20 Surprising Facts About the Titanic

You may already know that the Titanic hit an iceberg  at 11:40 p.m. on the night of April 14, 1912, and that it sank two hours and forty minutes  later. Did you know that there were only two bathtubs for third class passengers or that the crew had only seconds to react to the iceberg? These are just a couple of the interesting facts about the Titanic that were going to explore. The  Titanic  Was Gigantic The Titanic was supposed to be an unsinkable boat and it was built to monumental scale. In total, it was 882.5 feet long, 92.5 feet wide, and 175 feet high. It would displace 66,000 tons of water and it was the largest ship built up to that point in time. The Queen Mary cruise ship was built in 1934 and surpassed the Titanics length by 136 feet, making it 1,019 feet long. In comparison, The Oasis of the Seas, a luxury liner built in 2010, has a total length of 1,187 feet. That is nearly a football field longer than the Titanic. And Grand Luxuries for the first class passengers included a swimming pool, a Turkish bath, a squash court, and a dog kennel. The Ritz Restaurant on board was inspired by the famous Ritz in Londons Picadilly Circus. The grand staircase—there were several staircases—descended seven of the ships ten decks, and featured oak paneling and bronze cherubs. A replica of the staircase can be seen at the Titanic museum in Branson, Missouri. The Last Dinner The last dinner served to first class passengers at the Ritz Restaurant was a feast with ten sumptuous courses, featuring oysters, caviar, lobster, quail, salmon, roast duckling, and lamb. On board the Titanic were 20,000 bottles of beer, 1,500 bottles of wine, and 8,000 cigars, all for the first class passengers. Expensive to Operate The Titanic burned about 600 tons of coal each day to keep it powered. A team of 176 men kept the fires burning, and it is estimated that over 100 tons of ash were injected into the Atlantic each day the Titanic operated. The Canceled Lifeboat Drill Originally, a lifeboat drill was scheduled to take place on board the Titanic on the very day that the ship hit the iceberg. However, for an unknown reason, Captain Smith canceled the drill. Many people believe that had the drill taken place, more lives could have been saved. Only Seconds to React From the time the lookouts sounded the alert, the officers on the bridge had only 37 seconds to react before the Titanic hit the iceberg. In that time, First Officer Murdoch ordered, hard a-starboard (which turned the ship to port—left). He also ordered the engine room to put the engines in reverse. The Titanic did bank left, but it wasnt quite fast or far enough. Lifeboats Were Not Full Not only were there not enough lifeboats to save all 2,200 people on board, most of the lifeboats that were launched were not filled to capacity. If they had been, 1,178 people might have been rescued, far more than the 705 who did survive. For instance, the first lifeboat to launch—Lifeboat 7 from the starboard side—only carried 24 people, despite having a capacity of 65 (two additional people later transferred onto it from Lifeboat 5). However, it was Lifeboat 1 that carried the fewest people. It had only seven crew and five passengers (a total of 12 people) despite having a capacity for 40. Another Boat Was Closer for Rescue When the Titanic began sending out distress signals, the Californian, rather than the Carpathia, was the closest ship. However, the Californian did not respond until it was much too late to help. At 12:45 a.m. on April 15, 1912, crew members on the Californian saw mysterious lights in the sky. These were the distress flares sent up from the Titanic  and they immediately woke up their captain to tell him. Unfortunately, the captain issued no orders. Since the ships wireless operator had already gone to bed as well, the Californian was unaware of any distress signals from the Titanic until the morning. By then, the Carpathia had already picked up all of the survivors. Many people believe that if the Californian had responded to the Titanics pleas for help, many more lives could have been saved. Two Dogs Rescued The order was for  women and children first when it came to the lifeboats. When you factor in that there were not enough lifeboats for everyone on board the Titanic, it is a bit surprising that two dogs made it into the lifeboats. Of the nine dogs on board the Titanic, the two that were rescued were a Pomeranian and a Pekinese. Rich and Famous Among the famous people who died on the Titanic, the wealthiest by far was John Jacob Astor IV, who was worth over US$90 million, over two billion in todays currency. Others included the mining heir, Benjamin Guggenheim, and engineer Thomas Andrews, who oversaw the construction of the Titanic. The co-owner of Macys department store, Isidor Straus and his wife Ida, also died on board the ship. Corpses Recovered On April 17, 1912, the day before survivors of the Titanic disaster reached New York, the CS Mackay-Bennett, a commercial