If you’ve watched the film “Titanic” starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, you must remember the scene where, in the middle of growing chaos, the ship’s band made quite an effort to play upbeat music. It was a little sweet and sad to watch at the same time as everything else that was going on onboard.
All that happened in the actual event of the sinking. To avoid the passengers from panicking, they played happy tunes to appease everyone. But it became more evident that nothing was going to be alright, and as their deaths gradually became certain they gave in to the stranded passengers’ personal requests; playing their instruments for one long and final climactic moment.
A Record-Setting Sinking
The once-thought-unsinkable ship foundered in a record-setting time. While other ships before have sunk after being in similar iceberg collisions, it took them close to 12 hours to actually be fully submerged. Ironically, in the Titanic’s case, it sank in just 2 hours and 40 minutes. At that time they thought it dropped to the bottom in one piece.
Had it taken longer for the liner to sink, as the other ships had in the past, rescue ships could have gotten to the area to help. The Carpathia arrived at around 4 a.m., and it could have helped by contacting other ships within proximity.
The Iceberg Stayed Afloat Nearby
For all the stories about the Titanic’s might and size, it is perhaps normal for anyone to wonder what had become of the object it had rammed. The reports had already reached other vessels about it hitting an iceberg, and a steward was among those who happened to pass by Iceberg Alley the next day.
He took photographs of the place, at the same time watching for clues to determine how the Titanic met its deadly fate. He saw this large iceberg with a large black mark on its side. He took an ominous picture of it still floating as if it had merely shrugged off the tragic event of the night before. The Titanic was clearly no match for it.
Many Were Never Found
The moment the news broke out about the massive loss of life, numerous ships were sent out to search and recover the bodies. The first ship to reach the area was the CS Mackay-Bennett. While all the ships that were part of the recovery team were all equipped with embalming supplies, the CS Mackay-Bennett quickly ran out of it and mostly preserved the bodies of those coming from the first-class accommodation.
Of the estimated total count of passengers killed at sea, only 333 bodies were recovered. Some were found days, even a month later. In mid-May, the RMS Oceanic found the bodies of those aboard collapsible Boat A, as it listlessly floated at sea.
The Youngest Passenger Became Famous
Elizabeth Gladys “Millvina” Dean was only 2 months old when she boarded the Titanic with her parents and brother, Bertram. Their family had planned to move to the US where his father had cousins up in Kansas. They were among the first third-class passengers to make it up to the top deck, as advised by Dean’s father who successfully got them to board a lifeboat.
He was one of those who was lost at sea, and his body was never recovered. The Deans decided to forego their plans to immigrate to the U.S. and decided to sail back to England instead. On the way back to Southampton, Dean was the darling of the RMS Adriatic and women flocked to hold and nurse her.