The Tragedy of the Titanic

Lifeboat No. 15 was almost lowered on top of No. 13, but the crewmen aboard No. 13 cut their boat free of the riggings just in time. As the boat begins to list forward, Collapsible A which is on the roof of the officer’s quarters, is washed from the deck as the ship sinks beneath it. A dozen people cling to the swamped boat as it bobs through the water. At 2:00 a.m. there are still 1,500 people still aboard. With the last lifeboat full, crewmen locked arms to prevent a rush to the boat, as Chief Officer Lightholler threatened the crowd with his revolver. By 2:05 the boats were away, and a strange stillness took hold on the remaining passengers. The Titanic rose out of the water and broke in half, it then proceeded to plunge slowly to here grave two miles below the surface of the Atlantic Ocean.

What made the tragedy of the Titanic more dramatic was the fact that there were two ships that were not in the immediate vicinity of the Titanic, but fairly close by. The first of these two ships was the “Californian” which was under the command of Captain Lord. Mysteriously, Captain Lord did not respond to the distress rockets being fired from the decks of the “Titanic”.(R. Ballard 32) Slightly further off was Captain Arthur Rostron’s “Carpathia”, which heard the distress call and immediately raced full steam through the treacherous waters to rescue the endangered “Titanic”. By the time the “Carpathia” had arrived, all that was left behind of the monstrous “Titanic” were its number of lifeboats bobbing in the ocean waves. Captain Rostron was made an international hero for his deeds in the rescue of passengers from the “Titanic”.(R. Ballard 34)

The disaster of the “Titanic” was no doubt one that could have been and should have been prevented. However, due to the mindless carelessness and arrogance, for example the lack of response to the iceberg warnings, and the construction of an inadequate number of lifeboats, the “Titanic” came crashing down to the ocean depths with a considerable loss of life. Mankind will continue forever to wrestle with the forces of Nature, but before they are able to contain the forces of Nature if they ever are, there will continue to be major missteps and continual loss of innocent life. The human being is cursed with the ability to think, to understand one’s surroundings, and the urge to prove oneself more powerful than previously estimated. It is this characteristic, if anything, that will be man’s downfall.