SWiSH [comp.swi]

The Titanic anchors in Queenstown Harbour. 113 third class and 7 second class Irish passengers board the ship. It will be the last time Titanic will see land and the last time some of the Irish passengers will see their homeland again.

As the passengers are brought on by boat seven others disembark. One of those is Jesuit student priest who was to be Ireland's famed photographer, Fr. Browne. Ironically he went to school in the Bower Convent in Athlone. On his way back to shore he took the last pictures ever of Titanic as it left for New York.

The anchor is raised and Titanic starts it’s journey. As it leaves Queenstown Eugene Daly, the young piper from Athlone, plays "Erin’s Lament" on his Uileann pipes. All the rest of the passengers from Athlone wave goodbye to Ireland...... most for the last time.

From the 11th to 12th the Titanic's voyage went perfectly. It covered 386 miles with no problems and no reports of icebergs. Icebergs at this time of year were a common problem for ships. From the 12th to 13th the voyage goes as planned with minimal iceberg reports from other boats.

The Titanic's Captain was given messages concerning large icefields in its path. The first of these was received from the Baltic and stated that there were large icefields in the area at latitude 41 51 N, longitude 49 52 W. At that stage the ship was about 250 miles away from this area.

Several messages were received from the nearby boat the "Californian" concerning large icebergs in the vicinity.

April 14th 9.40p.m.

The final and sixth warning of the day came from the Mesba concerning a heavy icepack latitude 42 N to 41 25 long. The message was overlooked, as the wireless operator was busy. All the day's messages are about the icepack which was 76 miles long and directly in the Titanic's path.

Panic strikes the vessel when an iceberg was sighted dead ahead about 500 yards away. The iceberg was a massive 55-60 feet above sea level. Immediately there is a rush on deck and the warning bell was sounded. The officer on the Bridge acknowledges the warning. Officer Murdock shouted an order to his Helmsman to turn hard to starboard. The engine room was ordered to shut down its engines. The helmsman frantically spun the wheel as far as it would go. The doors below the waterline were shut, watertight. The ship began to turn to the right of the waiting iceberg. All this was in vain as the iceberg struck and tore open the port side of the boat.

The Titanic passed on through into the dark cold night. The collision was noticed by many of the passengers but to them it did not seem that bad at the time.

Ten minutes after the collision water rushed into the gaping scrapes on her port side. The water rose 14 feet above the keel and the first five compartments started to fill up with water.

Captain Smith along with Mr. Andrews took a rapid inspection of the ship. Mr. Andrews concluded that the ship would stay afloat for an hour and a half. Captain Smith declared distress calls to be sent out to every ship in the area and the boilers were shut down. The Titanic's position was given as 41 46 N, 50 14 W but this was fourteen miles in error.

The water was now 32 feet above the Keel. At this stage the Titanic was sighted by the nearby ship the Californian. The ship took no great concern of the distress rockets, which appeared low over the ship and looked, like fireworks. Other ships heard her distress signals including her sister ship the Olympic.

The order was given to start filling the lifeboats with women and children first. By now the Carpathia was well on its way at full speed. Margaret Daly and Bertha Mulvihill escaped safely aboard lifeboat 15. Eugene Daly was held back at gunpoint at the lifeboat so he searched for other means to get off the ship. The rest of the lifeboats were lowered slowly one by one but with none of them filling there full capacity.

By 1:15 a.m. the water had reached Titanic's name on the bow of the ship. The lifeboats were beginning to fill up more to their full capacity.

The Titanic sent more distress calls "We are sinking fast", "Women and children in boats. Cannot last much longer". Most of the lifeboats were away as the passengers left behind all move up towards the stern of the boat as most of the deck was awash with water.

The last distress message was sent "Engine room full up to Boilers". 1500 people were left on board the doomed ship among those were Delia Henry from Clonown and Margaret Rice who was seen in the 3rd class area with her children.

Captain Smith declared every man for themselves. Many of the passengers in desperation jumped overboard .One of those was Eugene Daly who grabbed onto a lifeboat, which had capsized.

The ship lights blinked just before it broke in half, as it hits the water and sinks. It creates a wave, which upturned Eugene Daly's lifeboat. Over 1500 people died in the biggest shipping disaster in history.

The Carpathia arrived at a speed 17 knots, her normal speed is 14 knots and she began to pick up survivors.

At 8:30 it picked up the last survivor and left bound for New York with 705 survivors.