Secrets of the R.M.S Titanic - History and Significance | national Geographic Documentary

 

Perhaps the most well-known shipwreck in today's popular culture is the R.M.S. Titanic. The White Star line's Titanic was a British-registered ship that was controlled by a U.S. business with a significant stake owned by renowned American investor John Pierpont "JP" Morgan. Harland & Wolff constructed the Titanic in Belfast, Northern Ireland, for the transatlantic voyage from Southampton, England to New York City.It was the biggest, most opulent passenger ship available at the time, and it was said to be unsinkable. Launched on May 31, 1911, Titanic carried 2,240 passengers and crew on its maiden voyage, which left Southampton on April 10, 1912. More than 1,500 passengers and crew perished when the Titanic fell to the ocean floor on April 15, 1912, as a result of colliding with an iceberg.

The majority of the ship is still in its final resting place, 12,000 feet below sea level and more than 350 nautical miles off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada, despite minor salvaging outside of the major hull pieces. Numerous books, articles, and films have recounted its well-known tale of devastation and human drama. The United States Congress has acknowledged Titanic for its significance on a national and worldwide scale, and it has in many ways evolved into a cultural icon. A number of memorials have been erected worldwide as a result of the catastrophe. The Widener Library offsite linkat Harvard University is another significant memorial to Henry Elkins Widener, a victim of the sinking. In the United States, there are significant memorials in Washington D.C. and New York.

Investigation and the Creation of Navigation Safety Measures

One of the deadliest maritime disasters to occur during a time of peace, the Titanic sinking immediately spurred reform. Hearings on the fatality were held by the US Congress, and they led to a report and recommendations for bettering navigational safety. In the UK, investigations of a similar nature were conducted. The Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS), widely regarded as the most significant of all international agreements on the safety of merchant ships, was the most significant of the global maritime standards and regulations established to promote safety of navigation.

The Titanic disaster served as the inspiration for the USCGS, a predecessor organization to NOAA, to develop radio acoustic range navigation in 1924. Sonar was created as a result of the transmission and receiving of sound waves. The USCGS and hydrographic offices all around the world realized the potential of sonar as a tool for underwater exploration and for measuring ocean depths. The information gathered by survey vessels outfitted with echo-sounding technology is now used to create precise and accurate nautical charts.

A Team of Explorers from the United States and France Discover the Titanic Wreck Site

A joint American-French expedition headed by Dr. Robert Ballard of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and Jean-Louis Michel of the French Research Institute for Exploration of the Sea (IFREMER)offsite link found the Titanic's wreck on September 1, 1985. Approximately 350 nautical miles (nm) off the Canadian island of Newfoundland, in international seas, at a depth of 12,500 feet (3,800 meters), the wreck was discovered. Dr. Ballard gave a testimony before the US Congress soon after the disaster was discovered to support the passage of legislation designating it as a marine memorial. A plaque was erected atop the R.M.S. Titanic in July 1986, commemorating the wreck's discovery the year before and urging its preservation in honor of those who perished on board. A US business collaborating with IFREMER went back to the accident in 1987 and started bringing items from the artifact field. Visit our linked Salvage page for more details about salvage.

The US Congress takes action to safeguard the 

Titanic through international cooperation

Congress passed the R.M.S. Titanic Maritime Memorial Act of 1986 (1986 Act), which instructed the US to (1) start negotiating an international agreement to launch multinational conservation efforts; and (2) develop guidelines for exploration, research, and salvage. Congress recognized the shipwreck as a site of great historical and cultural significance. On behalf of those who perished in the sad sinking, it also requests that the location be acknowledged as a global marine memorial.

The R.M.S. Titanic's National and Global Importance

The R.M.S. Titanic shipwreck is of remarkable importance on a national and global scale. One of the crown gems of the marine heritage of the globe, it.

Nationwide Importance

The Titanic provides a concrete link to American maritime history because it was an American-owned, British-registered ship. The British White Star Line, a division of the American-controlled International Mercantile Marine Co. of New Jersey, whose principal shareholder was the industrial billionaire J.P. Morgan, owned and ran the ship. The Titanic, which was discovered in 1985 by American oceanographer Robert Ballard, a group from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and their international collaborators, continues to have a significant academic impact on the fields of marine science and American maritime history.The Archaeological Resources Protection Act defines Titanic, which celebrated its 100th birthday on May 31, 2010, as a "archaeological resource site". Scientific knowledge of the process of underwater archaeological preservation and bio-deterioration is being advanced by artifacts and data found at the wreck site.

Legislators, historians, filmmakers, and ocean aficionados all throughout the world have been influenced by Titanic in their creative endeavors. Numerous novels, articles, movies, and documentaries have used it as a plot point, including the Academy Award-winning James Cameron megahit Titanic. These serve as evidence of the shipwreck's remarkable significance in both American history and popular culture. The ship's historical value as the ultimate tribute to those whose lives were lost in her sinking, however, outweighs its significance as a cultural icon. 119 of the 306 Americans on board the Titanic never received rescue. The survivors, many of whom had lost relatives and friends in the catastrophe, arrived back in the country. 

Lillian Asplund, the final American Titanic survivor still alive, passed away in Massachusetts in 2006 at the age of 99. She lost her father, three brothers, including her twin brother Carl, who was five years old, and all of them on the Titanic when she was five. Immigrants from abroad who were coming to the United States were among the Titanic's other passengers. A declaration of intent to become a citizen of the United States completed by a passenger who did not survive the sinking but whose well-preserved luggage was discovered was a moving and significant relic found at the crash site. This object serves as a reminder that the majority of these people perished, taking the American ideal with them. 

Today, the R.M.S. Titanic disaster serves as a symbol of the hardship and difficulty that many immigrants went through at the time as they set out for the other side of the Atlantic Ocean in search of a better life and a brighter future for themselves and their children. Millions of immigrants who arrived in the United States on the same transatlantic journey as the R.M.S. Titanic left behind them, and their lives today are the living legacy of those immigrants. America's history is reflected in the Titanic's tale.

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