The history of creation and the tragic death of the steamer Titanic. Titanic

Lawrence Beasley.
The death of the steamer "Titanic", its history and lessons.

Lawrence Beesley. The Loss of the S.S. Titanic: Its Story and Lessons.

Preface.

1. Brief bibliographic review.
On the night of April 15, 1912, the Titanic sank, and with it the myth of its unsinkability. But the mythological spirit immediately came to life, having its faithful servants in the person of journalists and writers. The initiator of the cult was the Lloyd Insurance Company, which published a volume based on the materials of its bulletins, entitled: “The immortal story of the Titanic: a comprehensive narrative with many illustrations” (P. Gibbs. The Deathless Story of the Titanic: Complete Narrative with Many Illustrations. London: Lloyd's Weekly News, 1912). Behind the scenes of myth-making were companies concerned about the multiplication of people disappointed in shipbuilding achievements. The degree of this disappointment noticeably exceeded the enthusiasm reflected in two books of the 1910 edition, equally devoted to the triumphant development of steamship building: E. Keble Chatterton. Steamships and Their Story and R.A. Fletcher. Steam Ships. The Story of Their Development to the Present Day.
Not so long ago, the world seemed to have changed irrevocably since 1838, when the little steamship Sirius crossed the Atlantic nonstop. And just now, when the speedy, capacious and safe steamer personified the progressive movement, the news of unimaginable victims was heard like a bolt from the blue, forcing the heavenly judge to question (A. White. The Titanic Tragedy: God Speaking to the Nations. Pentecostal Union, Bound Brook, New York, 1913 ) . But even a clear response from above would be distorted in an atmosphere of incredible rumors. Dozens of eyewitnesses confessed before the US Senate Commission, but even the head of the White Star Line, Mr. Ismay, who was first questioned, knew little beyond his cabin number. All the more noticeably, sensations prevailed in the screaming discord, including the author of a book with the subtitle ONLY AUTHORITATIVE BOOK (the ONLY RELIABLE BOOK) reported on the revolver in the captain's hand, the suicide of Murdoch's first mate, the capsizing of four boats on the starboard side, and other fables (L. Marshall. The Sinking of the Titanic and Great Sea Disasters. Philadelphia, Pa.: The John C. Winston Co., 1912).
With the outbreak of the First World War, the excitement will subside, so that in the 30s the Titanic becomes an indicator of the coming global catastrophe. Soothing memories of the captain of the Carpathia (Rostron, Captain Arthur. Home from the Sea. New York: Macmillan, 1931) was not enough to calm the Europeans in view of the carelessness of the leaders of England and France towards the sworn enemy of the Versailles system, A. Hitler. After all, even Captain Smith read the notices about the danger of ice nonchalantly, and the second officer Lightoller, who swore in 1912 to deny the possibility of observing an iceberg, now only repeated his excuse: "then everything was against us"(C. H. Lightroller. Titanic and Other Ships. London: Nicholson & Watson, 1935). The obsequiousness of technocracy has been denounced more than once by the authors of anti-utopias, and it was enough to rename the Titanic into Cosmos in order to imagine the resumption of the struggle for world championship as soon as possible (B. Kellermann. Das blue band, S. Fischer, Berlin, 1938; Russian translation: B. Kellerman. blue ribbon, M., Fiction, 1968). Frightened by the imminent denouement, the public willingly accepted not only a poetic view of events (Pratt, E.J. The Titanic. Toronto: Macmillan, 1935), but also their completely fantastic interpretation (Prechtl Robert. Titanic. E.P. Dutton & Co., New York, 1940).
From the Second World War, civilization moved to even more intense technical improvements, relying on the principles of self-government of machines and people, fundamental to cybernetics. The agony of the Titanic will be recreated by W. Lord, author of The Last Night of the Titanic (W. Lord. A night to remember. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1955), who clarified the vague circumstances in contacts with living passengers and crew members. Lord will furnish the tragic scene with many illustrations and strengthen background facts, so that the myth will come true. As a result, despite the award-winning American film in 1953 Titanic, 5 years later, the British film of the same name to Lord's bestseller will be released. Much later, Lord's book will be published: "The Night Continues: New Views, Hypotheses, and Revelations about the Titanic" (W. Lord. A Night Lives On: New Thoughts, Theories and Revelations About the Titanic. New York: William Morrow, 1986). Since it was about the most controversial moments of the tragedy - the vulnerable structure of the ship, the stupid radio traffic, the useless launch of rockets, as well as the obscure mourning melody - Lord unwittingly facilitated the further mythologization of the Titanic.
Undoubtedly, the participation of K. Kussler, who called out "Raise the Titanic!" (Cussler, Clive, ^ Raise the Titanic! New York: Viking Press, 1976), in the epochal accomplishment of R. Ballard, who found the cult remains after 9 years. It was possible not to wait for the revelations of the author (R. Ballard. The Discovery of the Titanic. New York, Toronto: Warner Books, Madison Press, 1987) so that the wreckage of the tragic scene would cause a tangible upsurge of creativity. True, judging by Ballard's embellishment of his book with Ken Marshall's delightful paintings, there was now only one step from materializing the Titanic to fetishizing it. In any case, it has become more difficult for writers to show off their originality, whether judging facts in the light of myth or judging myth in the light of facts:
M. Gardner. M. Gardner, The Wreck of the Titanic Foretold? Amherst, NY: Prometheus, 1986.

M. Davy. M. Davie. The Titanic - The Full Story of a Tragedy. Bodley Head, 1986.

L. Harrison. Harrison, Leslie. A Titanic Myth: the Californian Incident. London: William Kimber, 1986.

M. Davy. M. Davie. Titanic: the Death and Life of a Legend. New York: Knopf: 1987.

J. P. Eaton. and C. A. Haas. J. P. Eaton and C. A. Haas. Titanic: Destination Disaster - the Legend and Reality. New York: Norton, 1987.

C. R. Pellegrino. "His Name is Titanic: The Untold Story of the Wreck and the Search for the Unsinkable Ship", New York, McGraw Hill, 1988. (C. R. Pellegrino. Her Name Titanic: The Untold Story of the Sinking and Finding of the U nsinkable Ship. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1988.)

D. Bristow. D. Bristow. Titanic, R.I.P.: Can dead men tell tales?. Detroit: Harlo Press, 1989

Y. McInnis.« A New Look on the Titanic" , Charlottesville, Thomasson-Grand, 1992. (J. MacInnis. Titanic in a New Light. Thomasson-Grant, Charlottesville, VA, 1992.)

P. Boyd-Smith. P. Boyd-Smith. Titanic: From Rare Historical Reports. Southampton: Brooks, 1992. Titanic: From Rare Historical Reports, Southampton, White Star, 1992.

J. W. Hilton. The Titanic Legacy, Stanford University Press, 1995

D. Bristow. “Titanic: the legend has faded”, Center. California. D. Bristow. Titanic: Sinking A Myth. Katco Literary Group of Central Calif., 1995.

P. Hyer. P. Heyer. Titanic Legacy: Disaster as Media Event and Myth. Westport, CT: Praeger, 1995.
There is hardly a more obvious sign of the persistence of the cult most zealously cast by the readers of the insurance bulletins. In turn, if the Titanic remains a victim of chance, it is not surprising that there is a demand for eyewitness accounts. In particular, the book by J. Winocour "The story of the Titanic, told by the rescued people" (J. Winocour. The Story of the Titanic: as Told by its Survivors. New York: Dover, 1960) is compiled from the memoirs of passengers L. Beasley and A. Gracie, radio operator H. Bride and officer C. Lightoller. Many memoirs were republished separately, and most often the book by Archibald Gracie "The Truth About the Titanic" (Gracie A. The Truth About the Titanic. Mitchell Kennerley, New York, 1913) - in 1973, 1985, 1986 and 1996
Lawrence Beasley wrote his book, being convinced of the responsibility of the whole society, and not just shipowners, in the fate of the Titanic. Therefore, it is worth reminding the reader of the socio-cultural origins of the tragedy, which has caused a tangible resonance so far.

