A Night To Remember Essay, Research Paper

A Night to Remember

Titanic was the biggest ship ever made. It was a miracle of twentieth century technology. The ship consisted of the most sophisticated safety devices of its time. Yet on Sunday, April 14, 1912, the Titanic hit an iceberg, which soon led to disaster.

I read the book, A Night To Remember written by Walter Lord. The book is a minute by minute account of the Titanic’s fatal collision with an iceberg and how the tragedy brought out the best and worst of human nature.

There were 2,207 passengers aboard the Titanic. This ship was called “unsinkable”. People from all over the world came aboard the first voyage because of its reputation. On April 10, 1912 at 12 noon the Titanic left the Southampton dock and headed for New York. At 7:00 p.m. they made its first stop at Cherbourg to pick up passengers. They left two hours later for Queenstown. The next day at 12:30 p.m., Titanic arrived at Queenstown for passengers and mail. At 2:00 p.m. it leaves for New York carrying 1316 passengers and 891 crew. On April 15th at 11:00 p.m., the Californian warns the Titanic of ice, but before they could give the location they get cut off. About forty minutes later the ship collides with an iceberg. Twenty minutes later, orders are given to uncover the boats and alarm the crew and passengers. On April 15th, at 12:15 a.m. they send the first distress call and are told that help wouldn’t be there until three or four hours later. About two hours later the ship was completely under water, leaving 1,556 passengers and crew in the deadly cold waters of the Atlantic Ocean. About an hour later the survival boats come back to check if there where any lives left. They picked up 54 people from the water. An hour later the Carpathia came and picked up the 705 surviving passengers and docked in New York.

What the crew on the Titanic didn’t realize at the time is that 90% of the iceberg was spread out under water. When the Titanic saw the iceberg they tried to avoid it by turning and slowing the motor, but they would had a better chance of staying afloat by going right through it. When the ship hit the iceberg it put little dashes throughout the side of the ship. The compartments started to fill up one by one. If no more then four compartments filled with water then the Titanic would have stayed afloat but five compartments were all ready filled up.

The Titanic’s weight was 46,328 gross tons. Her dimensions were 882.5 feet long, 92.5 feet wide, and 175 feet from keel to the top of her four huge funnels. The Titanic was in other words 11 stories high and four city blocks long.

Her most amazing feature was the watertight construction. It had a double bottom and was divided into 16 watertight compartments. It could stay afloat with any four compartments full, but they could never imagine anything worse than a collision at the juncture of two so they called it “unsinkable.”

When the news about the Titanic hit the papers the Harold Tribune they had a cartoon of the Titanic hitting the iceberg and on the iceberg was the hand of God. This cartoon meant that since they called the Titanic “unsinkable” and that only God could sink it, they said that God brought the iceberg.

Some people gave their lives for others; some fought like animals for survival. Wives fought for their husbands to join them in the lifeboats. From the first distress flares to the struggles of those left adrift for hours in freezing water, this book consists of a legendary disaster relived by the few who survived and can never forget the many who did not.

I recommend this book for people who want to know what really happened aboard the Titanic. A Night to Remember gives the facts from hundreds of survivors of the Titanic. I recommend this book for readers who like non-fictional books.