RMS Titanic
Chronology
| 1902 or 1903 | Planning for those ships which shall be known as "Olympic" and "Titanic" starts ("The Dinner at Lord Pirrie's - Just a Legend?) |
| April 30, 1907 | The order entry book of Harland & Wolffs notes the orders for Olympic (No. 400) and Titanic (No. 401). |
| March 22, 1909 | Titanic's keel laid in Belfast |
| May 31, 1911 | Titanic launched in Belfast |
| March 24/25, 1912 | The crew for the voyage Belfast - Southampton signs on. Herbert J. Haddock is Titanic's first master. |
| April 1, 1912 | Captain's reshuffle: Edward John Smith, formerly master of the
Olympic, signs on as Titanic's master, and Herbert J. Haddock
takes over the Olympic. The trials are postponed due to the wind. Obviously, it is feared that the Titanic cannot navigate safely in Belfast waters as some experiences with the Olympic showed the dangers of manoeuvring these big ships in narrow waters. After her launch, the strong wind pressed the Olympic against the wall of the dock and her hull was damaged. And only in March 1912, the Olympic grounded when trying to leave Belfast after repairs to one of her propellers. Due to this incident, her roundtrip starting in March was delayed for one week. |
| April 2,1912 | The trials take place. In the evening, the Titanic leaves Belfast for good and heads for Southampton. |
| April 03/04, 1912 | The Titanic arrives in Southampton at midnight. |
| April 9, 1912 | The crew for the maiden voyage signs on. |
| April 10, 1912 | At noon, the Titanic departs from Southampton. Due to the
suction caused by Titanic's propellers, another ship's moorings
snap and this vessel nearly collides with the departing Titanic.
In the evening, the Titanic reaches Cherbourg (France). She is one hour late due to the near collision at lunch. The so-called cross-channel passengers leave the Titanic, and more transatlantic passengers and mail are taken on board. |
| April 11, 1912 | The Titanic arrives at Queenstown (Cobh) in Ireland. Some
passengers leave the ship and one crew member deserts. More passengers -
chiefly migrants - embark. And more mail is taken ob board. After leaving Queenstown the Titanic steams around Ireland's South, heading for the Atlantic and leaving European waters in the evening. |
| April 14, 1912 | At about 11:40 pm, the Titanic hits an iceberg. The hull is damaged and water pours into the first five watertight compartments. As these leaks cannot be controlled with the pumps, the Titanic - due to her construction - is going to founder. |
| April 15, 1912 | The order is given to get the boats ready, to load them and to lower
away. The wireless station receives the order to send the call for help
and ask for assistance. None of those ships on which these distress
calls are received will arrive at the disaster scene before Titanic
is gone. Titanic sinks at 2:20 am. At 4am the Carpathia arrives and starts taking over survivors from the life boats. She leaves the disaster scene at 8:30 am and heads for New York. While the Carpathia is still busy with her rescue work and after she had left more ships arrive and start to search the scenery for more survivors. Alas, without success. Newspapers in the USA and in Europe report on Titanic's distress situation. It is generally believed that the Titanic will stay afloat. In the evening of April 15, 1912, the truth becomes known. The Titanic went down and there are about 700 survivors while another 1500 are unaccounted for. There is hardly any hope for them. |
| April 18,1912 | Carpathia arrives in New York in the evening. 10000s of people are waiting for her. The Carpathia is the only vessel with Titanic survivors aboard. |
| April 19, 1912 | The American Senate starts an Inquiry into the disaster. British subjects are subpoenad . |
| May 2, 1912 | The British Inquiry starts. Chairman is Lord Mersey. |
| May 28,1912 | The chairman of the American Inquiry, Senator William Alden Smith, delivers his report. |
| July 30,1912 | The British Inquiry delivers the final report. |
| July 28, 1916 | A payment of US$ 665,000 by the White Star Line settles all claims for liability outside court. |
| September 1, 1985 | A French-American expedition discovers the wreck of the Titanic. |
| 1987 | First salvage expedition. |
| October 2, 1994 | The first exhibition of the artefacts opens at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich. |
| May 8, 1997 | The Hamburg Titanic Exhibition opens |
| January 8, 1998 | Cameron's Titanic is released in Germany and starts a Titanic hype. |
| January 9, 2000 | After further exhibitions in Zurich (Switzerland) and Munich (Germany) the "Hamburg Exhibition" leaves Europe. |
| June 16 - August 12, 2007 | A new Titanic exhibition with artefacts is on display in Kiel. |
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to be continued |
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