2. A tragedy in one act with a prologue.
The rapid advances in technology in the 19th century encouraged writers to imagine arbitrarily distant times. E. A. Poe was the first to distinguish himself in the science fiction field, who in 1844 announced the 75-hour flight across the Atlantic of the Victoria balloon. It was an obvious "mind game" about a flying machine moving towards a target without much effort or risk. Meanwhile, if air, earth and sea have become equivalent elements, then the final phrase: "What great events may follow, it is now impossible to predict" would direct attention to space, if the author had not been interested in the details of this enterprise. Of course, the future of people in the age of machines also depended on the way they act, expressed from now on. technical means. Discovering this future was more convenient for inventors, whose biographies would become more desirable than amorous adventures. Starting with Five Weeks in a Balloon (1863), Jules Verne will take over the minds, although his then-written novel Paris in the 20th Century had been waiting for publication for 131 years, as skyscrapers, cars, fax machines, calculators, computers and etc. reflected the spiritual decline of contemporary society. (The publisher, who refused to publish this forecast, was not even touched by the electric devices that revived people after a catastrophic cold snap in Europe.)
Jules Verne warns people against the technical race through the mouth of Robur the aviator: "the progress of science should not overtake the improvement of morals". A little earlier, H. J. Wells, in The Time Machine (1895), remarked that the greater the victory over the forces of nature technology gives us, the more vulnerable we are to the forces that lie within us. But it is possible to restrain progress only under the impression of massive human casualties, it was not for nothing that Lao Tzu called for abandoning the use of weapons of rare inhabitants of small states. Coming from the early 30s World War prompted Wells to highlight the events leading up to and following the military crisis. In The Image of the Future (1933), as soon as the aggressor appears armed with gas bombs, the deepening twilight of the world will be dissipated by artificial light not earlier than 2055. That is, only when "feverish tension" will change "quiet efficiency", the society will use mobile radiotelephones and carry out a lunar expedition.
In the meantime, the price of an urgent solution to technical problems in the struggle for a place under the primeval sun will be determined. W. Lord, in the preface to his reconstruction of the tragic night, recalled M. Robertson (1861-1915), the author of the novel Vanity, or the Crash of the Titan (1898). This self-described "wretched writer" has managed to see nearly all of his predictions come true after pursuing his fortune as a cowboy, watchmaker, mate and jeweler. For 19 years, more than 200 works by Robertson were published, mostly short fantastic stories about voyages in difficult, if not simply hellish conditions for sailors. Above all, his work was appreciated by the Holland Submarine company, which paid 50 thousand dollars for the idea of \u200b\u200ba periscope from the book "The Submarine Destroyer" (M. Robertson. The Submarine Destroyer, 1905).
The unfading glory of Robertson was the characteristics and circumstances of the death of a giant ship, and in "Vanity" the drama of collecting an insurance premium is also highlighted. The similarity of the hypothetical and real ships is phenomenal, and yet from 1907 to 1929 the Blue Ribbon of the Atlantic was awarded to the Lusitania and Mauritania. This success of the Cunard company was echoed by the appearance of its competitor, the White Star Line, of slower, but colossal steamships. Here you can feel the classic Olympic spirit, conveyed in English language the unambiguous word "olympic", and the spirit of the archaic (synonyms for the word "titanic": colossal, gigantic, monumental, etc.). The Olympic and the Titanic—the third ship was going to be called the Gigantic—represented man's primordial striving for advantage in all circumstances.
An iceberg is equally fateful for the Titan and Titanic - the greater the chance, the more invulnerable the sailors are endowed. To actualize this danger, William Stead wrote a fantastic story "From the Old World to the New" (W. T. Stead. From the old World to the New, 1892) about the steamer "Majestic", which from 2000 people. on board he went into the ice in order to remove a slightly alive person from the iceberg. In 20 years, Stead will die with the Titanic, redeeming with his life the decision of the International Convention for the Safety of Mariners to establish the International Ice Patrol in 1913.
If icebergs exist, carelessness towards them is incomprehensible to the mind. It remains to consider catastrophes as a means of exciting the public, living day by day. On an August evening in 1911, the British liner "Columbia" with 599 passengers disfigured its nose on an iceberg in the waters of about. New Foundland, and neither the reduced speed in the fog nor the “full back” command helped to avoid the impact. Fortunately, the sandbags that occupied the forward compartment weakened the onslaught, and the passengers remained calm, even receiving concussions and scratching their faces with ice. According to The New-York Times of August 7, in the first class cabin was one J. Nielson, who also happened to be on board the City of Rome when it collided with an iceberg in 1899. He will be reminded of the present impact by clothes stained spicy soup with spices, ice cream, coffee, fried kidneys and other foods. After dinner, the visitors of the salon moved to the music room for a concert - much less entertaining in comparison with the dance of plates and glasses at the moment of the collision. Grateful for the exquisite pastime, the gentlemen and ladies collected $19 and divided it between the lookout sailor, the boatswain's mate and the most scratched engine room oiler. The last rehearsal of the tragedy left the impression of a comic spectacle, although the incident was alarming because it happened under the sound of a foghorn reflected from an invisible iceberg, and the captain of the Columbia was justified only by a 10-year break in sailing in the north.
The world will shudder with the news of the Titanic, which died on a quiet night on its maiden voyage. Shipwrecked victims are allowed hyperbole commensurate with the ill-fated ship. However, the loss of eminent passengers obliged the veracity, in addition, the public tightened the demand from the perpetrators of the disaster. Alas, the requirement of truthfulness will largely remain unfulfilled, encouraging myth-making. Lawrence Beasley denounced speculation, using his own stock of impressions. Let his impressionability not replace the photographic materials that sank with the Titanic, they seem to emerge thanks to the memories of this man.
Urgent reforms were called for by people whose faces and voices were enlivened by the memory of Beasley. But sacrifices are also offensive to the mind, which often rescues and always distinguishes enlightened people. On board the Titanic, Beasley, being a school teacher, habitually found patterns inherent in the elements, ships, celestial bodies, people, seagulls, etc. Let the mysteries still remain, fatal accidents seemed to him insignificant rarities, and the colossal creations of civilization were thought to be invulnerable. Accordingly, the women, despite their alarm, were slow to leave the floating tower of babel", and that's why a few more male passengers, including Beasley, were saved. How easy it is to be "overboard" of society for violators of the current rules, he will see 46 years later, advising the film "A Night to Remember". Beasley asked permission to participate in the final scene, but he was refused due to the exclusion of shooting outsiders according to the rule of the actors' union.Although he nevertheless penetrated the crowd of extras in disguise, the director forced him to get off the sinking Titanic a second time.
Dealing with scandalous topics, Beasley exposed misconceptions, because the abyss of stunning sensations made vital improvements difficult. Since the actions of the crew were irreparable, it was easy to express sympathy for Captain Smith - all the more so, the ultimatum response to radio messages about ice straight ahead were the pipes and masts of a giant ship, fairly beveled back. It would have been much more difficult to justify the rescue of Ismay if the Chinese had not been rescued, who had come from nowhere in his boat. This indulgence is commensurate with Beasley's gratitude for saving his life, but he remained inconsolable in view of the now apparent collapse of the classical worldview.
The Titanic is reminiscent of all human actions striving for a triumphant result, should it be deplorable. Judging by the meeting of the rescued in New York harbor, society is in no hurry to cover the catastrophe impartially, and therefore Beasley described the tragic scene in such detail in the rays of heavenly light. By morning, under the fading stars, the scenery will change, and the little Carpathia will safely emerge from the icy kingdom, which turned out to be fatal for the colossus. That is, big ship a catastrophe of the proper scale also answers - a trouble-free stimulator of attention to memorial remains. Meanwhile, Ballard's sensational discovery causes mixed feelings. The longer the public examines artifacts from the bottom of the North Atlantic, the more commonplace they become. But even if the damage to the image of the Titanic is irreparable, the experience Beasley experienced during the voyage of the legendary steamer will certainly remain unique.

^ The sinking of the Titanic, its history and lessons .
Lawrence Beasley,
One of the rescued

Lawrence Beasley.

Lawrence Beesey. The Loss of the S.S. Titanic: Its Story and Lessons.
© Houghton Miffin, 1912.

Preface.

1. Brief bibliographic review.

On the night of April 15, 1912, the Titanic sank, and with it the myth of its unsinkability. But the mythological spirit immediately came to life, having its faithful servants in the person of journalists and writers. The initiator of the cult was the Lloyd Insurance Company, which published a volume based on the materials of its bulletins, entitled: “The immortal story of the Titanic: a comprehensive narrative with many illustrations” (P. Gibbs. The Deathess Story of the Titanic: Compete Narrative with Many Iustrations. London: Loyd "s Weeky News, 1912). Behind the scenes of myth-making were companies preoccupied with the multiplication of persons disappointed in shipbuilding achievements. The degree of this disappointment markedly exceeded the enthusiasm reflected in two books of the 1910 edition, equally devoted to the triumphant development of steamship building: E. Kebe Chatterton. Steamships and Their Story and R.A. Fetcher. Steam-Ships. The Story of Their Development to the Present Day.

Not so long ago, the world seemed to have changed irrevocably since 1838, when the little steamship Sirius crossed the Atlantic nonstop. And right now, when the speedy, spacious and safe steamer personified progressive movement, the news of unthinkable victims was heard like a bolt from the blue, forcing the heavenly judge to question (A. White. The Titanic Tragedy: God Speaking to the Nations. Pentecosta Union, Bound Brook , New York, 1913). But even a clear response from above would be distorted in an atmosphere of incredible rumors. Dozens of eyewitnesses confessed before the US Senate Commission, but even the head of the White Star Line, Mr. Ismay, who was first questioned, knew little beyond his cabin number. All the more noticeably, sensationalism prevailed in the screaming discord, including the author of a book with the subtitle ONLY AUTHORITATIVE BOOK (the ONLY AUTHORITATIVE BOOK) reported on the revolver in the captain's hand, the suicide of Murdoch's first mate, the capsizing of four boats on the starboard side, and other fables (L. Marsha. The Sinking of the Titanic and Great Sea Disasters, Phiadephia, Pa.: The John C. Winston Co., 1912).

With the outbreak of the First World War, the excitement will subside, so that in the 30s the Titanic becomes an indicator of the coming global catastrophe. The soothing memories of the captain of the Carpathia (Rostron, Captain Arthur. Home from the Sea. New York: Macmian, 1931) were not enough to calm the Europeans in view of the carelessness of the leaders of England and France towards the sworn enemy of the Versailles system A. Hitler. After all, Captain Smith read the notices of the ice danger nonchalantly, and the second assistant Lightoller, who swore in 1912 to deny the possibility of observing an iceberg, now only repeated his excuse: "then everything was against us" (C. H. Lightoer. Titanic and Other Ships. London: Nichoson & Watson, 1935). The obsequiousness of technocracy has already been denounced more than once by the authors of anti-utopias, and it was enough to rename the Titanic into Cosmos in order to soon imagine the resumption of the struggle for world superiority (B. Keermann. Das baue band, S. Fischer, Berin, 1938; Russian translation: B Kellerman, Blue Ribbon, Moscow, Fiction, 1968). Frightened by the imminent denouement, the public willingly accepted not only a poetic view of events (Pratt, E.J. The Titanic. Toronto: Macmian, 1935), but also their completely fantastic interpretation (Precht Robert. Titanic. E.P. Dutton & Co., New York, 1940).

From the Second World War, civilization moved to even more intense technical improvements, relying on the principles of self-government of machines and people, fundamental to cybernetics. The agony of the Titanic will be recreated by W. Lord, author of the book "The Last Night of the Titanic" (W. Lord. A Night to Remember. New York: Hot, Rinehart and Winston, 1955), who clarified the vague circumstances in contacts with living passengers and members crew. The Lord will furnish the tragic scene with many illustrations and strengthen it with reference facts, so that the myth will present itself as a reality. As a result, despite the award-winning American film Titanic in 1953, 5 years later, a British film of the same name to Lord's bestseller will be released. Much later, Lord's book will be published: "The Night Continues: New Views, Hypotheses, and Revelations About the Titanic" (W. Lord. A Night Lives On: New Thoughts, Theories and Reveations About the Titanic. New York: Wiiam Morrow, 1986 ). Since it was about the most controversial moments of the tragedy - the vulnerable structure of the ship, the stupid radio traffic, the useless launch of rockets, as well as the obscure mourning melody - Lord unwittingly facilitated the further mythologization of the Titanic.

