How many people were on the Titanic? How many survived and how many people died on the Titanic?

One of the most tragic and at the same time mysterious events of the 20th century is the collapse of the largest passenger liner of its time - the Titanic. Till now there are numerous disputes about the details of his death: how many people were on the Titanic, how many of them survived, and how many died, whose fault was the catastrophe that occurred. Let's try at least partly to understand these nuances.

History of construction

In order to find out how many people were on the Titanic, you must first determine the number of passengers and crew that it could potentially accommodate. For this purpose we shall plunge into the history of the construction of an ocean liner.
The very idea of creating a giant passenger ship arose in connection with the intense competition between the companies "White Star Line" and "Cunard Line." The last corporation by that time was already able to create several large intercontinental liners, the largest for their time. Naturally, the company "White Star Line" did not want to lag behind. So the idea of creating the Titanic was born, which was supposed to break records in terms of size and capacity.

Construction began in the spring of 1909 at a shipyard in Belfast, Ireland. More than 1,500 workers took part in the construction of this giant. We built the standard methods for the time, in which a vertical keel was placed on the horizontal keel of the ship.

In the late spring of 1911 the Titanic was finally launched. But that did not mean that the construction was completed. Further, the installation of equipment in the engine room and finishing work was carried out.

In February 1912 the ship was already completely ready, and in April it was put into operation.

Technical characteristics of the Titanic

"Titanic" at the time of its creation was the largest ship ever before. Its length was 259.8 m, height - 18.4 m, width - more than 28 m, draft - 10.54 m, displacement - 52 310 tons, weight - 46 330 tons. At the same time it had a capacity of 55 000 horsepower and Developed the speed of 24 knots, which was achieved thanks to three screws, two four-cylinder engines and a steam turbine. Such dimensions and the presence of fifteen partitions created the illusion of unsinkability.

Now let's find out how many people aboard the Titanic could be located simultaneously. According to the technical specifications, the ship could accommodate 2556 passengers and 908 crew members. Total - 3464 people. At the same time on the "Titanic" there were only 20 lifeboats, which could accommodate only 1178 passengers. That is, even initially it was assumed that in the case of a large-scale disaster, less than half of those potentially potentially on the liner will be able to be rescued. But, most likely, no one even thought that such a disaster could happen on an "unsinkable" ship.

But, of course, the potential capacity of the ship still does not give an accurate answer to the question of how many people were on the Titanic at the time of the disaster. We'll talk about this below.

Departure

His first and, as it turned out in the future, the last flight "Titanic" made in the direction of Southampton (Britain) - New York (USA) across the Atlantic Ocean. The departure was scheduled for April 10, 1912.

The captain was appointed Edward John Smith - one of the most experienced sailors of the time. Behind him was a twenty-five-year seniority command.

After loading the passengers on the appointed day at 12:00, the Titanic set out on its final journey.

Number of passengers and crew

Now let's all the same find out how many people were on the Titanic, when he went to his fatal voyage.

According to the official chronicle, the crew of the liner at its exit from Southampton was 891 people. Of these, 390 people of the ship crew, eight of whom were officers, the rest - service personnel.

With the calculation of passengers, the situation is more complicated, as their numbers constantly changed. This was due to the fact that part of the passengers went off, and some, on the contrary, climbed aboard the ship at intermediate stops in Cherbourg and Queenstown.

Out of Southampton, 943 passengers left, of which 195 people traveled first class. But by the time of entering the open ocean, the number of passengers has increased to 1317 people. In the first class was lucky to travel 324-m of them, in the second and third there were, respectively, 128 and 708 people. It should be noted that there were 125 children among the passengers.

Thus, we see that with the total passenger capacity of the Titanic in 2556 people, in its first and last voyage, it was loaded slightly more than half. It should be noted that the number of boats provided would not suffice even to save all passengers, not to mention even the crew.

Among the famous passengers of the "Titanic" can be identified millionaires John Jacob Astor and Benjamin Guggenheim, journalist William Stead, assistant to the American president Archibald Bath.

Thus, we answered the question of how many people were on the Titanic.

Swimming

As already mentioned, after calling at Cherbourg and Queenstown, the liner entered the open ocean and headed along the transatlantic route to the shores of North America. "Titanic" was given the speed of movement to 21 nodes with the maximum possible 24 knots.

During the trip, the weather was fine. The very passage took place without any special incidents and deviations from the course.

On April 14, 1912, after a total of 2,689 kilometers of the Atlantic route, the Titanic reached a point near Newfoundland, where its fatal meeting with the iceberg occurred.

Collision

Icebergs are quite frequent "fellow travelers" vessels in the North Atlantic. But the Titanic was moving, as it was thought, at a safe rate, at which time there would be no ice blocks at that time of year. Nevertheless, on April 14, closer to midnight, their meeting took place.

