Awful Realisation

The ship began to shudder violently.

Below deck, Thomas Andrews - the ship's proud designer - was reviewing the plans when his room began to shake. He rushed out of his room onto the top deck, only to see a towering wall of solid ice glide past, leaving small chunks on the deck. Then it disappeared.

Andrews returned to his quarters, grabbed his coat, and the plans, and rushed to the bridge. The Captain was already there, shouting at Murdoch.

"What in God's name has happened?" he demanded to know.

"Iceberg, sir. I tried to miss, but we hit... and..."

"Seal all the watertight doors." The Captain ordered.

"Already have, sir."

It was in that moment Andrews realised the fate of the ship. He rolled out the plan of the ship across the table, and looked it over, a frown appearing across his face. At that moment, Ismay walked in.

"What was that awful shudder?" he asked.

"We've hit an iceberg, Mr Ismay." the Captain said bluntly. Andrews finally spoke.

"If my calculations are correct, the iceberg will have opened 6 watertight compartments to the sea. The ship is designed to stay afloat with 5 flooded, not 6. But here's the worst part. The water will fill up in each bulkhead, then pour into the next, then the next, and so on, and so on, until the ship is entirely underwater. Titanic has but 2 hours afloat."

Silence filled the bridge. Then, Ismay laughed.

"But this ship can't sink..."

"She's made of iron, Ismay, I assure that she can. And she will."

In that moments, the entire ship was making her longest journey yet.

Not to New York.

To the seabed.

That Fateful Sunday

The Titanic's next stop was Queenstown, Ireland, quickly followed by a stop at Cherbrough, France. Then, it was just 2'200 passengers, 500 crew, and the open Atlantic Ocean.
The Titanic was going to the Big Apple.
As the ship glided beautifully through the water, dolphins jumped from the water, jumping in gorgeous arks that would soon make history in the movie of the ship.
Passengers sat below decks sipping tea and snacking on biscuits. Men and women swam in the below-deck swimming pool, and weight-lifted in the gymnasium. Everything was as it should be.
But, on Sunday 14th April 1912, everything changed.
Captain Smith was stood on the bridge with Officer Murdoch, stirring his tea.
"Right, I'll be off to my quarters now." Smith said, and left the bridge.
Murdoch peered out into the calm darkness of the Atlantic, trying to spot anything bad.
Atop the Crow's Nest, Fredrick Fleet and his friend stood watching out for iceburgs or rocks or field ice. It was bitterly cold, and the sea was completely flat, making it more difficult to spot a burg.
Then, out of nowhere, a black object appeared on the horizon, and air in the Cros Nest went colder than the freezing night. Fleet rang a warning bell, then grabbed the phone.
"What do you see?" came a voice from the other end.
"Iceburg, dead ahead!" Fleet yelled, and hung up. By now, the Burg was completely visible - and only 100 metres away.
Fleet, his friend, and Murdoch down on the bridge watched, holding their breaths as the Titanic's bow slowly turned to port. The ship was going to miss!
Then, an officer on the forward prow of the ship suddenly yelled "She's gonna hit!"
Then, there was a horrible, gut-wrentching ascraping sound.
The sound of ice clashing with metal...

"Ship of Dreams"

As Rose Dawson said in the 1997 film;
"It's been eighty-four years... and I can still smell the fresh paint. The china had never been used. The sheets had never been slept in. Titanic was called the "Ship of Dreams". And she was. She really was..."
The air had a new smell in it as 2200 people arrived in Southampton harbour at lunchtime on April 10th 1912. Three doors were open on the port side of RMS Titanic, each one with a long walkway spanning the gap over the water and into the ship. Passengers from 1st, 2nd and 3rd class gaped in awe at the size of the superliner. Many of them, mostly 1st class, had already travelled aboard the Olympic from America, and now were planning their way home again on board her sister. Others in the remaining classes were either going to America on holiday, or planning on starting a new life with family in a whole new world of skyscrapers and Burger Kings.
Then, as the final people clambered aboard, the doors clamped shut, and the rigging ropes were thrown to wind. There was a great churning beneath the water as the propellers began to spin and the ship sailed off towards the USA.
But, a precourser of things to come occured.
A small tug boat, caught in the turbulence of the three giant bronze propellers, broke free from it's rigging and pulled away from the harbour. It almost collided with the great ship itself, had it not been for another tug that slowly nudged the tug back into place.
The Titanic continued on her journey.
A journey that would change the world forever.

Construction Begins

Ismay and Pirrie finally took the designs to the drawing board, finally putting their ships into reality. In 1901, the first keel plate was laid for the ship that was to be called the Olympic. Several months later, the Titanic's first keel plate was laid down.
And so construction on the ship that would shake America began.
The Titanic and Olympic grew and grew, until the Olympic was launched in 1910. She then travelled a mile away from the Shipyard to her fitting out basin. A year later, in 1911, the Titanic joined her. They were both fitted out with first-class state rooms, a promenade deck, three magnifisent funnels, and massive engines.
Then, the Mauretania was launched.
Both Pirrie and Ismay saw her glide past the Titanic's fitting out basin with four beautiful funnels on her boat deck. Pirrie saw the funnels and an idea struck him.
"All Cunard liners have four funnels, making them look bigger and grander." he said. "Why don't we give our ships a fourth, fake funnel?"
The idea was accepted immediately, and the Olympic and Titanic had a fourth funnel fitted.
Then they set of on their sea trials.

The Idea

Its the early 1900s. Queen Victoria had just died, and the British Empire was under new rule.

A limosine pulls up outside the house of Lord Pirrie and his beloved wife. Inside the car is J. Bruce Ismay and his wife. The get out of the car and walk up to the door of the manor and enter. It is said that, while in the house, Ismay and Pirrie thought up a spectacular idea.

At this time, there was a transatlantic rivalry between shipping lines Cunard and White Star. They had been fighting for many years. And now, Cunard was about to launch the Lusitania - a ship that would push the boundaries of modern shipping. It was two be launched a few weeks later, with a sister ship, the Mauretania, also nearing completion. They were to be the biggest ships ever built, almost five-times the size of Brunel's Great Eastern. They were also to be the most luxurious.

Something had to be done.

Pirrie and Ismay suddenly came up with an idea. A titanic idea.

They desided to build three humongous ships - two constructed side by side, with a third to follow. They would be TEN TIMES the size of the Lusitania, and TEN TIMES as luxurious. Luxury and comfort would be higherly thought of rather than speed, although the ships would be fast enough to travel from Southhampton in six days.

Pirrie raised a toast to the welfare of the ships. And later that evening, Ismay drew up rough drawings of three ships, with their names underneath.

The Gigantic.

The Olympic.

And the Titanic.