Undoubtedly, the participation of K. Kussler, who called out "Raise the Titanic!" (Cusser, Cive, Raise the Titanic! New York: Viking Press, 1976), in the epochal accomplishment of R. Ballard, who found the cult remains after 9 years. One could not wait for the author's revelations (R. Baard. The Discovery of the Titanic. New York, Toronto: Warner Books, Madison Press, 1987), so that the fragments of the tragic scene caused a tangible rise in creative forces. True, judging by Ballard's embellishment of his book with Ken Marshall's delightful paintings, there was now only one step from materializing the Titanic to fetishizing it. In any case, it has become more difficult for writers to show off their originality, whether judging facts in the light of myth or judging myth in the light of facts:

M. Gardner. "Was the Titanic catastrophe predicted?", New York, Amherst, 1986
M. Davy. M. Davie. The Titanic - The Fu Story of a Tragedy. Bodey Head, 1986.
L. Harrison. Harrison, Lesie. A Titanic Myth: the Caifornian Incident. London: Wiiam Kimber, 1986.
M. Davy. M. Davie. Titanic: the Death and Life of a Legend. New York: Knopf: 1987.
J. P. Eaton. and C. A. Haas. J. P. Eaton and C. A. Haas. Titanic: Destination Disaster - the Legend and Reality. New York: Norton, 1987.
C. R. Pellegrino. C. R. Peegrino. Her Name, Titanic: The Untod Story of the Sinking and Finding of the Unsinkabe Ship. New York : McGraw-Hi, 1988.)
D. Bristow. D. Bristow. Titanic, R.I.P.: Can dead men te taes?. Detroit: Haro Press, 1989
Y. McInnis. J. MacInnis. Titanic in a New Light. Thomasson-Grant, Charlottesville, VA, 1992.
P. Boyd-Smith. P. Boyd-Smith. Titanic: From Rare Historica Reports. Southampton: Brooks, 1992. Titanic: From Rare Historica Reports, Southampton, White Star, 1992.
J. W. Hilton. The Titanic Legacy, Stanford University Press, 1995
D. Bristow. “Titanic: the legend has faded”, Center. California. D. Bristow. Titanic: Sinking A Myth. Katco Literary Group of Centra Caif., 1995.
P. Hyer. P. Heyer. Titanic Legacy: Disaster as Media Event and Myth. Westport, CT: Praeger, 1995.

There is hardly a more obvious sign of the persistence of the cult most zealously cast by the readers of the insurance bulletins. In turn, if the Titanic remains a victim of chance, it is not surprising that there is a demand for eyewitness accounts. In particular, J. Winocour's book The Story of the Titanic: as Tod by its Survivors. New York: Dover, 1960 is compiled from the memoirs of passengers L. Beasley and A Gracie, radio operator H. Bride and officer C. Lightoller. Many memoirs were reprinted separately, and most often the book by Archibald Gracie "The Truth about the Titanic" (Gracie A. The Truth About the Titanic. Mitche Kennerey, New York, 1913) - in 1973, 1985, 1986 and 1996.

Lawrence Beasley wrote his book, being convinced of the responsibility of the whole society, and not just shipowners, in the fate of the Titanic. Therefore, it is worth reminding the reader of the socio-cultural origins of the tragedy, which has caused a tangible resonance so far.

2. A tragedy in one act with a prologue.

Jules Verne warns people against the technical race through the lips of Robur the aviator: "the progress of science should not overtake the improvement of morals." A little earlier, H. J. Wells, in The Time Machine (1895), remarked that the greater the victory over the forces of nature technology gives us, the more vulnerable we are to the forces that lie within us. But it is possible to restrain progress only under the impression of massive human casualties, it was not for nothing that Lao Tzu called for abandoning the use of weapons of rare inhabitants of small states. The coming world war from the beginning of the 1930s prompted Wells to highlight the events preceding and following the military crisis. In The Image of the Future (1933), as soon as the aggressor appears armed with gas bombs, the deepening twilight of the world will be dissipated by artificial light no earlier than 2055. That is, only when "feverish tension" is replaced by "calm efficiency", society will use mobile radiotelephones and implement a lunar expedition.

In the meantime, the price of an urgent solution to technical problems in the struggle for a place under the primeval sun will be determined. W. Lord, in the preface to his reconstruction of the tragic night, recalled M. Robertson (1861-1915), the author of the novel Vanity, or the Crash of the Titan (1898). This self-described "wretched writer" has managed to see nearly all of his predictions come true after pursuing his fortune as a cowboy, watchmaker, mate and jeweler. For 19 years, more than 200 works by Robertson were published, mostly short fantastic stories about voyages in difficult, if not simply hellish conditions for sailors. Above all, his work was appreciated by the Hoand Submarine company, which paid 50 thousand dollars for the idea of \u200b\u200ba periscope from the book "The Submarine Destroyer" (M. Robertson. The Submarine Destroyer, 1905).

The unfading glory of Robertson was the characteristics and circumstances of the death of a giant ship, and in "Vanity" the drama of collecting an insurance premium is also highlighted. The similarity of the hypothetical and real ships is phenomenal, and yet from 1907 to 1929 the Blue Ribbon of the Atlantic was awarded to the Lusitania and Mauritania. This success of the Cunard company was echoed by the appearance of its competitor, the White Star Line, of slower, but colossal steamships. Here you can feel both the classical Olympic spirit, conveyed in English by the unambiguous word "oympic", and the archaic spirit (synonyms for the word "titanic": colossal, gigantic, monumental, etc.). The Olympic and the Titanic—the third ship was going to be called the Gigantic—represented man's primordial striving for advantage in all circumstances.

An iceberg is equally fateful for the Titan and Titanic - the greater the chance, the more invulnerable the sailors are endowed. To actualize this danger, William Stead wrote a fantastic story "From the Old World to the New" (W. T. Stead. From the Od Word to the New, 1892) about the steamer "Majestic", which since 2000 people. on board he went into the ice in order to remove a slightly alive person from the iceberg. In 20 years, Stead will perish along with the Titanic, redeeming with his life the decision of the International Convention for the Safety of Mariners to establish the International Ice Patrol (Internationa Ice Patro) in 1913.

If icebergs exist, carelessness towards them is incomprehensible to the mind. It remains to consider catastrophes as a means of exciting the public, living day by day. On an August evening in 1911, the British liner “Coumbia” with 599 passengers disfigured its nose on an iceberg in the waters of about. New Foundland, and neither the reduced speed in the fog nor the “full back” command helped to avoid the impact. Fortunately, the sandbags that occupied the forward compartment weakened the onslaught, and the passengers remained calm, even receiving concussions and scratching their faces with ice. According to The New-York Times of August 7, in the first class cabin was one J. Nielson, who also happened to be on board the City of Rome when it collided with an iceberg in 1899. He will be reminded of the present impact by clothes stained spicy soup with spices, ice cream, coffee, fried kidneys and other foods. After dinner, the visitors of the salon moved to the music room for a concert - much less entertaining in comparison with the dance of plates and glasses at the moment of the collision. Grateful for the exquisite pastime, the gentlemen and ladies collected $19 and divided it between the lookout sailor, the boatswain's mate and the most scratched engine room oiler. The last rehearsal of the tragedy left the impression of a comic spectacle, although the incident was alarming because it happened under the sound of a foghorn reflected from an invisible iceberg, and the captain of the Columbia was justified only by a 10-year break in sailing in the north.

The world will shudder with the news of the Titanic, which died on a quiet night on its maiden voyage. Shipwrecked victims are allowed hyperbole commensurate with the ill-fated ship. However, the loss of eminent passengers obliged the veracity, in addition, the public tightened the demand from the perpetrators of the disaster. Alas, the requirement of truthfulness will largely remain unfulfilled, encouraging myth-making. Lawrence Beasley denounced speculation, using his own stock of impressions. Let his impressionability not replace the photographic materials that sank with the Titanic, they seem to emerge thanks to the memories of this man.

Urgent reforms were called for by people whose faces and voices were enlivened by the memory of Beasley. But sacrifices are also offensive to the mind, which often rescues and always distinguishes enlightened people. On board the Titanic, Beasley, being a school teacher, habitually found patterns inherent in the elements, ships, celestial bodies, people, seagulls, etc. Let the mysteries still remain, fatal accidents seemed to him insignificant rarities, and the colossal creations of civilization were thought to be invulnerable. Accordingly, the women, in spite of their alarm, hesitated to leave the floating "tower of Babel", and only because of this did a few more male passengers, including Beasley, escape. How easy it is to be "overboard" of society for violators of the current rules, he will see 46 years later, consulting the film "A Night to Remember". Beasley requested permission to participate in the final scene, but was refused due to the exclusion of outsiders filming under the rules of the actors' union. Although he nevertheless penetrated the crowd of extras in disguise, the director forced him to get off the sinking Titanic a second time.

Dealing with scandalous topics, Beasley exposed misconceptions, because the abyss of stunning sensations made vital improvements difficult. Since the actions of the crew were irreparable, it was easy to express sympathy for Captain Smith - all the more so, the ultimatum response to radio messages about ice straight ahead were the pipes and masts of a giant ship, fairly beveled back. It would have been much more difficult to justify the rescue of Ismay if the Chinese had not been rescued, who had come from nowhere in his boat. This indulgence is commensurate with Beasley's gratitude for saving his life, but he remained inconsolable in view of the now apparent collapse of the classical worldview.

