One of the most tragic and at the same time mysterious events of the 20th century is the collapse of the largest passenger liner of its time - the Titanic. There is still much debate about the details of his death: how many people were on the Titanic, how many of them survived, and how many died, whose fault was in the disaster. Let's try to at least partially understand these nuances.
Construction history
In order to find out how many people were on the Titanic, you first need to determine the number of passengers and crew that it could potentially accommodate. For this purpose, we will plunge into the history of the construction of an ocean liner.
The very idea of creating a giant passenger ship arose in connection with the fierce competition between the companies White Star Line and Kunard Line. The latter corporation by that time was already able to create several large intercontinental liners, the largest for their time. Naturally, White Star Line did not want to lag behind. And so the idea of creating the Titanic was born, which was supposed to break records in size and capacity.
Construction began in the spring of 1909 at a shipyard in Belfast, Ireland. More than one and a half thousand workers took part in the construction of this giant. They built it by standard methods for that time, in which a vertical keel of a ship was planted on a vertical one.
In late spring 1911, the Titanic was finally launched. But this did not mean that the construction was completed. Next, the equipment was installed in the engine room and finishing work.
In February 1912 the ship was already completely ready, and in April it was put into operation.
Specifications "Titanic"
The Titanic at the time of its creation was the largest ship that ever existed before. Its length was 259.8 m, height - 18.4 m, width - more than 28 m, draft - 10.54 m, displacement - 52 310 tons, weight - 46 330 tons. Moreover, it had a capacity of 55,000 horsepower and Developed a speed of 24 knots, which was achieved thanks to three screws, two four-cylinder engines and a steam turbine. Such dimensions and the presence of fifteen partitions created the illusion of unsinkability.
Now let's find out how many people on board the Titanic could be located at the same time. According to technical specifications, the ship could accommodate 2556 passengers and 908 crew members. In total - 3464 people. At the same time, only 20 lifeboats were located on the Titanic, which could accommodate a total of 1,178 passengers. That is, even initially it was assumed that in the event of a large-scale catastrophe, less than half of those who could potentially be on the liner would be able to escape. But, most likely, no one even thought that such a disaster could happen on a "unsinkable" ship.
But, of course, the potential capacity of the ship does not yet give an exact answer to the question of how many people were on the Titanic at the time of the disaster. We will talk about this below.
Departure
The Titanic made its first and, as it turned out later, last flight in the direction of Southampton (Britain) - New York (USA) across the Atlantic Ocean. Departure was scheduled for April 10, 1912.
Edward John Smith, one of the most experienced sailors of the time, was appointed captain. He had over twenty five years of command experience.
After loading passengers on the appointed day at 12:00, the Titanic set off on its last journey.
Number of passengers and crew
Now, let's still find out how many people were on the Titanic when he went on his fateful voyage.
According to the official chronicle, the crew of the liner at its exit from Southampton was 891 people. Of these, 390 people of the ship's crew, eight of whom were officers, the rest - maintenance personnel.
With the calculation of passengers, the situation is more complicated, since their number is constantly changing. This was due to the fact that part of the passengers got off, and part, on the contrary, boarded the ship at intermediate stops in Cherbourg and Queenstown.
943 passengers departed from Southampton, of which 195 traveled first class. But by the time it entered the open ocean, the number of passengers had increased to 1317 people. In the first class, 324 of them were lucky to travel, in the second and third there were, respectively, 128 and 708 people. It should be noted that among the passengers there were 125 children.
Thus, we see that, with a total passenger capacity of the Titanic of 2556 people, it was loaded a little more than half in its first and last voyage. It should be noted that the provided number of boats would not even be enough to save all passengers, not to mention the crew.
Among the famous passengers of the Titanic, one can distinguish millionaires John Jacob Astor and Benjamin Guggenheim, journalist William Stead, Assistant to the American President Archibald Bath.
Thus, we answered the question how many people were on the Titanic.
Swimming
As already mentioned, after entering Cherbourg and Queenstown, the liner entered the open ocean and headed along the transatlantic highway to the shores of North America. The Titanic was set at 21 knots with a maximum possible 24 knots.
During the trip, the weather was fine. The voyage itself took place without any special incidents and deviations from the course.
On April 14, 1912, having covered a total of 2689 kilometers of the Atlantic route, the Titanic reached a point near Newfoundland, where it had a fatal meeting with an iceberg.
Clash
Icebergs are fairly frequent "companions" of ships in the North Atlantic. But the "Titanic" was moving, as was believed, at a safe course, at which at that time of the year there should not be ice blocks. Nevertheless, on April 14, closer to midnight, their meeting took place.
