Publicity of the Titanic

[Level27]

Why did/does the tragedy of the Titanic received/receives so much more publicity than other starline tragedies? For example:

The explosive sinking of the Britannic, Titanic's sister ship that was launched a few years later-

The Collision of the Empress of Ireland by some Nordic ship-

The sinking of the Andrea Doria-

The sinking of the Lusitania during WWI-

(As far as I remember from sophomore history year in high-school, the Lusitania lost a number that's not far behind from the Titanic. I think it was about 1,050. Surely, they didn't make a high-quality film on her sinking like they did on the Titanic)

??

 

[inlovewithblair]

I'm not too sure, but I believe there were tons of high-profile passengers, and that it was the biggest ship to sail the sea at the time.

 

[Level27]

Britannic and Olympic, Titanic's sister ships, were the same size as she was. Yet, the Britannic sank.

 

[gsdx]

The others beat me to it. It was 'unsinkable', yet it sank within hours of striking the iceberg and over 1,500 people died - on its maiden voyage no less. It was simply something that wasn't supposed to happen.

 

[Eternaldarkness]

The Titanic was an Olympic-class passenger liner owned by the White Star Line, a world's famous first shipping lines to have passengers ships with less expensive accommodation for Third Class passengers, in addition to also First and Second Class. During the time of what was called the Golden Age of Immigration, many thousands of people moved from Europe and Middle East to the United States and Canada departed among these lines.

Titanic was an Olympic class ship. During that time, The Cunard Line was the direct competition to the White Star Line. As a competition piece the White Star Line began construction of their new series, The Olympic class, which ofcourse was Olympic (I&II), Titanic, and Britannic (titanic's sister). Of all the classes of ships, the Olympic class were designed to be the biggest and most luxurious ships in the world. As to why Britannic is not as famous as Titanic is because Britannic was originally to have been much larger than Titanic at one thousand feet and named Gigantic; her name was changed shortly after the sinking of Titanic. Right after the sinking of the Titanic, Britannic was order not to carry paying passengers, as she had been requisitioned by the British government before she was fully fitted, and used as a hospital ship during World War I. Therefore, in the end, Britannic sank without a paying customer, making it not as important.

So, Titanic was built not only to piss off the competition rival Cunard Line, but it was thought to be the most profit that they could achieve at that time. It was built using some of the most advanced technology available at the time, advertised as the "Unsinkable" and carry among it a large number of famous passengers.

It was a great shock to many that, despite the extensive safety features and experienced crew, the Titanic sank.

So, that is why Titanic , until today, carried on such a publicity. The frenzy part of the media about Titanic's famous victims, the legends of its sinking which later became a movie, and also because of it, changes was made to the Maritime law (law's that deals with matters inlcuding Marine commerce, marine nagivation, shipping, sailors, and transportation of passges and goods by sea), plus on top of that it's discovery years later have contributed to the interest in and fame of the Titanic that continues to this day.

Ofcourse all the others ships mentioned is just as tragedic, but the Titanic came with such a heavy background that made it one of the World's famous tragedic event.

 

[RationalLunacy]

Because Leonardo DiCaprio only howled from the bow of the Titanic and none of the other ships.

 

[doctorsun]

(I'm a Titanic buff, so here goes...)

The Titanic really was the September 11 of its day. The sinking brought the entire industrial world to a screeching halt. It wasn't just the fact that the ship had been so heavily promoted and sunk despite being heralded as "unsinkable". The only way to put into perspective for our times would be to imagine if the Kodak Theater blew up tonight during the Oscars. That's what it was like in 1912. The Titanic carried some of the richest people in the world and some of the biggest names (John Jacob Astor, most notably) in Edwardian society were killed in the most unfathomable of ways.

