Charlotte Collyer and ber daughter Marjorie survived the sinking of the Titanic Disaster As the minutes ticked by the ship began to tilt Through the passageways third class passengers finally found the way up from their cabins in steerage They began to pour out onto the deck clutching their possessions Their faces were grim and frightened
Lower the boats The officer's cry pricked goosebumps on Collyer's skin but she held onto her husband's arm unwilling to leave him A sailor grabbed Marjorie away from Collyer tossing the child into the nearest lifeboat You're a woman he yelled at Collyer Take a seat in that boat or it will be too late The solid deck seemed to be slipping away under Collyer's feet Go Lottie for God's sake be brave and go her husband urged I'll get a seat in another boat Before she could answer the sailor yanked her toward the lifeboat and pushed her in and the rushing crowd closed in behind her Collyer got to her feet and glimpsed her husband's back as he turned and strode away down the deck Why Weren't There Enough Lifeboats The Titanic carried only enough lifeboats to evacuate one half of its passengers At the time this was not uncommon for an ocean liner In fact the Titanic carried more lifesaving equipment than regulations required The regulations governing lifeboats were based on gross registered tonnage of the vessel Ships built using newer technology were often much larger The lifeboat laws were outdated as a result Also many people believed the larger ships were safer However this was not necessarily true Additionally most of the lifeboats were launched before they reached full capacity This is why although half of the Titanic's passengers could have been rescued only one third of them survived
This illustration shows how most of an iceberg is underwater He will find another boat she comforted herself as the lifeboat lowered She shuddered and wrapped an arm around her daughter as the small boat smacked down into the sea Rediscovering the Titanic For more than 70 years no one knew precisely where the Titanic landed on the ocean floor Its final resting place as well as its condition was a mystery Then in 1985 explorer Dr Robert Ballard located the shipwreck using submersible robots he developed for deep sea research It was a stunning discovery that led to a resurgence of interest in the story of the Titanic and Dr Ballard's work was featured on the cover of Time magazine What Happened In the early hours of April 15 1912 the Titanic broke in half and then plunged to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean Approximately 2 200 people were on board the ship Only 700 people survived More than 100 years later the Titanic disaster remains perhaps the most famous shipwreck of all time Because nobody seemed to believe the ship would sink it is often remembered as a lesson in hubris the arrogance of humanity in thinking itself invincible which leads to its doom But were the people on board the Titanic arrogant Were the captain and crew Were the people who built designed or financed the ship Was the Titanic doomed to fail