The Titanic is reminiscent of all human actions striving for a triumphant result, should it be deplorable. Judging by the meeting of the rescued in New York harbor, society is in no hurry to cover the catastrophe impartially, and therefore Beasley described the tragic scene in such detail in the rays of heavenly light. By morning, under the fading stars, the scenery will change, and the little Carpathia will safely emerge from the icy kingdom, which turned out to be fatal for the colossus. Therefore, a catastrophe of the proper scale also corresponds to a large ship - a trouble-free stimulator of attention to memorial remains. Meanwhile, Ballard's sensational discovery causes mixed feelings. The longer the public examines artifacts from the bottom of the North Atlantic, the more commonplace they become. But even if the damage to the image of the Titanic is irreparable, the experience Beasley experienced during the voyage of the legendary steamer will certainly remain unique.

The death of the steamer "Titanic", its history and lessons.

Lawrence Beasley,

One of the rescued

Foreword
I. About the construction and preparations for the first voyage
II. From Southampton to the shipwreck
III. Collision and landing in lifeboats
IV. The sinking of the Titanic, observed in the boat
V. Salvation
VI. The sinking of the Titanic seen from the deck
VII. Return of the Carpathia to New York
VIII. Lessons from the sinking of the Titanic
IX. Some impressions

Foreword

This book was written under the following circumstances. About five weeks after the Titanic survivors landed in New York, I was invited to dinner by Samuel J. Elder and Charles T. Gallagher, two well-known lawyers in Boston. After dinner, I was asked to tell the audience about what the survivors experienced as they left the Titanic and headed for the Carpathia.

As I did this, Boston Herad publisher Robert Lincoln O'Brien asked me to give the public the true story of the Titanic disaster. He explained his request by the fact that, according to his information, several publications were being prepared by people who did not see the tragedy, but were going to describe it from newspaper reports. He said that these publications could be erroneous, full of extremely vivid details, designed to excite the public. Everyone present agreed with him, and we unanimously decided to go to the owners of the Houghton Miffin Company to discuss the issue of publication.

The owners of the Houghton Miffin Company then felt, as I did, that it was hardly worth publicizing the incidents that took place during the sinking of the Titanic: it seemed best to forget the details as soon as possible.

Nevertheless, we decided to think it over for a few more days, and at the next meeting, a new agreement was made - this time to write the most reliable history of the Titanic. My agreement was reinforced by the fact that short story, written by me from time to time aboard the Carpathia in order to reassure the public with a true recollection of events, had the desired effect, appearing in all American, British and colonial newspapers. This gives me hope that the present work will be just as effective.

Another circumstance also brought me closer to this decision - the duty of us, the survivors of the disaster, to those who drowned with the ship, to contribute to the continuous implementation of extremely necessary and urgent reforms.

Whoever reads the reports of the cries of people drowning in icy water to us sailing on the sea, it must be remembered that they were addressed to him in the same way as to the people who heard them, and that the duty of promoting reforms falls on everyone who understands how much screams at the crash of the Titanic reflected the degree of human helplessness.

About the construction and preparations for the first voyage

The history of the White Star Line's Titanic is unparalleled in its tragic transience. The world was looking forward to launching it, then leaving to sail, reading about its extraordinary size and unparalleled perfection and sophistication. He evoked a feeling of immense satisfaction that such a comfortable and, above all, safe ship - an "unsinkable ship" - had been designed and built. And here is the news that he drowned like an ordinary pleasure steamer with a displacement of only a few hundred tons. And with him fifteen hundred passengers went into oblivion, some of whom were world celebrities! Humanity is shocked already because of the improbability of such an outcome.

In a nutshell, this story goes something like this. The Titanic was built by Harand & Woff at their famous shipyard in Queens Island, Belfast, next to the Olympic. These twin ships were of such size that special carpenters and boilers were needed to build them, and the space they occupied would accommodate three ordinary ships. On March 31, 1909, the keel of the Titanic was laid; on May 31, 1911, she was launched; on March 31, 1912, she was tested in Belfast according to the rules of the Department of Commerce, arrived at Southampton on April 4, and sailed the following Wednesday, April 10, with 2,208 passengers and crew on her maiden voyage to New York. He called at Cherbourg on Wednesday, Queenstown on Thursday, and left for New York in the afternoon, promising to arrive by next Wednesday morning. However, the voyage did not end. The Titanic collided with an iceberg Sunday evening at 11:45 a.m. at 41° 46" N, 50° 14" W. longitude, sinking two and a half hours later; 815 of its passengers and 688 crew members drowned, 705 were rescued by the Carpathia.

These are the details about the Titanic, the largest ship ever built. She was three inches longer than the Olympic, with a thousand tons more displacement - and her death was the greatest known maritime disaster. Civilization was so shocked by the news of the scale of human casualties that the world is still in shock. And this is undoubtedly for the best. We all need to eliminate the very possibility of a repeat of such a catastrophe as soon as possible, whether through separate legislative acts or through an international agreement. It is impossible even for a second to stop thinking about this catastrophe, extracting from it knowledge useful to the whole world. When such knowledge is put into practice in the construction, equipping and operation of passenger steamships - and not before - it will be possible to stop thinking about the sinking of the Titanic, and about the hundreds of men and women who became unfortunate victims.

A few reminders of ship construction and equipment will be needed to explain many of the issues raised in this book. A few numbers have been added in the hope of improving, as far as possible, the reader's understanding of events.

The initial data for the design and construction of the Titanic were speed, displacement, the location of passenger cabins and cargo. High speed is very expensive and, because the cost of power machines is huge, the burden of running costs increases. The location of passenger cabins and cargo should be such that as far as possible, the resistance of the water and the weight of the vessel are reduced. The increase in size presents builders with the question of placement in docks and ports of destination - if the total displacement is very large, and the hull is narrow in the interests of speed, then the vessel's draft may be excessive. Therefore, the Titanic was built with extended sides (compared to ocean racers), which increases the displacement, but with such a width of the ship, its draft is acceptable in all ports. At the same time, it could accommodate more passengers and cargo, thus making it more profitable. Comparing the main qualities of "Mauritania" and "Titanic" it is easy to see the difference between them:

Displacement (tonnes) Power (hp) Speed (knots)
Mauritania 44.640 70.000 26
Titanic 60.000 46.000 21

The ship was 883 feet long, 92 1/2 feet wide, and 104 feet high from keel to bridge. There were 8 steel decks, a honeycomb-like double bottom with a distance of 5 1/4 feet between the outer and inner shells, the side keels 300 feet long protruded 2 feet. These latter were intended to reduce the swaying of the hull in the sea, and they undoubtedly justified themselves. But they were also a weak point, since this part of the ship first touched the iceberg, and it was assumed that the keels were pressed inward, facilitating the breakthrough of waterproof shells. It could hardly have been anything else after all.

His machines were the pinnacle of marine engineering, being a combination of reciprocating engines and a Parsons low-pressure turbine. This combination increases power for the same steam flow compared to using only reciprocating engines. The latter reported the movement to the propellers and the turbine of the middle propeller, respectively, it was a ship with three propellers. The operation of the engines was provided by 29 huge steam boilers and 129 furnaces. Three elliptical tubes, with a maximum width of 24 feet 6 inches, removed smoke and water gas; the fourth served for ventilation.

The ship was equipped with 16 lifeboats, 30 feet long, suspended from double-acting Wein davits. These davits are designed for operations with two or, if necessary, three boats, that is, up to 48 at the same time. Which is more than enough to save everyone who was on board during the collision. The hull was divided into 16 compartments by 15 transverse watertight bulkheads, stretching from the double bottom to the upper deck in the bow and to the saloon deck in the stern, in both cases above the waterline. The engine room and the steam boiler room were connected through watertight dampers, which could be simultaneously closed from the captain's bridge (control from a switch connected to powerful electromagnets). They could also be closed manually with a lever, and in case of emergency flooding of the hold, a float worked. These compartments were designed so that in the event of flooding of the two largest - which is extremely doubtful under normal conditions - the ship would remain completely safe. Of course, more than two compartments were flooded during the collision, but it is still unknown exactly how many.

The crew consisted of 860 people, including 475 stewards, cooks, etc., 320 technicians, and 65 people managed the vessel. Titanic's machinery and equipment were the best they could be, being last word in shipbuilding. Its entire structure was steel, its weight, dimensions and thickness exceeded any famous ship: all beams, beams, bulkheads, and decks had exceptional strength. It would not be worth mentioning this if it were not for the conviction of a part of the public that Turkish baths, gyms, and other so-called "luxuries" took the place of more necessary things, the absence of which ruined many lives. This notion is completely wrong. All these things served the comfort and convenience of the passengers, and there is no more excuse for them on a ship than in a big hotel. On the deck of the Titanic, and without sacrifice, all this remained where to place more boats and rafts. It was a mistake not to provide them with a ship spacious enough for this. Who should be responsible for this is a separate question, and we will return to it later.

When planning to visit the United States, I chose the Titanic for several reasons. First, the mere presence on the largest of all ships launched into the water was already extraordinary. Secondly, according to the voyage on the Olympic described by my friends, it was about the most comfortable sea vessel. In this sense, the Titanic was even more remarkable, given its stability thanks to an extra thousand tons of displacement. I boarded at Southampton at 10 am on Wednesday 10 April, staying overnight at a city hotel. It touches me to remember the morning in the breakfast room, from the window of which I could see the four huge pipes of the Titanic over the roofs of commercial buildings, I could see the lines of stokers and stewards heading to the ship. Behind me sat three passengers of the Titanic, discussing the upcoming voyage and assessing, among other things, the likelihood of a maritime disaster. When I finished breakfast, I looked at this group, and then I recognized them already on board, but they were not among those who answered the roll call on the next Monday on the Carpathia.

Before sailing, I had time to examine, together with two friends from Exiter who were accompanying me, the various decks, dining rooms and libraries. Judging by their size, it is no exaggeration to say that it was easy to get lost on such a ship. We stumbled into the gym on the boat deck by chance, and had already started the exercise on the bike, when the instructor came with two photographers and begged us to stay while his friends - as we then thought - took pictures for him with his apparatus. It was only later revealed that they were photographers for an illustrated London newspaper. More passengers came, and the instructor ran from one to the other. Resembling the rosy-cheeked big man from the picture in his white tights, he seated one on an electric "horse", the other on a "camel". People watched with laughter the vigorous shaking of the inexperienced riders as the instructor operated the motor, allowing the machines to naturally mimic horse and camel.