Plus, you have to consider that until that point, no tragedy had really brought to light the shortcomings of shipping regulations. Tragedies that took place before...even tragedies that had larger death tolls...all had other explanations for their large losses of life. The people who died on Titanic died SOLELY because there were not enough lifeboats and those that it did have left the ship filled below capacity. At the time, the number of lifeboats required for a ship was based on its gross tonnage, not its passenger capacity and had not yet been updated to accomodate for the new super-massive ocean liners like the Titanic, Olympic, Lusitania, and Mauretania. The current regulations called for any ship weighing more than 10,000 tons to carry 16 lifeboats (the Titanic had 20, actually exceeding its minimum required number). The Titanic and Olympic both weighed over 46,000 tons...a number that seemed impossible when the regulations for ships over 10,000 tons was conceived. The Titanic exposed just how outdated and idiodic these regulations were. When you also consider things like the North Atlantic Ice Patrol and other new practices and regulations, you see just how dramatic and far-reaching the effects of the Titanic sinking were and why it has lasted nearly 100 years as the most famous shipwreck in history.

As for some of the other ships, you have remember that the Britannic sank during war time, so it wasn't really an unexpected occurance. Plus, since the war had already broken out before the Britannic was completed, she never got to enter passenger service and no one really knew about her. She was immediately commissioned as a hospital ship and never received any fanfare.

I do find it strange that the Lusitania is not as celebrated as the Titanic. At the time, it was certainly a huge deal. The Lusitania in its day was just as famous as the Titanic. She and the Mauretania were the technological marvels of the world in 1907 when they were completed and their success was directly responsible for the White Star Line deciding to design and build the Olympic, Titanic, and Britannic. Her sinking was also one of two "last straws" that brought the US into WWI (the other being the Zimmerman Note). I don't really know why there hasn't been a movie about it. It really seems like there should have been.

 

[scottish1]

In comparison to the Titanic and all the publicity hype, the greatest maritime disaster, the sinking the Wilhelm Gustloff in 1945 by a Russian submarine in the Baltic with a loss of life of about 9000 mainly women and children has been given little publicity. There was never any official enquiry as to how and why it happened,but then the Germans were on the losing side.

 

[pocono]

i'll also go for the whole unsinkable but it sank idea

Me too, but I'll add to that the romance of the inaugural voyage too!

 

[CoolguyAT]

I never saw the movie but in real life they didn't even bother trying to get out of the way of it.. they just sailed right into it buying the hype that it couldn't be sunk.

From my understanding that's not entirely true, the crows nest saw the iceberg, radioed down to the bridge and told him there was an iceberg right ahead. Now as to what the First Officer did is a mystery since after the accident there were various reports as to what exactly happened. Most historians do agree though that the first officer tried to steer the ship either to the starboard or port side to avoid the iceberg.

I also think i've heard somewhere that had the Titanic just plowed straight into the iceberg that the ship, while damaged, would more than likely not have sunk.

 

[gsdx]

^ You must remember that the captain was under pressure from the owners of White Star to 'make haste' with the intention of breaking speed records in crossing the Atlantic. You must also remember that a ship that size doesn't turn on a dime.

You were right about slamming into the berg head-on.

There is a joke which goes, "Yeah, and you probably would have told the captain of the Titanic to go Full Speed Ahead!"

Funnily enough, that might have been the best advice possible considering the circumstances. By calling for full reverse (as explained by surviving witnesses), the screws cavitated and all control of the ship was lost.

The other big problem was the fact that none of the bulkheads went completely from floor to ceiling. What happened was akin to filling an ice cube tray by tilting it down and allowing the water to flow from cup to cup. With such a long tear in the side, the ship was lost the moment it was struck. Had it smashed head-on, it most lightly would not have sunk.

A bit of trivia about the Titanic:

The Morse Code 'SOS' was first used by the radio operator aboard the Titanic. Before that time, the code 'CQD' (which didn't stand for 'Come Quick! Danger!') was used.

Chateau Laurier in Ottawa, Ontario, was built by the Grand Trunk Railroad from 1909 to 1912. It was to be opened near the end of April, 1912, by the chairman of the GTR, Charles Melville Hays. He was aboard the Titanic when it sank. The Chateau Laurier was never 'officially' opened.

 

[Sammie13]

...My Heart will go on.....

I love all things Titanic....The Ship of Dreams on Her Maiden Voyage....

I think we should all have every April 10th off in memorial.

Now, let me go crank up my Celine Dion....