cable repair ship, was sent off from Halifax, Nova Scotia to search for bodies. On board, the Mackay-Bennett were embalming supplies, 40 embalmers, tons of ice, and 100 coffins. Although the Mackay-Bennett  found 306 bodies, 116 of them were too badly damaged to take all the way back to shore. Attempts were made to identify each body found. Additional ships were also sent out to look for bodies. In all, 328 bodies were found, but 119 of these were so severely degraded that they were buried at sea. No-one Knows All Who Died on the Titanic Although the official number of the dead on the Titanic was 1,503 (of the 2,208 on board, there were 705 survivors), over a hundred unidentified bodies were buried in Fairview Lawn cemetery in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Many people traveled under false names, and from so many different places, it proved impossible to identify even the recovered bodies. Sidney Leslie Goodwin, a 19-month-old boy buried under the marker unknown child was identified in 2008, after extensive DNA tests and a worldwide genealogical search. Dance Band on the Titanic There was an eight-piece band on the Titanic, led by violinist Wallace Hartley, who had to learn 350 songs in the songbook handed out to first class passengers. As the Titanic was sinking, they sat on the deck and played music, and all of them went down with the ship. Survivors reported that the last piece they played was either Nearer My God to Thee or a waltz named Autumn. The Fourth Funnel Wasnt Real In what is now an iconic image, the side view of the Titanic clearly shows four cream and black funnels. While three of them released steam from the boilers, the fourth was just for show. The designers thought the ship would look more impressive with four funnels rather than three. Only Two Bathtubs in Third Class While the promenade suites in first class had private bathrooms, most passengers on the Titanic had to share bathrooms. Third class had it very rough with only two bathtubs for more than 700 passengers. The  Titanics  Newspaper The  Titanic  seemed to have everything on board, including its own newspaper. The Atlantic Daily Bulletin was printed every day on board the  Titanic. Each edition included news, advertisements, stock prices, horse-racing results, society gossip, and the days menu. A Royal Mail Ship The R.M.S. Titanic was a Royal Mail Ship. This designation meant the Titanic was officially responsible for delivering mail for the British postal service. On board the Titanic was a Sea Post Office with five mail clerks (two British and three American) who were responsible for the 3,423 sacks of mail (seven million individual pieces). Interestingly, although no mail has yet been recovered from the wreck of the Titanic, if it were, the U.S. Postal Service would still try to deliver it out of duty and because most of the mail was destined for the U.S. 73 Years to Find It Despite the fact that everyone knew the Titanic sunk and they had an idea of where that happened, it took 73 years to find the wreckage. Dr. Robert Ballard, an American oceanographer, found the Titanic on September 1, 1985. Now a UNESCO protected site, the ship lays two miles below the oceans surface, with the bow nearly 2,000 feet from the ships stern. The  Titanics  Treasures The Titanic movie included The Heart of the Ocean, a priceless blue diamond that was supposed to have gone down with the ship. This was just a fictional addition to the story that was likely based on a real-life love story regarding a blue sapphire pendant.   Thousands of artifacts were recovered from the wreckage, however, and many pieces of precious jewelry were included. The majority were auctioned off and sold for some rather incredible prices. More Than One Movie Though many of us know of the 1997 movie Titanic starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, it was not the first movie made about the disaster. At least 11 have been made, depending on how you define Titanic movie. The very first movie made about the Titanic disaster was released in May 1912, a month after the disaster. It was a silent movie called Saved from the Titanic and it starred Dorothy Gibson, an actress who was one of the survivors. In 1958, A Night to Remember was released that recounted in great detail the ships fatal night. The British-made film featured Kenneth More, Robert Ayres, and many other notable actors, with over 200 speaking parts. There was also the 1953 Twentieth Century Fox production of Titanic. This black and white film starred Barbara Stanwyck, Clifton Webb, and Robert Wagner and was centered around a couples unhappy marriage. Another Titanic movie was produced in Germany and released in 1950. In 1996, a Titanic TV mini-series was produced. The all-star cast included Peter Gallagher, George C. Scott, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Eva Marie Saint. It was reportedly a rushed production designed to be released before the famous blockbuster film hit theaters the next year.