It is generally accepted that, due to the darkness, the ship's crew did not see the iceberg. But it is not so. He was noticed by the forward looking when the ship was at a distance of 650 meters from the iceberg.
Immediately the commands “Left to board” and “Full back” were given. But it was already too late. Such a huge ship as the Titanic could not successfully maneuver in such a narrow space. The clash occurred at 23:40.
The blow was not very strong. Nevertheless, even this was enough to play a fatal role in the fate of many passengers and crew. How many people died on the Titanic because of this fatal blow ...
After a collision with an iceberg, six holes were formed in five compartments. The Titanic was not designed for such a turn of events. The command realized that the fate of the ship was a foregone conclusion. The designer said that the ship will remain on the surface for no more than an hour and a half.
Evacuation of passengers
Immediately an order was issued to rescue passengers, especially women and children. The team prepared the boats.
In order to prevent panic among passengers, the true reasons for the evacuation were hidden from them, they said that it was carried out in order to prevent a possible collision with an iceberg. It was not difficult to convince people of this, because, as mentioned above, the strike on the Titanic was practically not felt. Many did not even want to leave a comfortable ship and change boats.
But when the water began to gradually flood the ship, it was already impossible to hide the true state of things. There was panic on board, which intensified after the Titanic began to heel. It became clear that there wasn’t enough for all boats. The crush began. Everyone wanted to get into the number of those saved, although the team tried with all its efforts to let women and children go first.
Two hours after midnight, the last boat with passengers set sail from a sinking ship. There were nothing left to transport the remaining people.
The death of the Titanic
Meanwhile, water filled the ship more and more. First of all, the captain’s bridge was flooded. The bow of the ship went under water, and the stern, on the contrary, rose slightly up. The people who remained on the Titanic rushed there.
With flooding, the angle between the stern and the bow of the ship began to grow, which led to the fact that the Titanic broke in two. At 2:20 the liner finally sank.
But how many people died on the Titanic? Have any of the remaining passengers and crew survived on the ship? And how many people escaped from the Titanic? We will try to answer these questions below.
The number of people saved
In order to find out how many people died on the Titanic, you need to determine two mandatory introductory notes. With the help of them it will be possible to answer this question. First of all, you need to find out how many people were on the Titanic. This we have identified above. You also need to know how many people escaped from the Titanic. Below we will try to answer this question.
According to official statistics, a total of 712 people were saved. Of these, 212 crew members and 500 passengers. The largest percentage of people saved is among first-class passengers, 62%. The number of survivors in the second and third grade was 42.6% and 25.6%, respectively. At the same time, only 23.6% of the team members could be saved.
These figures are explained by the fact that the order was given primarily to save passengers, not crew members. The greater number of surviving people traveling in the first class is due to the fact that the lower the class, the farther it was from the deck of the ship. Consequently, people had less access to lifeboats.
If we talk about how many people on the Titanic survived among those passengers and crew members who could not be evacuated, then we need to state the fact that it was simply impossible to save one’s life in these conditions. A wrecked ship sucked everything after itself into the abyss.
Now it will not be difficult for us to determine how many people drowned on the Titanic.
How many people died?
Having determined how many people survived on the Titanic, as well as bearing in mind the initial number of passengers and crew, it is not difficult to answer the question of the number of those killed during the crash.
1,496 people died, that is, more than 67% of the people who were on the ship at the time of the collision with the ice block. Including 686 casualties among crew members and 810 passengers. These numbers indicate a poor organization of salvation for people in distress.
Thus, we found out how many people died on the Titanic.
Causes of the disaster
It is difficult to judge how great the fault of the crew members who could not notice the iceberg in time. But it should be noted that the collision occurred late at night, moreover, in latitudes, where at this time of the year no one expected to see a block of ice.
Another thing is that the ship’s designers and sailing organizers too relied on the unsinkability of the Titanic. For this reason, only half of the required number of boats were located on the ship. In addition, when organizing the evacuation, team members did not know their exact capacity, so the first rescue boats were only half full.
How many people died on the Titanic, how many families lost their relatives just because no one even seriously thought about the possibility of a catastrophe ...
Meaning disaster
It is difficult to overestimate the impact that the death of the Titanic had on the minds of contemporaries. She was perceived as a response of the forces of nature to the aspirations of a man who, in his pride, decided that he had created an unsinkable ship.
There were also disputes among experts about the true causes of the tragedy and whether it could have been avoided, how many people survived on the Titanic and how many died.
The death of this miracle of human thought still excites the consciousness of people. This catastrophe has an impact on culture to this day. Books and films are made about the fate of the Titanic and the people who were on it at the time of the disaster.