1. Now analyze some other cause-and-effect relationships to
determine why the Titanic sank. Guiiling Question: How do
you think the deaths of the people on the Titanic affected
the communities they left behind? i
The hull, or frame of the ship, was divided into
16 watertight sections. The ship was constructed
this way so it could stay afloat even if four of these
sections filled with water. The Titanic only carried
enough lifeboats for half the people onboard.
When the Titanic began its first voyage on
April 10, there were about 2,200 men, women,
and children aboard. Many of the passengers were
rich and famous,like John Iacob Asto6 one of the
richest men in the world. He and other first-class
passengers had rooms decorated like expensive
hotel rooms. The second-class accommodations
were not as grand, but they were still comfortable.
The Titanic also carried more than 700
emmigrants leaving their home countries to settle
in a new land. Their rooms were located in the
480 Lesson 6-9
*
The Titanic was the length of four city blocks.
steeragel section. Each of these rooms had four
bunks and a wash basin. The rooms were crowded
and simple. However, these passengers enjoyed
games, singing, even a Scotsman playing bagpipes.
Warnings nt Sea
It was a clear, cool day on April 14, as the Titanic
traveled full steam ahead in the North Atlantic.
However, as early as 9:00 e.u., the wireless telegraph
operator received warning messages regarding
icebergs ahead. Over the next fewhours,
a total of six messages came from other ships.
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The crew sent rockets into the sky, trying to
attract the attention of other ships. The passengers
began to realize that the Titanic was sinking.
At2:20 a.u., the Titanic stood on end before
sliding to its grave in the dark sea. The great,
"unsinkable" ship sank in the cold waters of the
North Atlantic. More than 1,500 people died in
the disaster.
Wrc Swviaors
People were in the freezing wate6 struggling to
reach the lifeboats. While most boats still had
room in them, very little effort was made to pick
up the swimmers.
The Carpathia,the first ship to come to the aid
of the passengers, started taking people aboard
by 4:l0,e..rvr. There were about 700 survivors,
including women, children, and men.
Other ships racing to the rescue learned that
they were too late. The Californian, the one ship
that had been nearby, had seen the rockets that the
Titanic sent up.Yet, the crewwas uncertain what
they meant. At about 5:40.0..u., one crew member
woke up the radio operator. The operator turned
on his radio and contacted another ship. It was
then that he learned that the Titanic had hit an
iceberg and had sunk.
News of survivors was slow in reaching relatives.
Newspaper stories were based on only a few
facts, and many reports were false. On April 18,
thousands of eager people waited in NewYork as
the Carpathiaaruived.
Top: Purser Hugh Walter McElroy (left) and Captain
Edward j. Smith worked on t}:.e Titanic.
Below: Passengers stroll along the deck of the Titanic.
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The Titanic's captain, Edward J. Smith, received
only some of these messages because the ship did
not have a system set up for passing on messages
from the operator to the crew to the captain. For
this reason, no one person saw all of the messages.
If the six warnings had been mapped out, they
would have shown a wall of ice in the path of the
Titanic. Captain Smith simply asked the men on
lookout to watch for icebergs. The lookouts could
only use their eyes, because they did not have
binoculars with them on the lookout platform.
Oisaster nt Sen
Shortly before midnight, one of the men on
lookout saw an unmistakable shape straight ahead.
He rang bells, and a message was telephoned to
the bridge where the captain commanded the ship.
An iceberg was directly ahead of them-and the
Titanic was headed straight for it!
The ship's officers gave orders to turn the Titanic
so that it would miss the iceberg, but they were too
late. The Titanic hit the iceberg and the ship slowly
came to a stop. In one of the boiler rooms, where the
engines were located, alarms went off, a wall gave
way, and water began to rush in.
)ust twenty-five minutes after midnight, the crew
rushed to call other ships for help. Ships hearing the
call began to change course to come to the aid of the
Titanic. One ship, the Californian,was nearbybut
the radio operator did not get the message.
By 12:45 A.M., as water gushed into the Titanic,
lifeboats were lowered. Women and children were
instructed to get into the boats, but they did not
realize how serious the danger was, so some saw
no reason to take a ride in the icy sea. Some men
laughed as they helped their wives into boats. They
thought all would be well by breakfast.
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3. '[he Jnaestigations
In the weeks following the tragedy, the United
States Senate and the Board of Trade in England
held investigations. The reports stated that the
Titanic had not been carrying enough lifeboats
and their boats were not fully loaded. If the boats
had been loaded to full capacity, at least 400 more
lives could have been saved.
Investigators also found that the Titanichad,
been traveling too fast. As warnings about ice had
reached the ship, the Titanic should have been
moving at a slower speed.
Much of the blame for the lost lives went to the
crew of the Californian If they had helped the
Titanic right away, many of the passengers might
have been saved.
exfloring the Wreckage
The story of the Titanic has continued to unfold.
In 1985, a team of scientists led by Robert E.
Ballard of the United States and Iean-Louis Michel
of France, found the wreckage of the ship. People
had thought for years that the Titanic sank because
of a gash-a long, deep cut-in its hull. However,
one major flaw was that the steel used in the hull
was too brittle for the cold waters. That meant that
it broke easily when the ship hit the iceberg.
Many stories, articles, and films have described
the greatest sea tragedy in history. In one
nonfiction film, people can see the actual remains
of the ship's railing and imagine what it was like to
stand there almost one hundred years ago.
The 35,200-pound Aloin
searches the ocean floor for
the Titanic off the coast of
Newfoundland.
82 Lesson 6-9
the Titqnic
After finding the Titsnic, Dr. Robert
Ballard and Jean-Louis Michel and a team
of researchers returned nine months later
in 1986 to study the ship. Exploring two
mites beneath the ocean's surface proved
a unique chaltenge. The water pressure
at that depth is so great that it woutd
kitt a person quickty. For this reason, the
researchers had to prepare for the trip
almost as they would for a trip into outer
space. To reach theTitanic, the team used
Alvin, a deep-ocean submersibte that can
carry three peopte at a time-two scientists
and a pilot. Atvin can dive as deep as 4,500
meters (about three miles). Each dive
lasts six to ten hours. The little sub
has two robotic arms and a basket
for coltecting samptes. Batlard's
team also used a small undersea
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robot to oetore and photognph
theTitani* many nook and
crannies. over a period of
several week, Battard and his
team took thousands of photos.
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4. Thinking About the Selection
The Titanic
1, Cause and Effect Complete the graphic organizer to show
some of the reasons why the Titanic sank.
ICause
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Gause
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2 Speculate Had there been enough lifeboats onboard the
Titanic, do you think all of the passengers could have been
saved? Explain.
3 Compare and Contrast Compare the photograph of the
Titanic on page 482 to the text of the feature "Exploring the
Titanic." What sort of information does each offer? How do the
photographs affect the reader's understanding?
Answer the following questions in your Reader's Journal.
4 Analyze How do you think the deaths of the people on
tllre Titanic affected the communities they left behind?
5 Appty Find an important event that happens in your
Anchor Book. Then, using the cause-and-effect graphic
organizer, identify and describe causes of this event.
Effect
Your teacher may askyou if you would like to
choose another bookto read on your own.
Select a book that fits your interest and thot
you'll enjoy. As you read,think about how your
new book compares with your Anchor Book.
Write
@J'
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Ready for a
Free-Choice Book?
Cause and Effect 483
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