Titanic: A beginner's guide
Special interests
Posted Aboard RMS Titanic
www.si.edu/postal/titanic/titanic.html
What few remember is that Titanic was also an 'RMS', a
'Royal Mail Ship'. During the frantic final hours, Titanic's British
and American postal clerks, along with steward Albert Theissinger and
several others, desperately tried to save the 200 sacks of registered
mail by dragging them to the upper decks and possible safety. Theissinger
was the only survivor to recall seeing the mail clerks alive. When he
finally abandoned the seemingly suicidal task, the five mail clerks were
still frantically at work, sloshing waist-deep in freezing water. This
fascinating exhibition traces every postal-related element of Titanic's
voyage and sinking, including the use of a US mail bag to hoist small
children into the boats.
Did a metallurgical failure cause a night to remember?
www.tms.org/pubs/journals/JOM/9801/
Felkins-9801.html
An article from the Journal of Metallurgy that investigates
a sample of steel removed from the Titanic's wreckage. Lots of
other information, plus an examination of the ethical and legal issues
in salvaging the ship.
Titanic: What can numbers tell us about her fatal voyage?
http://asterix.ednet.lsu.edu/~edtech/
webquest/titanic.html
This educational 'webquest' looks at the Titanic disaster from
a mathematical perspective. As well as interesting facts and dramatic
stories, there are also numerous statistics related to the event, which
tell stories of their own. For instance, using the site's database, spreadsheets
can be constructed to show how statistics can support two seemingly opposite
statements: (1) more men survived than women; and (2) the rule 'women
and children first' was followed in loading the lifeboats.
Titanic Research & Modeling Association
http://titanic-model.com/
The TRMA offers consultation services for professional model builders,
museums, archivists, libraries and 'pastime hobbyists'. Not only can the
association offer the most detailed and accurate information on the visual
appearance of the Titanic and her sisters, but also has similar
information on other great ocean liners of the past.
AKO Titanic Trial
www.andersonkill.com/titanic/home.htm
This is the Titanic mock trial site of the US law firm Anderson
Kill & Olick. Each year on 'Take Your Daughter to Work Day', they
conduct a mock trial to show daughters what they do each day. One year
they staged the trial of the White Star Line, the operator of the RMS
Titanic, the results of which can be seen on this website. There
is information about Hans Jensen, his fiancée Carla Christine Jensen
who sues on Hans' behalf, the defendant White Star Line and the witnesses:
the Titanic's second officer Lightoller and Swedish military attaché
Bjornstrom-Steffansson. A memoranda of law explaining negligence law and
White Star's defences to negligence are included, along with an exhibit
showing where each party was as the ship was being evacuated. A set of
links provides more information about Titanic and the US judicial
process. At the end of the testimony, the judge has a jury charge to read
to the jurors, and they have a verdict sheet to fill out and return to
the judge.
