The vessel was advertised as being "unsinkable." Yet, it sank, after colliding with an iceberg, killing 1,503 passengers. It's an amazing story, almost too preposterous to be true. Given all these built-in (and absolutely factual) dramatic elements, why on earth would anyone think they needed to jazz it up?
This question originally appeared on Quora. By Chris O'Regan, Amateur Titanic enthusiast from Brisba...
A hundred years ago when the Titanic sank, people didn't have TV or radio to bring the news into their homes. If you wanted the day's top stories delivered with the immediacy of a human voice, you did what your ancestors had done for centuries: you sought out your local minstrel.
One hundred years ago the "unsinkable" Titanic sank into the North Atlantic. The tragedy has made for some epic storytelling. One of the most extraordinary stories is that of a 68-year-old Persian who wasn't, it turns out, actually on the ill-fated vessel, but was supposed to be.
Chairman of the White Star Line Ismay notoriously managed to escape into a lifeboat along with women and children. But was this simply an example of brutish, unmanly selfishness? Or was there some other explanation for his survival?
On May 11, 1912, The Commonwealth Club of California heard a first-person account of the sinking of the Titanic just a few weeks earlier, on April 15, 1912. It gives a good sense of what it was like to be stuck on the stricken vessel.
On the afternoon of Sunday, April 15, 2012, 100 years to the day after the Titanic sank, the event will be commemorated in Denver through the performance of an iconic work of modern music.
At that time April became the month of hope and dreams. But before Jolson's song of April, the month took some ominous turns.
Around the world, the sinking of the Titanic has morphed into a profitable industry and the disastrous ship is as popular a topic as Jesus and the Civil War.
The wonders of technology do not give us a pass on being present in this moment, and to use as much wisdom as we can muster to move forward in life by doing as little harm as possible.
April 14th marks the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. Over the last century the disaster has spawned numerous books. Here is a collection of a dozen titles you and your young Titanic buffs may enjoy.
The right to survive the Titanic depended on the passengers' status on the ship. Ismay's defense was that he was travelling neither as the captain nor as a member of the crew, but an ordinary First Class passenger and that he was therefore entitled to save his own life.