Today, April 10, marks the one hundred and eleventh anniversary of the departure of the Titanic on her fateful maiden voyage from Southampton, England. This event as a disaster remains not just the most well remembered shipwreck in the public imagination, but also as a continuing subculture. There are autists who could tell you every detail of the ship, from the name of the radio operator who sent the Morse code distress signal, to the precise location of the Turkish Baths in the first-class area. Why is the Titanic so heavily imprinted on the public’s imagination? The answer lies not just in the disaster itself, but in maritime engineering.
This was not so long after the era of sail had finally drawn to a close. Coal-fired, steam-propelled, and metal-hulled ships overcame the wooden-hulled sailing vessels by becoming commercially viable beginning in the 1870s. For comparison, this is the same amount of time that separates us from the 1980s. The Olympic class that the Titanic belonged to had undergone several innovative improvements. In addition to the triple expansion steam engine which, by that point, was industry standard, the Titanic and her sister ships were equipped with watertight bulkhead doors below the waterline. The ship had heating and could distill freshwater from seawater. She also famously had radio equipment — used to broadcast the famous “SOS” distress signal — which was not quite in standard usage at the time. The radio operator, Howard Bride, also used the older “CQD” distress signal as well. Neither distress calls nor signal flares would ultimately be received by the SS Californian, which happened to be nearby on the night of the sinking. The watertight bulkheads especially were why the Titanic as a vessel was billed as “unsinkable” in her day. But this simply was not true. No ship is unsinkable, and Titanic’s lack of lifeboats sufficient for even half of the total passengers and crew meant that those who did not have a seat in a lifeboat were condemned to die within minutes in the freezing waters of the North Atlantic. Even so, not all lifeboats were filled to capacity when they were initially deployed. The chivalric phrase “women and children first” is part of folklore largely because of Titanic, since women and children supposedly were loaded onto the lifeboats first.
Even though modern cruise liner ships dwarf Titanic in length, width abeam, and tonnage, Titanic was notably large for her day. Titanic’s size was due to a market niche preferred by the White Star Line’s chairman, J. Bruce Ismay. Titanic and her sister ships, rather than compete on speed as had been common for oceanic liners to do up until that time, would compete on size and luxuriousness. Indeed, the interior decor was modeled after high-class hotels, like the Ritz Hotel in London.
The scale and opulence aboard were notable, and high society elites were present aboard partially for that reason, of course. Many of the highest tier of the Anglo-American elite of that time were present onboard for that fateful journey. Notable were John Jacob Astor and Margaret Brown. J.P. Morgan himself, who actually owned the Titanic — since he owned the White Star Line via his International Mercantile Marine Company — was supposed to take that fateful voyage. He ultimately did not, cancelling at the last minute. Astor did not survive, but Brown did. She became a celebrity in her own right by ordering the quartermaster Robert Hichens to row Lifeboat No. 6 back towards the sinking ship to pick up other passengers who had chosen to jump from Titanic once it was clear that the ship’s fate was sealed. This was a very dangerous thing to do, as sinking ships have a suction effect which drags survivors downwards, and not to mention the possibility of the survivors in the water capsizing the lifeboat in a panicked attempt to survive. Molly Brown, of course, was a suffragette, so this certainly plays into a sort of trope similar to the “take-charge,” “girlboss”-type woman who has to boss men into “doing their jobs” — in this case, performing an act of chivalric bravery. Speaking of chivalric bravery, the orchestra reputedly played “Nearer, My God, to Thee” as the ship sank. It’s debated which version, but that bit is attested to by survivors. The band really did play music as the ship sank, so it isn’t just Hollywood storytelling!
All the reasons listed above are why Titanic is so well remembered. The Faustian desire to conquer nature through technology, combined with technology’s failure to safeguard humans during collision with nature, is a theme which seemingly begins with Titanic, since it precedes the same sentiment which diffused throughout Western Civilization in the first half of the twentieth century after World War I. Every supposed mechanical and electronic failsafe did not prevent Titanic from suffering its fate.
The sea seems to hold a special place in the hearts of Westerners, since the sea represents the idea of the infinite, as it is nothing but flat horizon on all sides. Even the names Titanic and Olympic, inspired from Greek mythology, convey a sense of majestic grandeur and propel this singular event into its own mythos. The opulent setting, the gallant behavior of the crew, the high-class guests, the high death rate, and the captain even going down with the ship all contribute to the legend.
A picture of the rudders and propeller of Titanic’s sister ship Olympia, also built by the White Star Line.
A picture of the Forward First Class Grand Staircase of Titanic’s sister ship Olympia.