Titanic Survivors - Rescued from the Tragedy
The Titanic sank around 2:20 in the morning of April 15, 1912. The saddest of Titanic facts is that as a result of the sinking 1517 lives were lost with just 706 being rescued. The survivors were picked up by the ship Carpathia beginning at just after 4:00 in the morning, less than two hours after the sinking. The California arrived about two hours later but all survivors had been picked already by the Carpathia. The Carpathia set sail for New York arriving there on Thursday, April 18 while the California stayed on a little longer in case there were more survivors, but finding none eventually went on her way.
Of the 329 passengers in first class, 199 survived or just over 60%. Of the 285 passengers in second class 119 survived or just under 42%. Of the 710 passengers in third class only 174 survived or 24.5%. Of the 899 crew 214 survived which is 23.8%. As is evident survival rates were much higher among the first and second class than among the third class and the crew. Of the men on board only 20% survived whereas 75% of the women did.
Titanic Passengers - those who lost their life
Most of the Titanic passengers who died, did so from the cold. The water temperature was at around freezing point or just below. In such water temperatures a person can die in as little as 15 minutes to at most an hour or so. Others died from falling objects especially when the stern rose high in the air, the forward funnel broke off and fell in the water, and eventually when the ship broke in two and the stern fell with great power on the water. Many undoubtedly drowned.
After the accident boats went out to recover bodies. All in all a total of 333 bodies were recovered. About half were buried in Halifax, Canada, while other bodies that were identified were shipped to their families in Europe and North America. Floating artifacts that were recovered are displayed in the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic. Several memorials have been erected in both sides of the Atlantic. One of these is in Belfast, Northern Ireland, in the Belfast City Hall.
Quick Titanic Facts
The Construction of the Titanic
The Sinking Part I
The Sinking Part II
The Sinking Part III
The Mystery Ship
The Titanic Band
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