- In the photo: Lawrence Beasley saddled the "horse" in the gym "Titanic" -

This is due to the fact that on the night of the disaster and until the sinking of the Titanic, when a group of musicians near the gymnasium played with unparalleled courage despite the rising water, our instructor worked with passengers on bicycles and rowing machines, helping them to the end and encouraging. Like musicians, he deserves to have his still unknown name - McCauley - entered in roll of honor men who did their duty and remained loyal to the ship and shipping company they served.

Chapter II

From Southampton to an overnight shipwreck

Just after noon, when the whistles blew and friends went ashore, the gangway was removed, and the Titanic slowly began to leave the dock, accompanied by last parting words and farewell exclamations. What was missing was the cheery roar of whistles from the flotilla stretching along the dock to mark the maiden voyage of the world's largest ship. The whole scene was calm and rather ordinary, in contrast to the spectacular ceremonial that the imagination imagines under such circumstances. And yet, two sudden incidents caused a dramatic stir that made going to sea entertaining. The first took place shortly before the end of the landing - a group of stokers with their equipment in their shoulder knots hurried to the ship, but the junior assistant at the shore end of the gangway forbade them to board. They argued, gesticulated and tried to explain the reason for their delay, but they were inexorably escorted back. Their objections and persistence on the threshold of the Titanic ceased only with the removal of the gangplank. Now these stokers must be thankful for refusing to admit them, whatever the cause of their delay. They will talk, no doubt for years, about the undeniably saved life of being late for the Titanic.

Another incident soon followed, and although it was, of course, already carefully described by coast watchers, the spectacle from the deck of the Titanic may not be without interest. The ship regally descended the dock, a crowd of friends opposite us walked along the pier, and so we reached the New York steamer moored to the dock wall next to the Oceanic. Through these two ships, the shouts of "goodbye" from the crowd reached the people on board. But when our ship and the New York were level with their prows, there was a sound like revolver shots, and from the New York's berthing side, twisted loops of thick cable rushed high into the air, falling among the recoiling crowd. We hoped that no one was hurt, but the sailor next to me claimed that they carried away a woman in need of help. Then, to our amazement, the New York crept slowly and furtively towards us, as if attracted by some invisible and force majeure. This immediately reminded me of an experiment that I showed many times in class in a physics lesson - an experiment with a magnet and a steel object floating side by side on corks, when one is pulled towards the other by the force of magnetic attraction. I also remembered swimming in childhood with a large celluloid duck, which attracted smaller ducks, frogs, beetles, and other living creatures due to the capillary effect, and this whole menagerie swam at the same time, despite its natural antipathy and reminiscent of those "happy families" that can be seen in cages on the sea coast. Commands were issued on the New York, sailors running around unfolding cables and matting on board in anticipation of a blow. The tugboat, which had just been in front of the Titanic, went around our stern and, from the berthing side of the New York's stern, began to drag it back with all its might. However, the zeal of his machines did not make any noticeable impression on the New York. Despite the seriousness of the incident, it was still comical to see a huge ship sailing along the dock with a snorting tugboat behind it - just like a little boy pulling a leash in the teeth of a tiny puppy with legs apart, shaking his head and his whole body from side to side. It seemed inevitable that the ships would collide astern, but we stopped at the command of an officer from the stern bridge of the Titanic. The New York, no longer suckling, with the tug trailing behind her and the stern passing within a few yards of the Titanic, slid off across the dock. It was a stunning impression of the absolute helplessness of a large unmanaged liner. But the spectacle continued when the New York turned past our stern, bow to the quay, and moved slowly towards the Teutonic, moored broadside. Urgently imposed mats took the blow, which seemed to us insignificant. Another tug appeared, and with a double effort the New York was pulled by the bridle around the corner of the quay to the river bank.

Now we moved slowly forward and passed the Teutonicus with great care. However, despite this, he pulled his cables so hard that he was able to follow the Titanic. Seeing this, the crowd screamed, officials with gold galloons (probably the head of the harbor with his employees), who were standing at the suddenly taut mooring cables, jumped back and insisted that people retreat more. But we were already out of reach, and during a leisurely turn along the river, I saw the "Teutonic" in a normal position, with loose cables and reassured witnesses of this incident.

This unfortunate incident interested all the passengers who leaned over the fence and saw how the officers and crews of different ships avoided a collision. Officers and sailors were seen on the mooring bridge, telephoning and ringing bells, waving up and down red and white flags as the danger increased and decreased. The most attentive of all was a young American cameraman who, along with his wife, watched the entire scene. He twisted the camera handle with visible pleasure, spending shots on shooting all sorts of surprises. Undoubtedly, being on board at such moments made him lucky. However, neither the filmed materials nor its authors reached the shore, and this recording of events from the deck of the Titanic did not appear on the screen.

As we descended the river, the scenes we had just seen were the subject of conversation, and all the passengers found similarities to the Olympic-Hawk collision. All agreed that this supported the suction theory on which the representatives of the cruiser Hawk rely in court, although it was ridiculed by many in the British Admiralty's first explanation of the ram attack on the Olympic. And since I try to chronologically describe the events on the Titanic, I will note that among the passengers and crew members who discussed this incident, there were supporters of blatant misconceptions. Sailors are notorious superstitious people, and many succumb to their influence, as they do to anyone with the power of conviction. Mysterious prophecies, especially ominous ones, cause many people to respect superstitious theories. (For this is apparently how the human consciousness is arranged, which responds rather to an ominous divination than to a favorable one - either due to subservience to terrifying objects, or because of an unhealthy attraction due to the feeling of involvement in evil innate in people.) Not that they quite believed them, or wanted their friends to know that they were guided by them. But feeling that other people are doing it, and being convinced that “here, after all, there is something,” they are forced to tacitly agree with the most absurd and childish theories. I would like to discuss the Titanic-related superstitions in a later chapter, but I'll get ahead of the curve with another so-called "bad omen" that came to us in Queenstown. When one of the messenger ships with passengers and mail approached the Titanic, some people stared at the gigantic liner, seeing the stoker's head, blackened from work in the stoker house, and staring at them from a huge pipe - the one that serves as ventilation - well above the upper deck. The stoker climbed inside for fun, but for some viewers this was enough for the seed to ripen the fruit - the blind fear of future dangers called "omen". One American woman - may she forgive me, reading these lines - said seriously and with the deepest conviction that she saw him and connects this spectacle with the wreck of the Titanic. Absolute nonsense! you say. Of course, just not for those who believe in it. And one should not at all spread such prophecies among passengers and crew, given their unhealthy influence.

We passed Spithead and the Isle of Wight, beautiful in its spring vegetation, exchanged salutes with the tugboat of the White Star Company, which was waiting for the entry of one of its liners, and observed several warships in the distance, escorted by formidable destroyers, on the approaches to the river mouth. In perfectly calm weather at about 8.30 pm we stopped at the darkening Cherbourg, and again set sail, taking passengers and mail on board. We reached Queenstown on Thursday about noon after a very pleasant sail across the English Channel, although the wind was too cold for sitting on the morning deck.

The Irish coast looked great as we approached the Queenstown harbour. In the rays of the dazzling morning sun, green hills were clearly visible, placers of settlements stood out on the harsh gray rocks that bordered the coast. Having taken a pilot on board, we slowly went to the harbor, continuously throwing the lot. We stopped in the sea, and our screws stirred up the bottom, and the sea turned brown from the rising sand. The ship seemed to stop quite suddenly, and having no idea of the depth of the bay, I had to admit that the lot was less deep than the safety of a ship the size of the Titanic. (Which, as it were, evidenced by the stirred up bottom sand, but this is only a guess.) Two messenger ships delivered passengers and mail, and nothing more aggravated the impression of the colossal length and capacity of the Titanic than the view of its side from the upper deck on stern. The messenger ships scurrying under their noses were mere shells next to the majestic ship that rose deck after deck above them. Yes, it was an amazing ship! There was something graceful in its movement along the harbor in light seas, slow, majestic immersions and ascents, noticeable only when observing its bow relative to some nearby coastal mark. These two boats, rushing up and down like shells near him, proved an improvement in the comfort of movement compared to the era of small steamers.

And now the transfer was over, the messenger ships departed. At 1.30 pm, churning the screws again sea bottom, The Titanic slowly turned one quadrant, headed along the Irish coast and quickly moved away from Queenstown, leaving a dazzling white house far behind the stern on the left edge of the city. Hundreds of gulls hovered and squawked in our wake, squabbling and fighting over the remains of lunch poured out of our garbage pipes in the parking lot at the entrance to the harbor; now they followed us in anticipation of new prey. I watched them for a long time, marveling at the ease with which they soared near the ship, barely flapping their wings. Having singled out one seagull, I watched it for a long time, not noticing either the flapping or lowering of the wings of a flying bird. Staying upright, she swayed from side to side in the air, like an airplane swaying in gusts of wind, and yet, with graceful ease, she kept pace with the Titanic, which slowly cut through the water at a speed of twenty knots. Meeting the wind, she rose up and obliquely forward, and again descended diagonally, with a beautiful bend of her wings and a tail that opened like a fan. Apparently she had a secret, which was just beginning to be revealed to us, of how to use air currents to move up and down in order to glide with minimal effort, or how to sail a ship at a 1-2 rhumb angle to a headwind. Aviators, of course, imitate the seagull, and soon we will probably see an airplane or glider over the Atlantic Ocean rising and falling elegantly in a headwind. Until late at night, the gulls still flew after us, screaming and plunging into the wide foam trail behind the stern. But in the morning they were not there - perhaps they met a steamer going to their shelter in Queenstown, and set off to accompany him.

- In the photo: "Titanic" leaving Queenstown -

All day we walked along the coast of Ireland, the rugged hills of which were guarded by gray cliffs. After sunset, the shore turned north away from us, and Europe finally showed the Irish mountains, indistinct in the gathering darkness. Thinking that we had seen the last land before reaching the American coast, I went to the library to write letters, not suspecting how much would happen to all of us. And what a multitude of trials—sudden, colorful, and impressive—was ahead of us; great dangers awaited many good and honest people, for whom we will mourn - before the earth appears again.

