Titanic Times for LSC

For those who know or may not know, 2012 also has another 100th anniversary attached to it. This is much more somber than LSC's founding. This weekend will mark the 100th Anniversary of the sinking of the RMS Titanic, which has become one of the most iconic disasters in the world.                         For those who might not know, the Titanic was one of the largest ocean liners of its time. Built alongside her sister ships (Olympic and later Britannic), she was meant to bring back the passenger trade to the White Star Line- a British company which was, ironically, owned by American tycoon J.P. Morgan. More importantly, the Titanic would become a symbol of humanity's superiority. In that it had had finally conquered nature, or even God.

On April 10, 1912, the RMS Titanic left the White Star Line pier in Southampton, England on its maiden voyage. After picking up more passengers the following day in France and Ireland, the Titanic started to make its way to New York. On board were over two thousand and two hundred people, from the rich of 1st Class all the way down to the immigrants of 3rd Class (or steerage). Sadly, on the night of April 14, the Titanic would collide with an iceberg, and would go down the bottom of the Atlantic in a mere two hours and forty minutes.

Tragically, there not enough lifeboats to save everyone, as the rules at that did not order shipping companies to have enough lifeboats for everyone. Over fifteen hundred people would ultimately lose their lives that cold April night, and would shatter the optimistic beliefs that everyone in Modern Society had.

But those are the basic facts of the Titanic. There are thousands of details about Titanic that are too numerous to include in one article. I'm sure most you who were old enough went to see James Cameron's "Titanic," back in 1997-which has just come out again to theatres in 3D. While highly entertaining, Cameron's film contains several large inaccuracies that a Titanic-connoisseur such as myself cannot ignore.             For instance, there was no attempt for the head of the White Star Line-J.Bruce Ismay-to see if the Titanic could hold the record as the fastest ship on the Atlantic. The reason is that is was impossible for the Titanic to hold this record in the first place-she was built for luxury, not speed.

Also, during the sinking, there was no deliberate policy to prevent the 3rd Class passengers from escaping. This is because many of the crew did not even know the seriousness of the situation. Most of the crew themselves did not panic, as was shown in the film. For this, many of them ended up becoming the largest group of people to die that night simply because they stayed helping others and doing their duty.

This is especially true of the ship's officers, with half of them going down with the ship. For example, we look at the controversy surrounding 1st Officer William Murdoch- who was in charge when the Titanic hit the iceberg. In the movie, he was shown to shoot two passengers before committing suicide. However, there is very little hard evidence that this happened at all those last few minutes, since none of the survivors could remember  which officer was which.

Anyway, the whole point of this article is for everyone to remember that almost one hundred years ago, one of the most significant events in world history occurred on a cold April night in the middle of the Atlantic. To me, the Titanic still holds a very deep significance in human society. As such, it is my hope that this ship-and the people who were on it-are remembered and honored for years to come.

If anyone has any questions on the Titanic-as this article certainly did not cover everything about this event-please feel free to email me through my school email. Anyone who wants to read further on this event should look into the books "A Night to Remember," by Walter Lord, and "Unsinkable: The Full Story of the RMS Titanic," by Daniel Allen Butler. An excellent internet source to look at is the website for the Titanic Historical Society.

As a final note, I hope that those of you who read this had found renewed interests in this tragic, yet powerful, event.