Rare Titanic photos and letters

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Captain Edward J. Smith, captain of Titanic

Captain Smith, alerted by the jolt of the impact, arrived on the bridge and ordered a full stop. The watertight doors had been immediately shut by Murdoch, and within ten minutes of the collision the five forward compartments were flooded to a depth of 14 feet (4.3 m). The fifth and sixth water-filled compartments weighed down the ship's bow enough to allow more water to flood the vessel, accelerated by secondary flooding as regular openings in the ship's hull became submerged. Additionally, about 130 minutes after the collision, water started pouring from the sixth into the seventh compartment over the top of the bulkhead separating them. Following an inspection by the senior officers, the ship's carpenter J. Hutchinson and Titanic's shipbuilder Thomas Andrews, which included a survey of the half-flooded two-deck postal room, it was apparent that Titanic would sink. The lifeboats were ordered to be readied and a distress call was sent out. Andrews estimated the ship would go down within an hour to an hour and a half, and said that the pumps would only keep Titanic afloat for a few extra minutes. The pumps could only cope with 1,700 tons of water per hour, but 2,000 gallons were flooding into the liner every five minutes. Shortly before midnight, almost 20 minutes after the collision, the forward third-class sections were beginning to flood. At 00:05, Captain Smith ordered all the lifeboats uncovered; five minutes later, at 00:10, he ordered them to be swung out; then, at 00:25, he ordered them to be loaded with women and children and then lowered away. At 00:50, 4th Officer Joseph Boxhall fired the first white distress rocket.
Photograph of an iceberg in the vicinity of RMS Titanic's sinking taken on 15 April 1912 by the chief steward of the liner Prinz Adalbert who stated the berg had red anti-fouling paint of the kind found on the hull from below Titanic's waterline.

Wireless operators Jack Phillips and Harold Bride began sending the international distress signal "CQD", which was received by several ships, including Mount Temple, Frankfurt, Virginian and Titanic's sister ship, Olympic. In addition to the traditional CQD, Phillips also used the new "SOS" distress call on the advice of Bride, as SOS had successfully been used to summon help for the White Star Liner SS Republic which sank in 1909 after colliding with the liner SS Florida. Despite assurances that they were on their way, none of the vessels were close enough to reach the liner before she sank. The closest ship to respond was Cunard Line's Carpathia 58 miles (93 km) away, which would arrive in an estimated four hours—too late to rescue all of Titanic's passengers. The Carpathia's wireless operator Harold Cottam awakened the ship's Captain Arthur Rostron, who immediately ordered the ship to race towards the Titanic's reported position. The only land-based location that received the distress call from Titanic was a wireless station at Cape Race, Newfoundland. Some of the responding liners did not fully comprehend the seriousness of the collision. As late as 1:30 am, a full 90 minutes after the first CQD was sent out, Olympic radioed her sister asking if they were steaming to the south to meet her, while the Frankfurt continually asked a frustrated Phillips for more details.

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SS Californian

From the bridge, the lights of a nearby ship could be seen off the port side. The identity of this ship remains a mystery but there have been theories suggesting that it was probably either SS Californian or a Norwegian sealer called the Samson.As it was not responding to wireless calls, Fourth Officer Boxhall and Quartermaster Rowe attempted signalling the ship with a Morse lamp and later with distress rockets, but the ship never appeared to respond.Californian, which was nearby and stopped for the night because of ice, also saw lights in the distance, but its wireless was turned off for the night. Just before the Californian's wireless operator had gone off-duty at around 23:00, he attempted to warn Titanic that there was ice ahead, but he was cut off by an annoyed Jack Phillips. Occupied with sending backlogged passenger messages, Phillips fired back an angry response, "Shut up, shut up, I am busy; I am working (the Newfoundland wireless station) Cape Race".When Californian's officers first saw the ship, they tried signalling her with their Morse lamp, but never received a response. Later, they noticed Titanic's distress rockets in the sky above the ship's lights, and informed Captain Stanley Lord. Even though there was much discussion about the mysterious ship, which to the officers on duty appeared to be moving away, the master of Californian did not wake the ship's wireless operator until morning.

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Survivors from the Titanic are pictured here in lifeboats rowing towards rescue ship the Carpathia.

The first lifeboat launched was Lifeboat 7 on the starboard side with 28 people on board out of a capacity of 65. It was lowered at around 12:45 am as believed by the British Inquiry.Lifeboat 6 and Lifeboat 5 were launched ten minutes later. Lifeboat 1 was the fifth lifeboat to be launched with 12 people. Lifeboat 11 was overloaded with 70 people. Collapsible D was the last lifeboat to be launched. Titanic carried 20 lifeboats with a total capacity of 1,178 people. While not enough to hold all of the passengers and crew, Titanic carried more boats than was required by the British Board of Trade Regulations. At the time, the number of lifeboats required was determined by a ship's gross register tonnage, rather than her passenger capacity.

One of the lifeboats seen approaching the Carpathia, near full in capacity.

Titanic had ample stability and sank with only a few degrees list, the design being such that there was very little risk of unequal flooding and possible capsize. Furthermore the electric power plant was operated by the ship's engineers until the end. Hence Titanic showed no outward signs of being in imminent danger, and passengers were reluctant to leave the apparent safety of the ship to board small lifeboats.

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Survivors from the Titanic are pictured here in a lifeboat rowing towards rescue ship the Carpathia

Moreover, large numbers of Third Class passengers were unable to reach the lifeboat deck through unfamiliar parts of the ship and past barriers, although some stewards such as John Edward Hart and William Denton Cox successfully led groups from Third Class to the lifeboats. As a result, most of the boats were launched partially empty; boat 1, meant to hold 40 people, left Titanic with only 12 people on board.