Little of note happened on leaving Queenstown on Thursday until Sunday morning. The sea was calm - so calm that very few people avoided meals: the wind is west and southwest - "fresh", according to the daily schedule - but quite often cold, usually even too much for those sitting on deck reading or writing, so that many spent most of their time in the library, where they read and wrote. I wrote many letters and put them daily in a box outside the library door; they are probably still there.

Every morning the sun rose behind us in clouds that stretched out along the horizon in long narrow stripes that rose in rows above the edge of the sky - red and pink, fading from pink to white, like sunny roses in the sky. It was a beautiful sight for those who had not yet crossed the ocean (or at least moved away from England), standing on deck and looking at the sea, stretching all around the ship to an almost infinitely distant horizon. Behind the ship was a white foam trail, where one could easily imagine the blades of the propellers cutting the long Atlantic ramparts, aligned into a white street with green, blue and green-blue waves along the edges, which instantly swept away this street - but it still stretched astern to the world horizon towards Ireland and seagulls under the sparkling and sparkling morning sun. And every night the sun in our sight sank into the sea, leaving a shaky brilliant path, or drawing a golden track on the surface of the ocean, which our ship steadily followed, until sunset. This path ran ahead of us faster than we could walk, and rolled over the edge of the sky - as if the sun were a golden ball, winding its golden thread too fast for us to keep up with it.

From 12 noon on Thursday to 12 noon on Friday we walked 386 miles, from Friday to Saturday 519 miles, from Saturday to Sunday 546 miles. The distance of 519 miles on the second day was, in the words of the commissary chief, disappointing, and we were due to arrive on Friday morning, not Thursday night as expected. On Saturday, however, we were delighted to hear about much longer coverage, and were already looking forward to seeing New York on Thursday night. The quartermaster chief remarked: “The ship will not be driven on this voyage, there is no intention to move faster. I don't think that now we have to go more than 546 miles a day, and for the first voyage this is not a bad distance. It was lunch time and I remember that the conversation turned to a discussion of the speed and design of the Atlantic liners, which determined the comfort of navigation. All who sailed extensively across the ocean agreed that the Titanic was the most comfortable ship known, preferring the speed achieved to the speed of faster ships - from the point of view of vibration reduction and due to the tortuous movement of fast ships in waves, while the movement of a rocking up and down the Titanic remained straight. I drew the attention of my tablemates to the fact that the port side of the ship was heeling (which I had noticed even earlier), and we all watched the horizon line through the windows, sitting at the quartermaster's table in the wardroom. The ship heeled noticeably, for on the left side the horizon line and the sea were all the time visible, and on the right side only the sky. The quartermaster chief noticed that perhaps more coal had been used up on the left side. Of course, any ship has some roll; but, as the Titanic's starboard side was damaged, and its sinking was preceded by such a list that a gap formed between the starboard side and the hanging boats, through which women had to be thrown or served in chairs, the list deserves special attention.

Returning to the movement of the Titanic, I note how curious it was to stand on the boat deck. I often did this in the corner between boats 13 and 15 on the starboard side (I have every reason to remember these two, since the first one got me to safety on the Carpathia, and the second one, apparently, was descending on us, when we sat in the 13th and tried to move away from the side of the ship), observing two derivative movements. One was seen when comparing the mooring bridge, from where the laglin stretched into a foamy wake behind the stern, with the horizon, and it opened - unhurried and long, in proportion to our swings up and down. I determined middle period one hesitation, but forgot the numbers. The second movement was a lateral swing, calculated by observing the right handrail in comparison, again, with the horizon. It would seem that this double movement was caused by the intersection of our course with the Gulf Stream, stretching from the Gulf of Mexico to Europe. Meanwhile, I drew attention to the almost chronometric regularity of the two oscillatory movements, first discovered when observing a left-side roll. Looking down from the boat deck (or D deck) into the third-class compartment, I often noticed how these passengers enjoyed every minute of their time: mixed-double-rope play dominated the entertainment. The ubiquitous Scottish piper loved to jump, whose furs and pipes played what Gilbert called: "a light breath." Standing apart from everyone, usually on the elevated aft deck above the playground, stood an elegant man of 20-24 years old, always superbly groomed and wearing gloves. He stood out from the crowd of passengers in his preoccupation, and I classified him as a hapless businessman with a ticket to America in the third class; he didn't look determined or lucky enough to make fortune smile at him. Another interesting person was also in the third class, and his wife was placed in the cabin of the second class: he climbed the stairs to the second deck and spoke to her sincerely through the low door. I haven't seen him since the shipwreck, but I think his wife ended up on the Carpathia. It is highly doubtful that they saw each other on Sunday night: first of all, he would not have been allowed on the second-class deck, and even if they had, his chances of seeing his wife in the dark were too small, and the crowd was too small. Of all the people who played happily on the third class deck, I didn't recognize many on the Carpathia.

Having reached Sunday, I would like to analyze in more detail the events of the day on which the Titanic collided with the iceberg in order to understand the mood of the passengers in the situation that had developed on the eve of the collision. After morning service in the wardroom with the quartermaster and dinner, we went on deck and saw there such a change in the weather that few people wanted to stay in a terrible wind. It was an artificial wind caused by the rapid movement of the ship in the cold air. It seemed to be calm, for in front of Queenstown I noticed a breeze of almost the same strength, which ceased immediately after our stop, and resumed at the exit of the harbour.

Returning to the library, I stopped for a moment to read the news of the day's journey and to see our position on the map. Reverend

Lawrence Beasley.
The death of the steamer "Titanic", its history and lessons.

Lawrence Beesley. The Loss of the S.S. Titanic: Its Story and Lessons.

Preface.

1. Brief bibliographic review.
On the night of April 15, 1912, the Titanic sank, and with it the myth of its unsinkability. But the mythological spirit immediately came to life, having its faithful servants in the person of journalists and writers. The initiator of the cult was the Lloyd Insurance Company, which published a volume based on the materials of its bulletins, entitled: “The immortal story of the Titanic: a comprehensive narrative with many illustrations” (P. Gibbs. The Deathless Story of the Titanic: Complete Narrative with Many Illustrations. London: Lloyd's Weekly News, 1912). Behind the scenes of myth-making were companies concerned about the multiplication of people disappointed in shipbuilding achievements. The degree of this disappointment noticeably exceeded the enthusiasm reflected in two books of the 1910 edition, equally devoted to the triumphant development of steamship building: E. Keble Chatterton. Steamships and Their Story and R.A. Fletcher. Steam Ships. The Story of Their Development to the Present Day.
Not so long ago, the world seemed to have changed irrevocably since 1838, when the little steamship Sirius crossed the Atlantic nonstop. And just now, when the speedy, capacious and safe steamer personified the progressive movement, the news of unimaginable victims was heard like a bolt from the blue, forcing the heavenly judge to question (A. White. The Titanic Tragedy: God Speaking to the Nations. Pentecostal Union, Bound Brook, New York, 1913 ) . But even a clear response from above would be distorted in an atmosphere of incredible rumors. Dozens of eyewitnesses confessed before the US Senate Commission, but even the head of the White Star Line, Mr. Ismay, who was first questioned, knew little beyond his cabin number. All the more noticeably, sensations prevailed in the screaming discord, including the author of a book with the subtitle ONLY AUTHORITATIVE BOOK (the ONLY RELIABLE BOOK) reported on the revolver in the captain's hand, the suicide of Murdoch's first mate, the capsizing of four boats on the starboard side, and other fables (L. Marshall. The Sinking of the Titanic and Great Sea Disasters. Philadelphia, Pa.: The John C. Winston Co., 1912).
With the outbreak of the First World War, the excitement will subside, so that in the 30s the Titanic becomes an indicator of the coming global catastrophe. Soothing memories of the captain of the Carpathia (Rostron, Captain Arthur. Home from the Sea. New York: Macmillan, 1931) was not enough to calm the Europeans in view of the carelessness of the leaders of England and France towards the sworn enemy of the Versailles system, A. Hitler. After all, even Captain Smith read the notices about the danger of ice nonchalantly, and the second officer Lightoller, who swore in 1912 to deny the possibility of observing an iceberg, now only repeated his excuse: "then everything was against us"(C. H. Lightroller. Titanic and Other Ships. London: Nicholson & Watson, 1935). The obsequiousness of technocracy has been denounced more than once by the authors of anti-utopias, and it was enough to rename the Titanic into Cosmos in order to imagine the resumption of the struggle for world championship as soon as possible (B. Kellermann. Das blue band, S. Fischer, Berlin, 1938; Russian translation: B. Kellerman. blue ribbon, M., Fiction, 1968). Frightened by the imminent denouement, the public willingly accepted not only a poetic view of events (Pratt, E.J. The Titanic. Toronto: Macmillan, 1935), but also their completely fantastic interpretation (Prechtl Robert. Titanic. E.P. Dutton & Co., New York, 1940).
From the Second World War, civilization moved to even more intense technical improvements, relying on the principles of self-government of machines and people, fundamental to cybernetics. The agony of the Titanic will be recreated by W. Lord, author of The Last Night of the Titanic (W. Lord. A night to remember. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1955), who clarified the vague circumstances in contacts with living passengers and crew members. The Lord will furnish the tragic scene with many illustrations and strengthen it with reference facts, so that the myth will present itself as a reality. As a result, despite the award-winning American film in 1953 Titanic, 5 years later, the British film of the same name to Lord's bestseller will be released. Much later, Lord's book will be published: "The Night Continues: New Views, Hypotheses, and Revelations about the Titanic" (W. Lord. A Night Lives On: New Thoughts, Theories and Revelations About the Titanic. New York: William Morrow, 1986). Since it was about the most controversial moments of the tragedy - the vulnerable structure of the ship, the stupid radio traffic, the useless launch of rockets, as well as the obscure mourning melody - Lord unwittingly facilitated the further mythologization of the Titanic.
Undoubtedly, the participation of K. Kussler, who called out "Raise the Titanic!" (Cussler, Clive, Raise the Titanic! New York: Viking Press, 1976), in the epochal accomplishment of R. Ballard, who found the cult remains after 9 years. It was possible not to wait for the revelations of the author (R. Ballard. The Discovery of the Titanic. New York, Toronto: Warner Books, Madison Press, 1987) so that the wreckage of the tragic scene would cause a tangible upsurge of creativity. True, judging by Ballard's embellishment of his book with Ken Marshall's delightful paintings, there was now only one step from materializing the Titanic to fetishizing it. In any case, it has become more difficult for writers to show off their originality, whether judging facts in the light of myth or judging myth in the light of facts:
M. Gardner. M. Gardner, The Wreck of the Titanic Foretold? Amherst, NY: Prometheus, 1986.

