Almost 100 years to the day after the Titanic descended into the dark sea, killing most of its passengers, the event still captivates audiences around the world.
The tale of the ship — an unsinkable masterpiece that met a disastrous fate on its maiden voyage — is one of the cultural touchstones of the 20th century. A new audience learned the story when James Cameron’s film became the largest-grossing film of all time, a title it held until Cameron’s Avatar topped it in 2009.
Devastation and fascination are yet again sweeping the globe as the Titanic’s 100-year-old tale is brought back to life.
1912
The ship departed April 11, 1912, from Queenstown, Ireland, carrying 2,224 passengers and crewmen destined for New York. More than 1,500 of them died in the arctic waters of the North Atlantic Ocean by 2:20 a.m. April 15. Only 710 passengers survived.
Eleven hours after the 882-foot vessel struck an iceberg, heartbreak and confusion swept the globe as Ireland’s Belfast Evening Telegraph reported that the world’s first perceivably unsinkable ship had sunk.
The RMS Titanic is now anchored on the sea floor. The story of its demise has become a global phenomenon, retold through books, documentaries and a box-office hit.
Paul Milazzo, a history professor at Ohio University, said mass-market print journalism was breaking out at the time, as national audiences became more receptive to daily newspapers and national magazines.
“Muckraking journalism was all the rage, of course, and disasters in particular made for great copy,” Milazzo said.
Just one year before, New York’s Triangle Shirtwaist Factory caught fire, killing almost 150 garment workers, and mass media sent the newly expanded audience into a frenzy.
“(The coverage of that fire) had to play a role in the reception and perpetuation of the Titanic story,” Milazzo said.
But the shipwreck, unlike the factory fire, was more than news to the technologically progressive society of that time. People crafted a drama out of the Titanic tale, seeking entertainment in the phenomenon.
“The Titanic got a tremendous amount of attention because it was supposed to be the one that wouldn’t sink,” said David Kidder, associate professor of geology and oceanography at OU. “We tend to worry about those high-profile things more than car wrecks, which happen all the time.”
But for international trekkers of the early 20th century, commercial liners were key, and the Titanic was the epitome of elitist travel.
“It was a more common way of traveling than it is today, and it was meant to be a luxury liner that couldn’t sink,” Milazzo said. “But it did.”
1985
Where the Titanic’s ruins rested in the vast waters of the Atlantic remained a mystery until 1985. When University of Rhode Island professor Robert Ballard discovered its massive hull 12,415 feet under sea, he knew he and his team had hit the mother load, a treasure coveted by his colleagues.
Video documentation of the Titanic lying tattered and split in two caused global hysteria yet again.
After assessing its remains, scientists found that, when the iceberg swept 30 feet of the vessel’s side, the ship’s intricate design had failed. The maiden’s rivets were released from her underbelly, letting the sea pour through her seams. The crew employed watertight compartments in the lower part of the ship, but those, too, failed against the pressure of the colossal flood.
Criticism of the boat’s design and its lack of safeguards drifted through the media. Only 20 of the 32 lifeboats the ship was designed to hold were actually aboard when she sank. Just before the Titanic met its destroyer, Captain Edward Smith reportedly ignored more than 30 ice warnings before his liner hit the 200-foot-wide iceberg that led to its fatal plunge.
As the accident’s centennial approaches, many still wonder the likelihood of it recurring today. Some say it already has.
This past January, the passenger liner Costa Concordia hit a rock as it sailed west of Italy. Similar to the Titanic’s discovered damage, the 160-foot gash in the ship’s haul caused the Italian voyager to capsize. Only 30 of the 4,200 people aboard Costa Concordia died in the accident, a small number compared with the Titanic’s more than 1,500 casualties.
“I would assume we’ve learned an awful lot in 100 years,” Kidder said. “But I’d say the key is to remember the Titanic so we don’t have another accident like that.”
But, though the hype surrounding the Concordia disaster died down in just a few months, today’s society still raves about its predecessor.
“I think people are fascinated with the personal stories that merge with the broader event (of the Titanic),” said Frederick Lewis, professor of media studies at OU. “It’s the human story that attracts us, putting a face on a tragedy.”
The RMS Titanic surpassed all other ships of its time in size and design. The sheer magnitude of the unexpected calamity left a mark to last generations.
Today
This month, $189 million worth of artifacts recovered from the wreck site will be auctioned off at New York’s Guernsey’s auction house. The 5,500-piece collection, including fine china and personal items, is on display at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in New York City.
This weekend, the first telegram sent to Belfast about the disaster, reportedly worth more than $40,000, is also being sold in Dublin, where the ship was manufactured.
To honor the 100th anniversary of the Titanic catastrophe, 1997’s three-and-a-half hour tearjerker has been rereleased in 3D. Starting last week, James Cameron’s version of the classic tale is being relived in movie theaters throughout the United States, including Athens’ Athena Grand Cinema, 1008 E. State St., 15 years after its debut.
“It was a long movie with a lot of buildup,” Milazzo said, “and when the ship sank (in the film), people were kind of just glad it was over with.”
But it will never be over for some: 200 people strolled into Athena Grand Cinema last Wednesday for the midnight premiere, owner Rick Frame said. More than 1,000 tickets were sold during its first weekend at the Athens theater alone.
oy311909@ohiou.edu