More Titanic lifeboats seen approaching the Carpathia. The sail of lifeboat 14 had been broken as it tows one of the collapsable lifeboats.

With "Women and children first" the imperative for loading lifeboats, Second Officer Lightoller, who was loading boats on the port side, allowed men to board only if oarsmen were needed, even if there was room. First Officer Murdoch, who was loading boats on the starboard side, let men on board if women were absent. As the ship's list increased people started to become nervous, and some lifeboats began leaving fully loaded. By 2:05 am, the entire bow was under water, and all the lifeboats, except for two, had been launched.

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Titanic lifeboat no. 6 reaching the Carpathia and reportedly carrying Molly Brown.

Around 2:10 am, the stern rose out of the water, exposing the propellers, and by 2:17 am the waterline had reached the boat deck. The last two lifeboats floated off the deck, collapsible B upside down, collapsible A half-filled with water after the supports for its canvas sides were broken in the fall from the roof of the officers' quarters. Shortly afterwards, the forward funnel collapsed, crushing part of the bridge and people in the water. On deck, people were scrambling towards the stern or jumping overboard in hopes of reaching a lifeboat. The ship's stern slowly rose into the air, and everything unsecured crashed towards the water. While the stern rose, the electrical system finally gave way causing the lights to go out. Shortly afterward, the stress on the hull caused Titanic to break apart between the last two funnels, and the bow section went completely under. The stern section righted itself slightly and then rose vertically. After a few moments, at 2:20 am, it also sank.

Titanic lifeboat full of survivors alongside the Carpathia, the boat that would eventually rescue those who made it out of the Titanic wreck alive.

Only two of the 18 launched lifeboats rescued people after the ship sank. Lifeboat 4 was close by and picked up five people, two of whom later died. Close to an hour later, lifeboat 14 went back and rescued four people, one of whom died afterward. Other people managed to climb onto the lifeboats that floated off the deck. There were some arguments in some of the other lifeboats about going back, but many survivors were afraid of being swamped by people trying to climb into the lifeboat or being pulled down by the suction from the sinking Titanic, though it turned out that there had been very little suction.

As the ship fell into the depths, the two sections behaved very differently. The streamlined bow planed off approximately 2,000 feet (610 m) below the surface and slowed somewhat, landing relatively gently. The stern plunged violently to the ocean floor, the hull being torn apart along the way from massive implosions caused by compression of water tight compartments inside the ship. The stern smashed into the bottom at considerable speed, grinding the hull deep into the silt.

An original 3" x 5 1/2" photo taken from the deck of the Carpathia.

After steaming at 17.5 knots (32.4 km/h) for just under four hours, RMS Carpathia arrived in the area and at 4:10 am began rescuing survivors. By 8:30 am she picked up the last lifeboat with survivors and left the area at 08:50 bound for New York.
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Photograph of various survivors of the Titanic disaster.

Of a total of 2,224 people aboard Titanic only 710, less than a third, survived and 1,514 perished. The majority of deaths were caused by hypothermia in the 28 °F (−2 °C) water where death could occur in as little as 15 minutes.

Men and members of the 2nd and 3rd class were less likely to survive. Of the male passengers in second class, 92 percent perished. Less than a quarter of third-class passengers survived. All but one of the children in first and second class survived, whereas less than half were saved in third class. 97 percent of the women in first class survived, 86 percent of the women survived in second class and less than half survived in third class. Of men on board, 33 percent of the first class were saved, while only 8 percent of the second class and 16 percent of the third class were saved. Overall, only 20 percent of the men survived, compared to nearly 75 percent of the women. Men in first class were four times as likely to survive as men in second class, and twice as likely to survive as those in third. The greatest disparity between adult male and female survival rates occurs between first class women and second class men, the former twelve times as likely to survive as the latter. Also notable is the fact that even third class women were significantly more likely to survive than first class men, with 46 percent of third class women saved compared to 33 percent of first class men.

More various survivors of the Titanic wreck.

Four of the eight officers survived. About 21 of the 29 able seamen survived and all seven quartermasters and eight lookouts survived. Three of the 13 leading firemen survived, around 45 other firemen survived and around 20 of the 73 coal trimmers survived. Four of the 33 greasers survived and one of the six mess hall stewards survived. Around 60 of the 322 stewards and 16 of the 18 stewardesses survived. Three of the 68 restaurant staff survived. All five postal clerks, guarantee group, and eight-member orchestra perished.

Another disparity is that a greater percentage of British passengers died than Americans; some sources[who?] suggest it was because Britons of the time were polite and queued, rather than forcing their way onto the lifeboats. The captain Edward John Smith was shouting: "Be British, boys, be British!" as the liner went down.

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Carpathia docked at Pier 54 in New York following the rescue

On 18 April, Carpathia docked at Pier 54 at Little West 12th Street in New York with the survivors. She arrived at night and was greeted by thousands of people. Immediate relief in the form of clothing and transportation to shelters was provided by the Women's Relief Committee, the Travelers Aid Society, and the Council of Jewish Women, among other organizations. Titanic had been heading for 20th Street. Carpathia dropped off the empty Titanic lifeboats at Pier 59, as property of the White Star Line, before unloading the survivors at Pier 54. Both piers were part of the Chelsea Piers built to handle luxury liners of the day. As news of the disaster spread, many people were shocked that Titanic could sink with such great loss of life despite all of her technological advances.