Introduction
These pages are dedicated to those who lost their lives that cold night 100 years ago.
My first experience with the RMS Titanic was when I was on my traditional easter-holiday with my friends in the late sixties. Their Grandfather was constantly mumbling 'Well, well, very well, said Captain Smith', and then something about a captains hat floating in the Atlantic. However, it would take another 10 years before I realized that it was the RMS Titanic and Captain Edward J. Smith that he was referring to.
In 1974 I wrote an essay about the RMS Titanic for the first time at school. At that time I just had one book about her, 'A Night to Remember' by Walter Lord. After some hectic nights, the essay was completed though it was not especially good. But as a result of all my work, I became hypnotized by this ship (this is a common symptom with persons involved with this subject.). How is it possible to be so hypnotized by a tragedy that happened in a time in which your own grandparents were born?
Was the ship really so special? The answer to this are numerous.
- It is a fact, that when RMS Titanic was built, she was the largest ship in the whole world.
- RMS Titanic was also one of the first ships to use the new distress-signal SOS.
- And, it was only after this accident that passengers safety became important to the designers and developers. It came as a shock when people were told that this giant steamer had just enough lifeboats for only 1.178 of the 2.227 passengers on board.
Before you get too excited about this story and the film about this ship, please visit my page where one of the survivors from another ship-tragedy, tells you how it feels being on board a sinking ship. Perhaps we all can get a more human angle to this tragedy, not just some easy entertainment and an exciting story.
All links on my pages points to an Appendix, where I have tried to explain som of the words and expressions used.
- To be honest, not all of the information and pictures at this site are mine, so I also made a credit-page.
