The history lesson for this week is the Titanic (ty TAN ihk), "the "unsinkable" British steamer. The Titanic was the largest ship in the world on its maiden voyage from England to New York City. After striking an iceberg on the night of April 14-15, 1912, it sank in about 2 1/2 hours.
Officers on the Titanic spotted the iceberg before hitting it but not soon enough to avoid the collision. The iceberg tore a 300-foot gash in the ship's hull. With less than half enough lifeboats for the approximately 2,200 people on board, only 705 survivors - mostly women and children - were picked up by the liner Carpathia. Somewhere between 1,490 and 1,517 deaths occurred.
Researchers from France and the United States found the wreckage of the Titanic in 1985 but refused to give its exact location. Reports have the wreckage about 500 miles southeast of Newfoundland. Facts for this post are from an article by Walter Lord in World Book Encyclopedia, Vol. 19, p 299.
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