M. Davy. M. Davie. The Titanic - The Full Story of a Tragedy. Bodley Head, 1986.

L. Harrison. Harrison, Leslie. A Titanic Myth: the Californian Incident. London: William Kimber, 1986.

M. Davy. M. Davie. Titanic: the Death and Life of a Legend. New York: Knopf: 1987.

J. P. Eaton. and C. A. Haas. J. P. Eaton and C. A. Haas. Titanic: Destination Disaster - the Legend and Reality. New York: Norton, 1987.

D. Bristow. D. Bristow. Titanic, R.I.P.: Can dead men tell tales?. Detroit: Harlo Press, 1989

Y. McInnis."A New Look at the Titanic" , Charlottesville, Thomasson-Grand, 1992. (J. MacInnis. Titanic in a New Light. Thomasson-Grant, Charlottesville, VA, 1992.)

P. Boyd-Smith. P. Boyd-Smith. Titanic: From Rare Historical Reports. Southampton: Brooks, 1992. Titanic: From Rare Historical Reports, Southampton, White Star, 1992.

J. W. Hilton. The Titanic Legacy, Stanford University Press, 1995

D. Bristow. “Titanic: the legend has faded”, Center. California. D. Bristow. Titanic: Sinking A Myth. Katco Literary Group of Central Calif., 1995.

2. A tragedy in one act with a prologue.

The rapid advances in technology in the 19th century encouraged writers to imagine arbitrarily distant times. E. A. Poe was the first to distinguish himself in the science fiction field, who in 1844 announced the 75-hour flight across the Atlantic of the Victoria balloon. It was an obvious "mind game" about a flying machine moving towards a target without much effort or risk. Meanwhile, if air, earth and sea have become equivalent elements, then the final phrase: "What great events may follow, it is now impossible to predict" would direct attention to space, if the author had not been interested in the details of this enterprise. Of course, the future of people in the age of machines also depended on the mode of their actions, now expressed by technical means. Discovering this future was more convenient for inventors, whose biographies would become more desirable than amorous adventures. Starting with Five Weeks in a Balloon (1863), Jules Verne will take over the minds, although his then-written novel Paris in the 20th Century had been waiting for publication for 131 years, as skyscrapers, cars, fax machines, calculators, computers and etc. reflected the spiritual decline of contemporary society. (The publisher, who refused to publish this forecast, was not even touched by the electric devices that revived people after a catastrophic cold snap in Europe.)
Jules Verne warns people against the technical race through the mouth of Robur the aviator: "the progress of science should not overtake the improvement of morals". A little earlier, H. J. Wells, in The Time Machine (1895), remarked that the greater the victory over the forces of nature technology gives us, the more vulnerable we are to the forces that lie within us. But it is possible to restrain progress only under the impression of massive human casualties, it was not for nothing that Lao Tzu called for abandoning the use of weapons of rare inhabitants of small states. The coming world war from the beginning of the 1930s prompted Wells to highlight the events preceding and following the military crisis. In The Image of the Future (1933), as soon as the aggressor appears armed with gas bombs, the deepening twilight of the world will be dissipated by artificial light not earlier than 2055. That is, only when "feverish tension" will change "quiet efficiency", the society will use mobile radiotelephones and carry out a lunar expedition.
In the meantime, the price of an urgent solution to technical problems in the struggle for a place under the primeval sun will be determined. W. Lord, in the preface to his reconstruction of the tragic night, recalled M. Robertson (1861-1915), the author of the novel Vanity, or the Crash of the Titan (1898). This self-described "wretched writer" has managed to see nearly all of his predictions come true after pursuing his fortune as a cowboy, watchmaker, mate and jeweler. For 19 years, more than 200 works by Robertson were published, mostly short fantastic stories about voyages in difficult, if not simply hellish conditions for sailors. Above all, his work was appreciated by the Holland Submarine company, which paid 50 thousand dollars for the idea of \u200b\u200ba periscope from the book "The Submarine Destroyer" (M. Robertson. The Submarine Destroyer, 1905).
The unfading glory of Robertson was the characteristics and circumstances of the death of a giant ship, and in "Vanity" the drama of collecting an insurance premium is also highlighted. The similarity of the hypothetical and real ships is phenomenal, and yet from 1907 to 1929 the Blue Ribbon of the Atlantic was awarded to the Lusitania and Mauritania. This success of the Cunard company was echoed by the appearance of its competitor, the White Star Line, of slower, but colossal steamships. Here you can feel both the classical Olympic spirit, conveyed in English by the unambiguous word "olympic", and the archaic spirit (synonyms for the word "titanic": colossal, gigantic, monumental, etc.). The Olympic and the Titanic—the third ship was going to be called the Gigantic—represented man's primordial striving for advantage in all circumstances.
An iceberg is equally fateful for the Titan and Titanic - the greater the chance, the more invulnerable the sailors are endowed. To actualize this danger, William Stead wrote a fantastic story "From the Old World to the New" (W. T. Stead. From the old World to the New, 1892) about the steamer "Majestic", which from 2000 people. on board he went into the ice in order to remove a slightly alive person from the iceberg. In 20 years, Stead will die with the Titanic, redeeming with his life the decision of the International Convention for the Safety of Mariners to establish the International Ice Patrol in 1913.
If icebergs exist, carelessness towards them is incomprehensible to the mind. It remains to consider catastrophes as a means of exciting the public, living day by day. On an August evening in 1911, the British liner "Columbia" with 599 passengers disfigured its nose on an iceberg in the waters of about. New Foundland, and neither the reduced speed in the fog nor the “full back” command helped to avoid the impact. Fortunately, the sandbags that occupied the forward compartment weakened the onslaught, and the passengers remained calm, even receiving concussions and scratching their faces with ice. According to The New-York Times of August 7, in the first class cabin was one J. Nielson, who also happened to be on board the City of Rome when it collided with an iceberg in 1899. He will be reminded of the present impact by clothes stained spicy soup with spices, ice cream, coffee, fried kidneys and other foods. After dinner, the visitors of the salon moved to the music room for a concert - much less entertaining in comparison with the dance of plates and glasses at the moment of the collision. Grateful for the exquisite pastime, the gentlemen and ladies collected $19 and divided it between the lookout sailor, the boatswain's mate and the most scratched engine room oiler. The last rehearsal of the tragedy left the impression of a comic spectacle, although the incident was alarming because it happened under the sound of a foghorn reflected from an invisible iceberg, and the captain of the Columbia was justified only by a 10-year break in sailing in the north.
The world will shudder with the news of the Titanic, which died on a quiet night on its maiden voyage. Shipwrecked victims are allowed hyperbole commensurate with the ill-fated ship. However, the loss of eminent passengers obliged the veracity, in addition, the public tightened the demand from the perpetrators of the disaster. Alas, the requirement of truthfulness will largely remain unfulfilled, encouraging myth-making. Lawrence Beasley denounced speculation, using his own stock of impressions. Let his impressionability not replace the photographic materials that sank with the Titanic, they seem to emerge thanks to the memories of this man.
Urgent reforms were called for by people whose faces and voices were enlivened by the memory of Beasley. But sacrifices are also offensive to the mind, which often rescues and always distinguishes enlightened people. On board the Titanic, Beasley, being a school teacher, habitually found patterns inherent in the elements, ships, celestial bodies, people, seagulls, etc. Let the mysteries still remain, fatal accidents seemed to him insignificant rarities, and the colossal creations of civilization were thought to be invulnerable. Accordingly, the women, in spite of their alarm, hesitated to leave the floating "tower of Babel", and only because of this did a few more male passengers, including Beasley, escape. How easy it is to be "overboard" of society for violators of the current rules, he will see 46 years later, consulting the film "A Night to Remember". Beasley requested permission to participate in the final scene, but was refused due to the exclusion of outsiders filming under the rules of the actors' union. Although he nevertheless penetrated the crowd of extras in disguise, the director forced him to get off the sinking Titanic a second time.
Dealing with scandalous topics, Beasley exposed misconceptions, because the abyss of stunning sensations made vital improvements difficult. Since the actions of the crew were irreparable, it was easy to express sympathy for Captain Smith - all the more so, the ultimatum response to radio messages about ice straight ahead were the pipes and masts of a giant ship, fairly beveled back. It would have been much more difficult to justify the rescue of Ismay if the Chinese had not been rescued, who had come from nowhere in his boat. This indulgence is commensurate with Beasley's gratitude for saving his life, but he remained inconsolable in view of the now apparent collapse of the classical worldview.
The Titanic is reminiscent of all human actions striving for a triumphant result, should it be deplorable. Judging by the meeting of the rescued in New York harbor, society is in no hurry to cover the catastrophe impartially, and therefore Beasley described the tragic scene in such detail in the rays of heavenly light. By morning, under the fading stars, the scenery will change, and the little Carpathia will safely emerge from the icy kingdom, which turned out to be fatal for the colossus. Therefore, a catastrophe of the proper scale also corresponds to a large ship - a trouble-free stimulator of attention to memorial remains. Meanwhile, Ballard's sensational discovery causes mixed feelings. The longer the public examines artifacts from the bottom of the North Atlantic, the more commonplace they become. But even if the damage to the image of the Titanic is irreparable, the experience Beasley experienced during the voyage of the legendary steamer will certainly remain unique.