 

[CoolguyAT]

^I think you mean April 14th/15th - the Titanic struck the iceberg on April 14th shortly before midnight and then sunk in the early hours of April 15th

 

[CoolguyAT]

^ You must remember that the captain was under pressure from the owners of White Star to 'make haste' with the intention of breaking speed records in crossing the Atlantic. You must also remember that a ship that size doesn't turn on a dime.

You were right about slamming into the berg head-on.

Oh yes of course, i'm a Titanic Buff as well so know all about the whole White Star Line/Bruce Ismay pressuring Captain Smith.

 

[Sammie13]

^I think you mean April 14th/15th - the Titanic struck the iceberg on April 14th shortly before midnight and then sunk in the early hours of April 15th

She left on her maiden voyage on April 10, but your dates are correct, too. I suppose we could have the holiday on April 15th...or whichever one of those 3 dates will make it a 3-day weekend

 

[CoolguyAT]

She left on her maiden voyage on April 10, but your dates are correct, too. I suppose we could have the holiday on April 15th...or whichever one of those 3 dates will make it a 3-day weekend

Lets just have those 5 days off from April 10th-15th!

 

[doctorsun]

The Morse Code 'SOS' was first used by the radio operator aboard the Titanic. Before that time, the code 'CQD' (which didn't stand for 'Come Quick! Danger!') was used.

That's an urban legend. It's true that the Titanic was ONE OF the first ships to use SOS, but it was not the first. CQD was still the most widely-used distress call by British ships at the time of the Titanic sinking. The actual first ship to use SOS was most likely the Slavonia, a Cunard liner, in 1909.

As for hitting the iceberg head-on, it's true that in retrospect, that would have been the better scenario. However, you have to consider the fact that doing so would have immediately killed everyone who happened to be in the bow of the ship. First Officer Murdoch's instinctive reaction was to try to avoid hitting the berg all together (and, really, who wouldn't have had the same instinct?). He tried to do this by reversing the engines, hoping to slow the ship enough to give them more time to turn. He didn't realize that the ship had too small of a rudder and reversing the engines limited the amount of water going past it, reducing its ability to turn. So, it wasn't that Murdoch made the wrong decision, it was that the ship was poorly-designed and couldn't do what it needed to do in that emergency situation.

And as for the bulkheads, none of them went higher than E-deck and they were not capped. The ship was desined to stay afloat with any two of its compartments flooded (which is why the ship would have stayed afloat if she had rammed the iceberg head-on) or with its first four compartments flooded. The iceberg opened up the first five compartments, instantly dooming the ship since the weight of the water in the bow would cause a great enough angle of list for the water to start flowing over the bulkheads and flooding each subsequent compartment until the ship broke apart and sank.

 

[gsdx]

That's an urban legend. It's true that the Titanic was ONE OF the first ships to use SOS, but it was not the first. CQD was still the most widely-used distress call by British ships at the time of the Titanic sinking. The actual first ship to use SOS was most likely the Slavonia, a Cunard liner, in 1909.

As I've recently discovered. My 'verified source' came from a reliable source which was printed BS*

* Before Snopes

 

[kevbo]

Futility, or the Wreck of the Titan by Morgan Robertson was published in 1898, 14 years before the Titanic's voyage. The ship of the title struck quite a resemblance to the Titanic AND it's story, for instance:

- Both were the largest ships at the time and were considered unsinkable.

- Both had three propellers and two masts

- April in Southampton was when both ships were launched

- Both ships had too few lifeboats for its passengers

- Both struck an iceberg approximately 400 miles from Newfoundland. Titanic struck at 23 knots, the Titan struck at 25.

The fact that a fictional boat whose story is so similar and was published before the Titanic was even designed adds to the mystery and fascination of Titanic.

 

[tommyj]

Indeed.. I am a Titanic buff too. As Walter Lord pointed out in his book "A Night to Remmeber" it would have saved the ship if they saw the berg 30 seconds earler or 30 seconds later. As it was the swing to port caused the starboard side to be exposed and compromised. Recently investigation has determined that a lot of the rivets failed at the collision due to substandard material in the rivets.