The RMS Titanic struck an iceberg at 11:40pm ship’s time, on this day, April 14th, 1912… Approximately 1,500 people lost their lives that fateful night…
Tragedy, celebrities, and a treasure hunt: it is a story that has captured the imaginations of every generation since it occurred. 111 years ago, the Royal Mail Ship (RMS) Titanic left port in Southampton, UK on its maiden voyage intending to reach New York on April 17, 1912. Tragically, the ship would never reach its destination and instead sank on April 15, 1912. The Titanic has remained in the public’s consciousness as a national tragedy since it vanished beneath the freezing Atlantic waters.
Disaster Looms…
Day 4 of the maiden voyage of the RMS Titanic: It was April 13, 1912, and all seemed smooth. The massive ship cut through the water at a brisk pace. The hull of the Titanic was the largest manmade movable object at the time. According to History.com, the Titanic was the result of competitiveness between the White Star Line and Cunard. At the time, Cunard was responsible for several ships regarded to be the most sophisticated of their time. One ship was the Lusitania, another well-known ship. While traveling from New York City to Liverpool on May 7, 1915, the Lusitania was torpedoed by a German submarine. This action resulted in the United States entering World War I.
Because of the Cunard line of ships, White Star started planning for three new ships. They decided to call these ships their “Olympic” line because of their size. The Olympic, the Titanic, and the Britannic were planned to be the names of the three ships. The Olympic was completed in 1911, the Titanic in 1912, and the Britannic in 1914. According to Britannica.com, the Olympic had a 24-year career in passenger service and was the most successful of the Olympic class ships. The Brittanic was never put into commercial work due to the outbreak of World War I. It was used as a hospital ship but was sunk when it hit a mine in 1916.
The RMS Titanic leaving Belfast, April 10th, 1912
A biological discovery on the famous shipwreck
While most bacteria prefer to eat things like glucose, a simple sugar, some have a different diet. As reported by Discover Magazine, Halomonas titanicae is a bacteria that was isolated and identified as a new species in 2010 from rust taken from the Titanic ship in 1991. Scientists named the bacteria after the Titanic. Unlike other bacteria found in the ocean, Halomonas titanicae doesn’t turn iron into rust. It eats the rust it finds. Over the years that scientists have visited the wreck, they have seen significant deterioration that is caused by this new bacteria. It is thought that in mere decades what remains of the ship could be completely gone.
