Photos from wikipedia.com and picturescollection.comPASCAGOULA -- The Pascagoula Public Library this week will join the national commemoration of the sinking of the RMS Titanic a century ago on April 15, 1912.
The oceanliner, on its maiden voyage, was traveling from South Hampton, United Kingdom, to New York City when it hit an iceberg in the North Atlantic south of Newfoundland. The ship sank just over two hours later, leaving about 1,517 people dead and some 706 survivors, mostly women and children.
The library's program, "Remembering the Titanic," will be at 6 p.m. Thursday, April 17.
Renee Hauge with the library's Genealogy and History Department will make a PowerPoint presentation, which she said would be an interactive musical storytelling of the ship, its passengers, and the disaster. The program is a memorial to the people lost aboard Titanic, she said.
"These people that died, we need to remember them always because of their sacrifice," she said.
"The stories are so beautiful because of the bravery. Most of the people faced their death so beautifully."
She said so many mistakes led up to the accident, which took the lives of so many people. However, she said new safety regulations were added to commercial ship operation that now saves the lives of both rich and poor.
Hauge said residents will be able to participate in the program as passengers boarding the library's Titanic. Those attending will be given boarding passes that have the names of actual passengers who were aboard the Titanic on April 15, 1912, when the luxury liner sank in the frigid waters of the USA's North Atlantic coast.
"We will pass out a boarding pass and tell them to don't open it until we tell them to open it," she said. "They will open the pass. They will find out who they were on the ship and they will find out if they lived or died."
Dr. Robert Ballard found the Titantic in 1985 in 13,000 feet of water.
HISTORY OF THE TITANIC (wikipedia online)
RMS Titanic was a passenger liner that sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on 15 April 1912 after colliding with an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton, UK to New York City, US. The sinking of Titanic caused the deaths of 1,514 people in one of the deadliest peacetime maritime disasters in history. She was the largest ship afloat at the time of her maiden voyage. One of three Olympic class ocean liners operated by the White Star Line, she was built between 1909–11 by the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast. She carried 2,223 people.
Her passengers included some of the wealthiest people in the world, as well as over a thousand emigrants from Great Britain and Ireland, Scandinavia and elsewhere seeking a new life in North America. The ship was designed to be the last word in comfort and luxury, with an on-board gymnasium, swimming pool, libraries, high-class restaurants and opulent cabins. She also had a powerful wireless telegraph provided for the convenience of passengers as well as for operational use. Though she had advanced safety features such as watertight compartments and remotely activated watertight doors, she lacked enough lifeboats to accommodate all of those aboard. Due to outdated maritime safety regulations, she carried only enough lifeboats for 1,178 people – slightly more than half of the number travelling on the maiden v
oyage and one-third her total passenger and crew capacity.After leaving Southampton on 10 April 1912, Titanic called at Cherbourg in France and Queenstown (now Cobh) in Ireland before heading westwards towards New York.[2] On 14 April 1912, four days into the crossing and about 375 miles (600 km) south of Newfoundland, she hit an iceberg at 11:40 pm (ship's time; GMT−3). The glancing collision caused Titanic's hull plates to buckle inwards in a number of locations on her starboard side and opened five of her sixteen watertight compartments to the sea. Over the next two and a half hours, the ship gradually filled with water and sank. Passengers and some crew members were evacuated in lifeboats, many of which were launched only partly filled. A disproportionate number of men – over 90% of those in Second Class – were left aboard due to a "women and children first" protocol followed by the officers loading the lifeboats. Just before 2:20 am Titanic broke up and sank bow-first with over a thousand people still on board. Those in the water died within minutes from hypothermia caused by immersion in the freezing ocean. The 710 survivors were taken aboard from the lifeboats by RMS Carpathia a few hours later.
oyage and one-third her total passenger and crew capacity.After leaving Southampton on 10 April 1912, Titanic called at Cherbourg in France and Queenstown (now Cobh) in Ireland before heading westwards towards New York.[2] On 14 April 1912, four days into the crossing and about 375 miles (600 km) south of Newfoundland, she hit an iceberg at 11:40 pm (ship's time; GMT−3). The glancing collision caused Titanic's hull plates to buckle inwards in a number of locations on her starboard side and opened five of her sixteen watertight compartments to the sea. Over the next two and a half hours, the ship gradually filled with water and sank. Passengers and some crew members were evacuated in lifeboats, many of which were launched only partly filled. A disproportionate number of men – over 90% of those in Second Class – were left aboard due to a "women and children first" protocol followed by the officers loading the lifeboats. Just before 2:20 am Titanic broke up and sank bow-first with over a thousand people still on board. Those in the water died within minutes from hypothermia caused by immersion in the freezing ocean. The 710 survivors were taken aboard from the lifeboats by RMS Carpathia a few hours later.Reference for Dr. Robert Ballard: http://www.titanic-titanic.com/discovery_of_titanic.shtml
