So basically, I watched this amazing documentary today, "Seconds from Disaster", which describes each major disaster, from what caused the disaster to the actual process of it. It's a fascinating show, I must say.
Today's episode is about the sinking of Titanic.
Basically, what happened, was that the side of the ship was a mixture of steel + slag (which I have learned, is calcium silicate, CaSi03), I think. The mixture of slag was to strengthen the steel, but adding in too much could potentially weaken it instead. Thus, when Titanic slams into this giant iceberg, which was calculated to cause at least 14000pounds (I think it was pounds) of pressure on the side of the ship, the steel gave way and water rushes in.
The people on the bird's eye stand (or whatever it's called), only saw it 30 second before impact, basically caused by the cold weather, (irritating their eyes, making it wet) and the dark night (which makes it hard to see the blue iceberg).
Titanic has received 5 warnings on that day about the icebergs. But, the ship actually did go slow - it was not at maximum speed. There was a nearby ship (called something Californian) which could reach them within 2 hours (the boat was estimated to only hold up to 2 hours), but the electronic telephone guy (lol, not the actual name. Well, ships communicated through this electronic thinky... forgotten it's name, lol) went to sleep and did not receive the signal.
Besides, there was only 20 lifeboats, which was clearly not enough with the huge amount (3000..?) of passengers. It could only hold half of it.
Basically that was it. Some information might be wrong... but sparee mee~! I can't possibily remember everything~! :)
But then again, you do learn a lot from these documentaries. You guys should watch it sometimes.
So... bye again~~!
See you soon. :)
rose and fell and rising again@ 7:04 AM