The American Public School System - 1712 Words

If American schools want meet the needs of the twenty-first century, they must be reinvented. It is not enough to fix the schools; they must be rebuilt in both fundamental and radical ways. The future of the American public school system is significant because the livelihood of an informed and productive citizen is vital to the future of this country. Historically, Americans have strongly asserted the importance of public schools in a democracy and despite the growing hatred for the face value of the school system, public schools remain central to commonwealth in the United States. For over a century, America s public schools have been an essential source of the country s power. Public education has created citizens that became†¦show more content†¦This shows that soon our children will be leading the country, or at the very least voting for who will. Without the skills they will pick up throughout their school career, how will the children know how to rational decisions? It is clear that the economic success of America will be in the hands of the children to an unprecedented extent. It is time to invest in education in order to maintain our American way of life. In the competitive knowledge-based world of the twenty-first century, the education of America s youth will be even more important than ever. More responsibility will be placed on schools because of the growing diversity in classrooms, languages, preparedness, motivation, and the dynamics of the future workplace. Schools also must assume more responsibility because of the increasing enrollment rate. Going into the 1996-1997 school year, there was an all-time high enrollment of 51.7 million students in public schools throughout the entire country (Good 6). Since there are an increasing amount of students and more materials that need to be taught, public schools are more important and have gained more responsibility now than at any previous time. 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Counterculture During the Vietnam Era Essay - 1096 Words

Counterculture During the Vietnam Era With a country in shambles as a result of the Vietnam War, thousands of young men and women took their stand through rallies, protests, and concerts. A large number of young Americans opposed the war; with a common feeling of anti-war, thousands of youths united as one. This new culture of opposition spread like wild fire with alternative lifestyles blossoming, people coming together and reviving their communal efforts, demonstrated in the Woodstock Art and Music festival. The use of drugs, mainly marijuana, became a staple in the community of anti-war youths. The countercultures’ radical views and actions caused American society to turn its head and look to the young. They set themselves out as a†¦show more content†¦Groups such as the Chicago Seven, Students for a Democratic Society, and on a whole, a new term, New Left, was given to the generation of the Sixties that was radicalized by social injustices, the civil rights movement, and the war in Vietnam. One specif ic incident was when Richard Nixon appeared on television to announce the invasion of Cambodia by the United States, and the need to draft 150,000 more soldiers. At Kent State University in Ohio, protestors launched a riot, which included fires, injuries, and even death.1 Through the growth of the new youth’s culture’s open hostility to the values of middle-class society the counterculture was formed. America became more aware of its young generation. Through protests, riots, and anti-war demonstrations, they challenged the very structure of American Society, and spoke out for what they believed in. Lisa Law stated her views; The counterculture was an attempt to rebel against the values our parents had pushed on us.1 From the days of Woodstock to today, our fashion reflects the trends set in Woodstock. Trends such as long hair, tye-dye, rock, and folk music used as a form of expression for radical ideas and self-expression.1 While these trends are not harmful, others are; such as the extended use of marijuana, and the hallucinogen, LSD, which are still popular with the youth today. Marijuana captivated the counterculture. Timothy Leary, psychologist writes, TheShow MoreRelatedThe Vietnam War and Its Effects on Society During the 1960s159 4 Words   |  7 Pagesliberalism could be felt though out the counting during the middle of the decade. The infamous Vietnam War and the new alternative culture were pushing the United States towards a time of liberalism and a nationwide rebellion against the social norms. 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Fiction and the Worlds Judgements free essay sample

This 20-page paper takes the reader on an extensive exploratory journey through the theory of the novel. The reader is shown the difference between the schools of thought regarding romances vs novels. This paper shows the reader the difference between the schools of thought regarding romances versus novels. The author explains the foundation for those with proletarian beliefs who disdain certain texts as romance while embracing others as novels. The writer uses several novels as examples to illustrate the various points and critically analyzes the schools of thought, the novels themselves and the political involvement that decides where the text fits in. From the paper: Since the beginning of time we have had storytellers in our midst. Many years ago the storytellers produced the stories by inventing them in their minds and performing them for an audience. The only way a story was passed around is when someone in the audience devoted the time to memorize the story and then perform it in other places. We will write a custom essay sample on Fiction and the Worlds Judgements or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page This caused many stories to be changed as each person added or forgot parts, as they believed it to be. Naturally because the stories were being memorized and carried to other locations they were short in length.