The amazing ship that sank in the early morning hours of April 15th, 1912.

It is truly an amazing journey through the Titanic’s history.

In 1907, the Cunard shipping line constructed two new ships, the Lusitania and the Mauretania, which were amazing for that period because they actually set records across the Atlantic Ocean.

The White Star Chairman J. Bruce Ismay (who unfortunately perished in the Titanic’s disaster) virtually went hand in hand with Ireland’s Belfast Shipbuilding firms and decided to construct three more huge vessels for the day – they ended up being the Olympic, the Britannic, and, of course, the very ill-fated Titanic.

No one knew the outcome of this beautiful liner – no one knew the number of people, passengers, and crew who would perish in the freezing night of Titanic’s maiden voyage. This disaster made and still makes headlines throughout the world.

Titanic’s sinking must have been such a shock back in the day and it came home to me just how important it is to make sure that we know where we are going – Eternal life is a gift from God through Jesus Christ – who made the path to eternal life – everyone can have this gift by just accepting your need of salvation – believing on Jesus’ sacrifice for our sins and confessing our faith in Him.

So….. on the 10th April, 1912, on her maiden voyage with her awesome Captain Edward J Smith at the helm, Titanic set sail from Southampton with New York as her goal.

On her fatal voyage, two of the wireless operators apparently were constantly receiving iceberg warnings that they passed directly along.

A quote from BRITANNICA

“…….. An iceberg was sighted, and the bridge was notified.  First officer William Murdoch ordered both the ship ‘hard-a-starboard’ – a maneuver that under the order system then in place would turn the ship to port “left” –  and the engines reversed.  The Titanic began to turn, but it was too close to avoid a collision.  The ship’s starboard side scraped along the iceberg.  At least five of its supposedly watertight compartments toward the bow were ruptured.” 

The Titanic’s fate was sealed after that – apparently, if the iceberg had hit full on, she could have limped to port, but because the iceberg ripped continuing holes in the starboard side, it was impossible to save this amazing vessel.

As the ship began listing and the compartments quickly filled with freezing cold water, I can’t imagine what the passengers, captain, and crew were going through.

Constant distress signals going out from the Titanic’s telegraph office from Phillips, which in itself was amazing – apparently never stopped, he was virtually surrounded by sea water.

The Capathia, another Cunard ship, received the message at approximately 12.20 am and immediately headed for Titanic, BUT it was 107 km away – disaster approaches!

The Californian – another ship very close to the Titanic than Carpathia – in fact, a very short distance away, didn’t hear any distress signals because their wireless had been switched off for the night.

Most of the people were doomed – what a night!!  

Lifeboats (what there were of them) were being launched – women and children first.  There just weren’t enough boats to carry all the passengers and crew.  

“Nearer my God to Thee,” that famous hymn, was apparently being played on the ship’s deck as she sank fairly quickly beneath the icy waters – none of the musicians survived – how very sad.  

The ship went down bow first into the freezing waters, and that was about 2.00am.  The propellers were way above the water line – clearly visible for the few who had escaped into lifeboats.  

Smith ordered  ” Every Man for Himself “ –  he was last seen on her bridge as the beautiful ship went down.  At approximately 2.18am, the Titanic broke in two, the bow going down and the stern going round in circles before disappearing into the freezing depths. 

Many, many passengers jumped into the freezing waters only to die of shock. Finally, over 1500 people died – 174 survived – what a ghastly horrible thing to have happened.

As followers of Christ, we can treat death like a temporary enemy.  

No matter how much pain it can cause us right now.  Suffering will end when we are in God’s presence.  

Death can’t touch us in eternity.