department Store. In one of the more touching and heartbreaking stories of the sinking ship, witnesses reportedly heard Ida Straus say, "I will not be separated from my husband. As we have lived, so will we die, together." when he and other men tried to persuade her to enter a lifeboat. They perished together.

Ruth Becker

Of the children to survive, two are perhaps the most well-known: seven-year-old Eva Hart and twelve-year-old Ruth Becker. Both girls survived the sinking; Eva lost her mother. Ruth, a passenger in Lifeboat 13, remembered being nearly crushed by Lifeboat 15 as both boats made their way down towards the water.

Eva Hart and he parents

Eva was perhaps the most outspoken of the Titanic survivors- speaking out against the salvage of the wreck, and the lack of lifeboats on the ship. Eva later said in an interview that "I saw it, I heard it, and nobody could possibly forget it.... the worst thing I can remember are the screams." Eva died on Valentine's Day, 1996. Ruth died six years earlier in July.

The lives that were lost on April 15th, 1912 at 2:20 am in the middle of the Atlantic 100 years ago are still remembered- in the Maritime Museums around the world, the novels, and the movies made about the sinking. Several victims that were not claimed reside in the Fairview Cemetery in Halifax, with the numbers they were ID'd with, and the dates of death- April 15, 1912. One such victim however, has been identified, though the name has not been added to the stone.

In 2007, DNA revealed that the remains of the Unknown Child belonged to one-and-a-half-year-old Sidney Goodwin, a third class passenger. It was confirmed in 2011. Sidney and his family perished in the sinking. The stone Sidney resides beneath is adorned with toys and ribbons left by visitors.

Despite the remains being identified, it was decided that the stone's epitaph would not change. It would remain the same, in honor of the children and victims who were unidentified and buried in the cemetery:

"Erected to the memory of an unknown child whose remains were recovered after the disaster to the Titanic, April 15, 1912."

The cemetery in Halifax is designed to look like the left side of a ship- mirroring the side of the Titanic that had been struck- the right.

The Titanic is a story that all can learn from, and that people do not forget. No matter how many years go by, the fact remains that hundreds and hundreds of lives were lost on the maiden voyage of a ship that should have been sailing the sea until she wasn't able to anymore. Instead, she rests on the bottom of the ocean, surrounded by those she took with her that long ago night in 1912.

May those that lost their lives that fated night rest in peace, and may we never forget the courage, sacrifice and heartbreak caused by such a tragedy. 



RMS Titanic
April 10 - April 15, 1912

~ Bridget Aine