Sinking of the Unsinkable (Titanic)

It was the most luxurious in the world – its first-class ticket cost almost 1 million reais ($212756 US) nowadays, with indoor pools, gyms, gardens, whirlpools, etc. It was also the largest structure ever made by man and was completed on May 31, 1912.

The Titanic was the pride of humanity, and its engineer declared: “This ocean liner is equipped with 16 well-sealed compartments and has a double hull, nothing like it has ever been achieved, it is impossible to sink….Not even God can sink it!

On Wednesday, April 10, 1912, she set sail from Southampton (England) bound for New York. On the morning of Sunday, April 14, the Titanic had already crossed half the Atlantic. Hours later, from California, a steamship passing by radio warned Titanic that there were icebergs in the way and that navigation had become too dangerous. However, the captain of Titanic, E. J Smith, did not order to reduce the speed, as he would have express orders, he should beat the record of sailing time.

23:40 hrs. : A mountain of ice was seen less than 500 meters away: “Iceberg near the bow!” shouted the watchman Freed Fleet. The first officer, WM Murdoch, reacted and ordered them to reverse and turn to port, but it was too late. The speed that went Titanic needed more than 500 meters to turn and more than 1500 to brake. The iceberg hit the bow opening a gap almost 100 meters wide. Six of the famous 16 sealed compartments immediately flooded and caused the bow to sink four meters.

11:55 pm: Captain Smith is notified of the severity of the damage, and orders the radio operator to immediately initiate a distress call. All the capable crew works desperately trying to stop water from entering the boat.

00:25 hrs. : After 30 minutes of efforts, the flooding of compartments by compartments could not be stopped. Over the radio, the call for help intensifies. The captain gives the order that the lifeboats be discovered and loaded with passengers and crew, to evacuate the Titanic: Women and children first! It was the order

The Titanic would have 2,227 people on board, but there were only lifeboats for 1,178…1,049 people were already doomed to certain death….Panic grips the people.

00:45 hrs.: The first lifeboat falls into the water, each boat has a capacity for 65 people. But terrified by panic, the people made the first boat with only 28 people on board. And so the following boats were departing in a run over way without reaching their real capacity. A raft plunges into the water, turning around and disastrously running over many people, Officer Lowe was forced to fire three warning shots to quell the screaming.

00:55 am: Phillips, the radio operator who had never stopped transmitting the constant call for help, goes into despair sending messages such as:

“We're sinking fast” and “We can't last any longer”. The rockets and flares are already starting to be launched, one after another, with the hope of being seen at night by some other ship.

01:30 am: The bow is overloaded by almost three thousand tons of water, which had entered since the impact. The water passes from one compartment to another, at a rate of 125 tons per minute. All the lifeboats had already left and were moving away quickly with only 699 people on board….1528 people were abandoned on the Titanic.

02:10 hrs.: The Titanic is already inclined 45 degrees. The entire bow is already under the water, and only the stern is facing up. Many people jump into the icy waters. The others pile up on the stern. The structure is already starting to bend little by little. Suddenly….a crash announces that the boat has split in half.

02:20 hrs.: The hull of the Titanic sees itself and breaks in two. After about ten minutes suspended vertically, the ship quickly sinks completely. Another 10 minutes later the bow reaches the bottom of the ocean.

02:35 hrs.: Having ceased the suction to produce the sinking Titanic, some lifeboats regression to rescue the survivors who could have stayed. But of the 1528 people who fell into the icy waters, only 6 were rescued alive, the other 1522 people had lost their lives.

All this information was published in all the newspapers, and broadcast by radio stations around the world. But that night, there were other stories:

On the roof, musicians played music trying to minimize people's panic.

2nd and 3rd class passengers were secured with padlocks in the lower parts of the boat to give priority to saving 1st class passengers.

Captain Smith refused to abandon the Titanic and went down with it.

There were many others, but a story that was not taken into account by the press, nor by the radio.

It is the story of a Scottish man named John Harper. This man was heading to Chicago, where he had been invited for some religious activities for three months.

Survivors testified that they saw John Harper shouting, “Let the women, children and those not yet saved board the lifeboats! "

Others reported that Harper took off his own life jacket and gave it to another man. "Don't worry about me," she said, " I'm not going down, I'm going up . "

When the Titanic had sunk, one man of the 6 people who were rescued from the waters, declared that he had held on to one of the wooden remains of the ship's furniture, he could see Harper struggling among the icy waves and that when he saw him I cry out to you from the waters: Are you saved?… Are you saved? … Believe in the Lord and you will be saved!

Suddenly the fury of the sea had separated us and I lost sight of him. But little by little I see him coming out between the waves, but almost frozen and with his last strength he shouts again:

“Are you saved? … Believe in the Lord and you will be saved!

Then he saw it disappear beneath the waves for the last time.

This man was impressed by John Harper's attitude, so that even so, floating on the wooden pile, he gave his life.