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REMEMBERING THE TITANIC
The Titanic tragedy has been the inspiration for many (fictional) movies, documentaries, and books. The most notable film is James Cameron’s Titanic, which was released in 1997. The film won 11 Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. It won numerous other awards, including Golden Globes and Grammy awards. It is listed as the 6th best epic film of all time by the American Film Institute.
To commemorate the 100th Anniversary on April 4th, 2012, a century after the historic ship’s sinking and 15 years after the film’s initial theatrical release, see TITANIC as you have never seen it before, digitally re-mastered to an unparalleled 4K 3D and harnessing the ground-breaking technology of StereoD through an innovative process overseen by director James Cameron and producer Jon Landau. A timeless love story born of tragedy that created an international phenomenon as vast as its name. The movie is rated PG-13 for disaster related peril and violence, nudity, sensuality and brief language. For more information on the 3D Movie click HERE for the official website.
USA TODAY and National Geographic Channel kick off an editorial partnership with a series of jointly-produced reports to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. A cover story in USA TODAY looks at why we are still obsessed with Titanic, 100 years later.
Plus a special USA TODAY/National Geographic Channel tabloid edition, Titanic – 100 Years Later, hit newsstands last week. The special edition can also be ordered online at http://service.usatoday.com/specialeditions. The tabloid edition includes:
- Our Titanic obsession – Little stories from the sinking of the world's largest ship 100 years ago make up the grand legend that continues to hold interest for the public today.
- Remembering April 15, 1912 – From museum exhibits to re-creations of the last meal served onboard to commemorative teddy bears based on one that survived, the Titanic anniversary will be marked in many ways.
- Titanic timeline – A graphic look at Titanic's only voyage, its shortage of lifeboats, and treasures that were recovered from its final resting place.
- How Titanic became an epic – A look at the 1997 movie, being re-released in 3-D on April 4th, including stories on the stars of the movie and its signature song, My Heart Will Go On.
- Plotting the wreck's future – National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Dr. Robert Ballard, who found Titanic's resting place, is calling for efforts to preserve not only Titanic but other historic areas.
Additional USA TODAY coverage the week of April 2nd will include:
- A Life section cover story on Titanic in 3-D, featuring an interview with director James Cameron. A trailer of the movie will accompany the story on USATODAY.com.
- A cover story that looks at whether we should raise the Titanic, featuring an interview with Robert Ballard. A video interview will accompany the story on USATODAY.com.
- An interactive graphic on USATODAY.com that will poll readers on whether the Titanic and its contents should remain at the bottom of the ocean or be raised and salvaged for museum collections.
- National Geographic Channel marks the 100th Anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic with a two-night world premiere event April 8-9.
Details below:
- In Titanic: The Final Word with James Cameron, premiering Sunday, April 8, at 8 p.m. ET/PT, the Oscar-winning filmmaker and National Geographic Explorer-In-Residence leads the ultimate cold-case investigation into the tragedy. In 1997, Cameron brought the iconic ship to life in his blockbuster feature film "Titanic," which fueled not only the world's fascination with the shipwreck, but also his own: "I wanted to dive the wreck more than I wanted to make the movie," he explains. "Diving the wreck was my way into the story."
- Then, the next night, on Monday, April 9, at 10 p.m. ET/PT, the man who discovered the ship's final resting place more than 25 years ago is on a new quest: protect Titanic's massive underwater graveyard. In Save the Titanic with Bob Ballard, National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Dr. Robert Ballard retraces Titanic's beginnings and examines the ship's original plans — never before filmed— to reveal untold stories of Titanic's heroes and the unwritten story of Titanic's future.
In addition to the televised events listed above, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra will perform The Titanic Requiem in London, England, on April 10, 2012. Also, the Titanic Historical Society is hosting the Titanic Centennial Memorial Weekend from April 20-22, 2012, in Springfield and Chicopee, Massachusetts.
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THE REAL LIFE TRAGEDY
RMS Titanic was the second of three Olympic-class ocean liners (steamships) in England's White Star Line. The others were the RMS Olympic and the RMS Britannic. These ships were designed to be the biggest and most luxurious ships available. Titanic was one of the largest movable objects ever built. She was 1/6 of a mile long, 92 feet wide, and 104 feet high. She weighed over 46,000 tons. It took 3 years to build Titanic at a cost of $7.5 million. Today, that is the equivalent of $172 million.
Titanic was only 4 days into her maiden voyage when she sank. There were only 20 lifeboats onboard Titanic, even though she was designed to hold 32. The White Star Line feared that "too many boats" would be unattractive. Twenty boats were only enough to hold about 1/3 of the Titanic's capacity for passengers and crew. There were 2,227 passengers and crew members on board. Of those, about 1,300 were passengers and about 900 were crew members. It only took 2 hours 40 minutes for Titanic to sink and only 705 people survived the tragedy.
Survivors of the tragedy were rescued by the RMS Carpathia, which was 58 miles away when it received Titanic's distress call. Tragically, the SS Californian was only about 10 miles away, but did not receive the distress call because its wireless operator had already retired for the evening. In addition, Californian’s captain - Stanley Lord - failed to respond when he was informed (on two different occasions) that a nearby ship had fired off rockets. He later claimed that he knew it was a passenger ship, most likely the Titanic, and that it was Titanic’s maiden voyage; therefore, he thought they were “celebratory” rockets. However, it was found that he also knew firsthand (or had been informed) that the ship’s lights had gone dark, that it was not responding to morse code, that it (eventually) appeared to be listing in the water, and that it (finally) disappeared altogether. Upon inquiry into the matter, it was found that Captain Lord had “acted improperly” by “failing” to come to Titanic’s rescue.
Of course, responsibility for the tragedy didn’t fall squarely on the Californian’s captain. He failed to respond, but there were many factors that led up to the collision and its horrible aftermath. Titanic’s senior crew members failed to recognize the danger of continuing at normal speed, despite being warned by the Californian to stop for the night due to icy waters. The White Star Line, itself, was culpable for installing an inferior number of lifeboats. In addition, the lifeboats that were installed were improperly handled by the crew; many were not even filled to capacity before being lowered into the water. More recent investigations of the tragedy also concluded that some of the bolts used in the making of the ship were inferior, resulting in easier “breakup” of the ship once it had impacted the iceberg.
In 1985, Titanic's wreckage was located southeast of Newfoundland, Canada, by an expedition of French and American searchers. Due to inaccurate coordinates, and the difficulty of finding a ship 12,000 miles below the surface, previous missions had failed. Unlike popular theory, the team found that Titanic had split into two parts as it sank, probably splitting just below the surface before it slammed to the ocean floor. The two sections now lie about 1/3 of a mile apart. Since its discovery, thousands of items have been recovered from the wreckage and have been put on public display. Many of them have been put on display by RMS Titanic Inc., while others are in various museums around the world.
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MORE RESOURCES
- Wikipedia: RMS Titanic
- http://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/
- RMS Titanic Inc. on Facebook
- Wikipedia: Titanic (the film)
- Titanic (DK Eyewitness Books)
- Inside the Titanic (A Giant Cutaway Book)
- Titanic: The Tragedy that Shook the World: 100 Years Later (LIFE)