It is generally accepted that because of the darkness the steamer's crew did not see the iceberg. But it is not so. He was noticed by the lookout when the ship was 650 meters away from the iceberg.

Immediately, the commands "Left on Board" and "Full Back" were given. But it was too late. Such a huge ship, like the Titanic, could not successfully maneuver in such a narrow space. The collision occurred at 23:40.

The blow was not particularly strong. Nevertheless, even this was enough to play a fatal role in the fate of many passengers and crew members. How many people died on the Titanic because of this fatal blow ...

After a collision with the iceberg, six holes were formed in five compartments. At such a turn of events, the Titanic was not calculated. The command understood that the fate of the ship was a foregone conclusion. The designer stated that the ship will remain on the surface for no more than an hour and a half.

Evacuation of passengers

Immediately an order was issued to save passengers, primarily women and children. The team prepared boats.

To prevent panic among the passengers, the true reasons for the evacuation were concealed from them, they said that it was carried out for the precaution of a possible collision with the iceberg. Convince people of this was not difficult, because, as mentioned above, the impact on the "Titanic" was practically not noticeable. Many did not even want to leave the comfortable ship and change to boats.

But when the water gradually began to flood the ship, it was already impossible to hide the true state of affairs. On board a panic arose, which intensified after the Titanic began to heel. It became clear that all the boats are not enough. The crush began. Everyone wanted to get into the number of rescued, although the team tried with all efforts to miss first of all women and children.

Two hours after midnight, the last boat with passengers sailed from the sinking ship. The remaining people had more to transport.

The death of the Titanic

Meanwhile, the water filled the ship more and more. First of all, the captain's bridge was flooded. The bow of the ship went under the water, and the feed, on the contrary, rose slightly upward. There and rushed left on the "Titanic" people.

As the flooded, the angle between the stern and nose of the ship began to grow, which led to the fact that the Titanic broke in two. At 2:20 the ship was completely sunk.

But how many people died on the Titanic? Has any surviving passengers and crew survived on the ship? And how many people have saved from the Titanic? We will try to answer these questions below.

Number of survivors

In order to find out how many people died on the Titanic, you need to define two mandatory introductory notes. With the help of them it will be possible to answer this question. First of all, we need to find out how many people were on the Titanic. This we defined above. You also need to know how many people have saved from the Titanic. Below we will try to answer this question.

According to official statistics, a total of 712 people were saved. Of these, 212 crew members and 500 passengers. The largest percentage of rescued people is among first class passengers, 62%. The number of survivors in the second and third class was, respectively, 42.6% and 25.6%. At the same time, only 23.6% of the members of the team could be saved.

These figures are explained by the fact that the order was given primarily to save passengers, not crew members. The greater number of surviving people traveling in the first class is due to the fact that the lower the class, the farther it was from the deck of the ship. Consequently, people had less access to lifeboats.

If we talk about how many people on the "Titanic" survived among those passengers and crew members who could not be evacuated, then we need to state the fact that it was simply impossible to save one's life under these conditions. The wrecked ship sucked everything into the abyss.

Now it will not be difficult for us to determine how many people drowned on the Titanic.

How many people died?

After determining how many people survived on the Titanic, and also referring to the initial number of passengers and crew members, it is not difficult to give an answer to the question of the number of deaths during the crash.

Killed 1496 people, that is more than 67% of people who were on the ship at the time of the collision with the ice block. Including 686 victims among the crew and 810 passengers. These figures indicate a poor organization of rescue of people in distress.

Thus, we found out how many people died on the Titanic.

Causes of the disaster

It is difficult to judge how great the fault of the crew members, who could not notice the iceberg in time. But it should be noted that the clash occurred late at night, moreover in latitudes, where at this time of year no one expected to see an ice block.

Another thing is that the designers of the ship and the organizers of the sail relied too much on the unsinkability of the Titanic. For this reason, the ship was only half the boats from the right amount. In addition, during the evacuation of the team members did not know their exact capacity, so the first rescue boats were only half full.

How many people died on the Titanic, how many families lost their relatives only because of the fact that nobody seriously considered the possibility of a catastrophe ...

The significance of the disaster

It is difficult to overestimate the influence that the death of the Titanic had on the minds of contemporaries. It was perceived as a response of the forces of nature to the aspirations of a man who in his pride decided that he had created an unsinkable ship.

Among the experts there were also disputes about the true causes of the tragedy and whether it was possible to avoid it, how many people survived on the Titanic and how many died.

The death of this miracle of human thought still stirs up the consciousness of people. This catastrophe up to now has an impact on culture. The fate of the Titanic and the people who were at it at the time of the disaster are written books and movies.