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© Copyright 1999, Jim Loy
"Titanic" means enormous, gigantic, humongous, like the Titans of Greek mythology. And, since the death of the Titanic (the ship), the word is associated with disaster. On April 14, 1912, the Titanic struck an iceberg and sank. The iceberg did not cut through the steel hull. Instead, the steel plates buckled, pulling apart at the seams. Roughly 1503 people died, mostly of hypothermia in the cold water. There have been greater disasters at sea. In 1948, a Chinese ship exploded and sank, killing about 6000. In 1967, a Phillippine ferry collided with an oil tanker, killing 4,341. There have been many (way too many) collisions between ships. There have been quite a few explosions. Some ships have sunk during storms. Many have run aground. A few have capsized (tipped over). But, I can find only one clear case of a ship striking an iceberg, the Titanic. Before the Titanic, a few ships disappeared into the north Altlantic, and may have struck icebergs, but probably sank in storms instead.
Because of the death of the Titanic, and the death of influential rich men aboard her, safety was taken much more seriously. Ships now had an adequate number of lifeboats. Radio operators were on duty, all day and all night. And, most interestingly, an international effort was made to track icebergs. Now, they are tracked by satellite. The death of the Titanic may have saved more lives than were lost.