It’s crazy for me to think that 100 years ago today the Titanic set out on it’s doomed journey. Here’s a quick Wikipedia excerpt describing the events from 100 years ago.
“On Wednesday 10 April 1912 the Titanic‘s maiden voyage began. Following the embarkation of the crew the passengers began arriving from 9.30 am when the London and South Western Railway‘s boat train from London Waterloo station reached Southampton Terminus railway station on the quayside, right alongside Titanic‘s berth. The large number of Third Class passengers meant that they were the first to board, with First and Second Class passengers following up to within an hour of departure. Stewards showed them to their cabins and First Class passengers were personally greeted by Captain Smith on boarding. Third Class passengers were inspected for ailments and physical impairments that might lead to them being refused entry to the United States – not a prospect that the White Star Line wished to see, as it would have to carry them back across the Atlantic. 922 passengers were recorded as having embarked Titanic at Southampton. Further passengers were picked up at Cherbourg and Queenstown.
The maiden voyage began on time at noon. An accident was narrowly averted only a few minutes later as Titanic passed the moored liners SS City of New York and Oceanic. Her huge displacement caused both of the smaller ships to be lifted by a bulge of water, then dropped into a trough. New York‘s mooring cables could not take the sudden strain and snapped, swinging her round stern-first towards Titanic. A nearby tugboat, Vulcan, came to the rescue by taking New York under tow and Captain Smith ordered Titanic‘s engines to be put “full astern”. The two ships only avoided a collision by a matter of about 4 feet (1.2 m). The incident delayed Titanic‘s departure for about an hour while the drifting New York was brought under control.
After making it safely through the complex tides and channels of Southampton Water and the Solent, Titanic headed out into the English Channel. She headed for the French port of Cherbourg, a journey of 77 nautical miles (89 mi; 143 km). The weather was windy, very fine but cold and overcast. Because Cherbourg lacked docking facilities for a ship the size of Titanic, tenders had to be used to transfer passengers from shore to ship. The White Star Line operated two at Cherbourg, the SS Traffic and the SS Nomadic. Both had been designed specifically as tenders for the Olympic-class liners and were launched shortly after Titanic.(Nomadic is today the only White Star Line ship still afloat.) Four hours after Titanic left Southampton, she arrived at Cherbourg and was met by the tenders. 274 more passengers boarded Titanic and 24 left aboard the tenders to be conveyed to shore. The process was completed within only 90 minutes and at 8 pm Titanic weighed anchor and left for Queenstown with the weather continuing cold and wind.” – Wikipedia
Don’t forget about the Titanic Reading Challenge!