AMAZING FACTS ABOUT TITANIC

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  RMS  TITANIC

The amazing fact about the Titanic is that it was predicted 14 years before it happened. Author Morgan Robertson wrote a novella in 1898. It was called 'Futility Or The Wreck Of The Titan'. He wrote a story about a super liner called Titan which hit an iceberg and sank. It happened in April in the night. He also wrote that it was the largest craft afloat and the greatest of the works of men. It had watertight compartments and was thought to be unsinkable. He even mentioned how many passenger going to die and there won't be enough lifeboats. Did he have a premonition? Or was he told by a powerful source to prevent such a major disaster? Yet, nobody took any notice.

 CAPTAIN E J SMITH OF 
RMS TITANIC 

Apparently the Titanic was on fire when she left Southampton on 2 April, 1912. The fire was in the coal bunker and it is stated that it could  have burned for 11 days. After three days at sea the fire was put out. The bulkhead was red-hot and warped by the fire. It is assumed that it probably remained watertight.

The Titanic nearly collided with another ship when she left Southampton. The ship's Second Officer Charles Lightoller wrote in his memoirs that before she cleared the dock we experience the power of those engines and propellers. The Oceanic and St Paul were moored to the wharf alongside each other. The terrible suction set up in that shallow water simply druggedboth great liners away from the wharf. The St Paul broke adrift altogether. It looked like she was going to crash into the Titanic's stern. Only the Titanic's Captain Smith's experience and knowledge saved her.

On the fatal night, the wireless operators Jack Phillips and Harold Bride had repaired the damaged transformer for six hours. Before the collision they were trying to clear the backlog. They most definitely missed the message at 9.40pm from the ship Mesaba with the warning: "Saw much heavy pack ice, and great number large icebergs. Also field ice."Two hours later the chip crashed.

Second Officer Lightoller stated in his memoirs that the position this ship gave was right ahead of us and not many miles distant. The operator who received it was busy at the time and he put the message under a paperweight at his elbow. When he caught up with the backlog, he then would have brought it to the ridge. That delay proved fatal.

Micheal Navratil was on that ship. He kidnapped his two sons, Michael three and Edmond two, because of a custody battle His plan was to set up a new life in America. As the ship sank he dressed up his two sons and put them on the last boat. It was the last they saw of him. They could not speak a word of English. Margaret Hays, a survivor, took them to her New York home. Eventually, their mother recognized them and sailed back to Europe on the Oceanic.

TITANIC'S GYMNASIUM

FIRST CLASS GRAND STAIRCASE

The myth that Catholic workers at Harland and Wolff sabotaged the Titanic was not true. Rumors supposed to have been circulated that the Titanic's hull number was 3909 04 which spells 'No Pope'. It proven wrong because the hull number was 401 and a Board of Trade registration number was 131,428. At that time the Protestants-Catholic relations were bad in Ireland and the shipyards were in a Protestant area of Belfast.

Another story was about a Mummy on board which could have brought bad luck but that was never proven.  Apparently, a journalist W T Stead made the story up and told some passengers on the Titanic. He claimed four Englishman bought a mummy in Luxor.  They had bad luck ever since.   Stead drowned but Fredric Seward who was the only survivor of the dinner party told the story later.

Searchlights would have given the lookouts a better view.  They were steaming through a large ice field.  However, the calm, moonless conditions made the icebergs invisible.  After this disaster, searchlights were fitted on all large ships.

Second Officer Lightoller prevented men and boys from entering boats, even if they were only half full. He also refused Colonel John Jacob Astor, the richest man in the world, who asked to accompany his pregnant wife, Madelaine, even so the lifeboat was half full.

Chief banker Charles Joughin was drinking whisky as the ship foundered. He manage to swim in the freezing water for at least two-and-a-half hours. He also had several layers of clothes and that could have save his life. He survived far longer than any body else in the water.

                 ANNA BLISS MEMORIAL GARDEN