The sinking of the Titanic, its history and lessons.
Lawrence Beasley,
One of the rescued

About the terrible death of a luxury liner Titanic in the waters Atlantic Ocean everyone knows. Hundreds of people distraught with fear, heart-rending female cries and children's crying. 3rd class passengers buried alive at the bottom of the ocean are on the lower deck and millionaires choosing best places in half-empty lifeboats - on the upper, prestigious deck of the ship. But only a select few knew that the sinking of the Titanic was planned, and the death of hundreds of women and children was another fact in a cynical political game.

April 10, 1912 Port of Southampton, England. Thousands of people in the port of Southampton gathered to see the liner Titanic, on board of which 2000 lucky people went on a romantic trip across the Atlantic. The cream of society gathered on the passenger deck - mining magnate Benjamin Guggenheim, millionaire John Astor, actress Dorothy Gibson. Not everyone could afford to buy a first class ticket for $3,300 at the prices of that time, or $60,000 at the prices of today. Passengers of the 3rd class paid only 35 dollars (650 dollars in terms of our money), therefore they lived on the third deck, not having the right to go upstairs, where the millionaires were accommodated.

Tragedy Titanic still remains the largest peacetime maritime disaster. The circumstances of the death of 1,500 people are still shrouded in mystery.

The archives of the British Navy confirm that for some reason there were half as many boats on the Titanic as needed, and the captain knew even before the collision that there would not be enough seats for all the passengers.

The crew of the ship ordered first to rescue passengers of the 1st class. One of the first to board a lifeboat was Bruce Ismay, CEO of the company. White Star Line", which belonged Titanic. The boat in which Ismay sat was designed for 40 people, but she left the side with only twelve.

The lower deck, where there were 1,500 people, was ordered to be locked so that third-class passengers would not burst upstairs to the boats. Panic broke out below. People saw how water began to flow into the cabins, but the captain had an order to save rich passengers. The order - only women and children, was made much later, and according to experts, the sailors were primarily interested in this, since in this case they became rowers on boats and they had a chance of salvation.

Many passengers of the second and third classes, without waiting for the boats, threw themselves overboard in life jackets. In a panic, few people understood that it is almost impossible to survive in icy water.

sinking of the titanic

In the list of passengers of the third class, which only recently became public, the name of Winni Goutts (Winnie Couts), a modest Englishwoman with two sons, appears. In New York, the woman was waiting for her husband, who a few months earlier got a job in America. It will seem incredible, but 88 years later, on February 3, 1990, Icelandic fishermen picked up a woman with that name on the shore. Wet, frozen in tattered clothes, she cried and screamed that she was a passenger Titanic and her name is Winnie Couts. The woman was taken to a psychiatric hospital and for a long time was mistaken for a madwoman, until one of the journalists found her name in the handwritten lists of Titanic passengers. She described the chronology of events in detail and never got confused. The mystics immediately put forward their version - they fell into the so-called space-time trap.

After the declassification of the archives Investigation into the death of 1,500 passengers on the Titanic» On July 20, 2008, the Senate Commission of Inquiry learned that on the night of the disaster, almost 200 passengers managed to board boats and sail away from the sinking ship. Some of them describe a strange phenomenon. At about one in the morning, passengers saw a large luminous object near the liner. The men thought that these were the lights of another ship. R.M.S. Carpathia", which can save them. About 10 boats sailed to this light, but after half an hour the lights went out. It turned out that there was no ship nearby, and the liner " R.M.S. Carpathia Came only after 1 hour. Many eyewitnesses described strange lights observed near the site. wreck of the titanic. These testimonies were classified.

Anomalous events around sinking of the Titanic have been carefully hidden for a long time. It is known that no one could officially confirm the identity of Winnie Couts.

In the ranking of the largest maritime disasters of the XX century published by the popular Internet publication Titanic occupies by no means the last place. However, in the column "Cause of death - a collision with an iceberg", it appears in this list only once. The first and last case in the history of navigation when a ship sank due to a collision with an iceberg. Moreover, the consequences of the collision are comparable to the results of a major military operation. What is this?

The official version of the disaster says that Titanic collided with a black iceberg that had recently capsized in the water and was therefore invisible against the night sky. No one has ever wondered why the iceberg was black. The lookout on duty Frederick Fleet, a few seconds before the collision, saw some huge dark mass and heard a strange, very loud rattle coming from under the water, not like the sound of contact with an iceberg.

After 80 years, Russian researchers descended to the Titanic for the first time and confirmed that the ship's hull had indeed been cut. Why did the lookouts not notice anything in advance. This is surprising, but they did not have binoculars, that is, formally they were in the safe, but the key to it mysteriously disappeared. And one more strange detail - Titanic the most perfect of the beginning of the 20th century was not equipped with searchlights. Such carelessness looks, at least, strange, because on Titanic telegrams came in all day warning of icebergs plying in the area.

After weighing all the events and facts, it seems that the Titanic disaster was prepared on purpose, but who benefited from the death Titanic and why hundreds of innocent people were drowned. It was clear to the people behind the largest catastrophe of the century that not everyone would believe in a collision with an iceberg. Until now, we are offered many versions to choose from, whoever likes what.

For example, in order to receive an insurance payment, they flooded not Titanic, and the same type of passenger ship Olympic, which was operated for a long time and by 1912 was pretty dilapidated. But in 1995, Russian scientists refuted this assumption with the help of remote-controlled modules introduced inside the sunken ship. It has been proven that it is not the Olympic that lies at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.

Then a version was thrown into print that Titanic sank in pursuit of the prestigious Blue Ribbon of the Atlantic award. Allegedly, the captain wanted to arrive at the port of New York a day ahead of schedule in order to receive the prize. Because of this, the ship was moving in a dangerous area at maximum speed. The authors of this version completely overlooked the fact that Titanic just technically could not reach the speed of 26 knots, at which the previous record was set.

They also talked about the mistake of the helmsman, who misunderstood the captain's order, and being in a stressful situation, put the steering wheel in the wrong direction.

Maybe Titanic was hit by a torpedo from a German submarine and this disaster actually became the first episode of the First World War. Numerous underwater studies subsequently did not find even indirect signs of a possible torpedo hit, so the fire became the most plausible version of the death of the Titanic.

On the eve of departure, a fire broke out in the hold of the liner, where coal was stored. They tried to put it out, but not successfully. Already gathered at the pier the richest people of that time, movie stars, the press, an orchestra played. The flight could not be cancelled. The owner of the ship, Bruce Ismay, decided to go to New York and try to put out the fire along the way. That is why the captain drove at full speed, fearing with all his might that the ship was about to explode and ignored the message about icebergs.

Another oddity is the owner of the company " White Star Line", which belonged Titanic multimillionaire John Pierpont Morgan, Jr., canceled his ticket 24 hours before departure and removed the famous collection of paintings from the flight, which he was going to take to New York. In addition to Morgan, another 55 first-class passengers refused to travel on the Titanic in just one day, mostly partners and acquaintances of the millionaire - John Rockefeller, Henry Frick, US Ambassador to France Alfred Vandelfield. Previously, this fact was not given almost any importance, but only recently scientists compared certain facts and came to the conclusion that the Titanic was the first major catastrophe aimed at establishing world domination.

Billionaires rule the world, whose goal is unlimited power. accident on Chernobyl nuclear power plant, collapse Soviet Union, the attack on the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center are links in the same chain. The sinking of the Titanic not the first and not the last planned disaster. But why did the world government decide to flood Titanic. The answer is to be found in the events of the early 20th century. It was during these years that the sharp growth of industry began - the gasoline engine, the incredible development of aviation, industrialization, the use of electricity in all industries, the experiments of Nikola Tesla, and so on. World financial leaders understood scientific and technological progress, which could soon blow up the world order on planet Earth. John Rockefeller, John Pierpont Morgan, Karl Mayer Rothschild, Henry Ford, who are the world government, understood that following the rapid growth of industry, countries would begin to develop, which in their world concept were assigned the role of only raw material appendages, and then the redistribution of property on the planet would begin, and control over the processes taking place in the world will be lost.

Every year the socialists declared themselves more and more, trade unions gained strength, crowds of protesters demanded freedom and independence. And then it was decided to remind humanity who is the boss in the world.

In the mid-90s, Russian scientists dived to the Titanic and took samples of the metal, which was then analyzed by specialists from the American Institute. The results were truly stunning - by the sulfur content, it was found that it was an ordinary metal. And later studies showed that the metal was not just the same as on other ships, it was of much worse quality, and in icy water it generally turned into a very fragile material. In the autumn of 1993, an event occurred that put an end to the study of the causes of death Titanic. At the New York Conference of American shipbuilding experts, the results of an independent analysis of the causes of the disaster were announced. Experts say they don't understand why such poor quality steel was used for the hull of the world's most expensive ship. In cold water, the hull of the Titanic cracked at the first impact on an insignificant obstacle, while high-quality steel only deforms.

Experts believed that in this way the owners of the shipbuilding company were trying to save money, but it never occurred to anyone to ask why the billionaire owners of the ship cut costs, endangering their own safety. And everything is quite logical, it was a real diversion. Fragile metal, cold waters of the Atlantic Ocean and a dangerous route. It only remained to wait for the SOS signal from the crashed Titanic. During the investigation of the circumstances of the disaster, the US Judicial Commission proved that the northern route that the Titanic was on was chosen by order of Bruce Ismay. He was on board the ship, but was one of the first to be evacuated and safely waited for the arrival. R.M.S. Carpathia", which also belonged to the company" White Star Line” and was specially located nearby to save wealthy passengers. But " R.M.S. Carpathia"an order was given, is not too close, because the disaster was supposed to be a frightening action for the whole world.

Now we can say with certainty sinking of the titanic it was an elaborate propaganda move. Millions of people around the world were shocked by the fate of third-class passengers buried alive, they remained immured in their cabins.

In the eyes of the world government, third-class passengers are you and me - Russia, China, Ukraine and the Middle East, and in December 2012 they are preparing a new act of intimidation for us, but which one. It remains only to wait, and not for long.

Watch National Geographic's reconstruction of the sinking of the Titanic