Titanic
The story of the Titanic, as Walter Lord so aptly put it over 55 years ago, is really the story of the last night of a small town. Here we have a ship, built in the yards of Harland & Wolff at Belfast to the highest standards of the day, half again as large as any ship that had preceded it. Both she and her sister Olympic were considered the greatest technological achievements in marine engineering that the world had ever known. The highly respected periodical "The Shipbuilder" routinely published "Special Souvenir Numbers" marking the entry on service of such ships and in 1911, published one for the Olympic (entering service) and Titanic (building). These covered everything about the ship - from details of framing, plating and boilers to details of carpet and upholstery. It was this publication, not the White Star Line, that stated "by simply closing a switch controlling the watertight doors, make the ship practically unsinkable". For several decades, ships had grown ever larger, faster and more luxurious. It was the routine marine practice of the day to follow sea-routes known as "tracks" at speed in most weather and conditions. This was considered safe practice precisely because nothing had ever happened to make it seem otherwise. Shortly after the turn of the century, the miracle of wireless telegraphy had made communication at sea a reality, and via relay service, communication with land as well. It made the world seem a smaller place, and the sea lanes safer still. The Titanic had the misfortune to encounter on her maiden voyage what nothing before her had, and in a most unusual setting - no moon, a bitter cold night, a flat-calm sea, and an absence of other ships nearby in wireless communication. It is a story of "if onlys" in abundance, one of great valor and great cowardice, of arrogance, complacency and tragedy. One could not create a more compelling story if they tried, and therein lies lies its great power even one hundred years later.
