What makes the Titantic's sinking so famous ?

Question

Larger ships have gone down with more lives lost than the Titantic

There is ANOTHER Titantic special on the History Channel running now with another theory on how it went down. I mean, How many ways can they tell this story ?

Answer 1

To me what made the titanic sinking so famous is because it was suppose to be unsinkable.  It was said that not even God could sink it.  Yeah, they shouldn't have said that.

Answer 2

The sinking of the "unsinkable" Titanic might seem in retrospect to have been an omen that predicted the fall of Western Civilization, from the high pinnacle it had reached.

People had come to believe in the inevitability of progress, in the forms of science, technology, and everything else. The Titanic was an iconic symbol of the greatness of modern mankind,

and it went "down, like McGinty, to the bottom of

the sea, all dressed, in his best suit of clothes."

Answer 3

you see the titanic sinking is not the famous part the famous part of the sinking of the titanic is the fact that the cruise was supposed to be unsinkable

Answer 4

Lots of theories.........she was a true luxury ship, outfitted with the finest crystal chandeliers, rich carpeting, a gymnasium........a virtual hotel on the sea.  Many rich and famous aboard.....and she was declared unsinkable.  I think all of these factors made it a fascinating story.  The Andrea Doria was another shipwreck, but it did not receive the publicity......most people have forgotton about her.   Also, this was to be the Captain's last voyage before retiring.  No wonder the story of the Titanic captures folk's  imaginations.

Answer 5

The Titanic sinking is so famous because she was built to be unsinkable, and was so highly touted before she made her maiden voyage. There have been other, larger ships, there have been greater losses of life, but none of those events had the ballyhoo that accompanied the Titanic, with its very posh furnishings and its passenger list of social elites. Had the Titanic simply been launched, sailed, hit the iceberg and gone down, it would have been a major story at the time, as were all the other events to which you refer, but it would have been over and done with. It was the notion that this ship could not be sunk that caught everyone's imagination, and years after, people could not understand how such a thing could have happened.

Answer 6

The big deal with the Titanic is that it was advertised as the ship that could not sink.  And it sunk.  That's why it became so famous.  It was also a big deal to get a ticket on it.  It was new, exclusive, expensive, and of course it wouldn't sink.

Answer 7

It is so famous because it was the largest ship of its time. It was supposed to be unsinkable and went down the first time out and most of the passengers did not make it.

Why it is still a fascination... In my opinion, it reminds us we are not invincible. The unsinkable Titanic... sank.

Answer 8

She sank at a time of great competition and accomplishment in regards to crossing the Atlantic Ocean.

The Titanic was to be the biggest, fastest most technically advanced and luxurious Atlantic crossing vessel.

White Star Line and Cunard, a German shipping company were at a great contest for what was called the Blue Ribbon.  The record for fastest Atlantic Crossing.  Not only did White Star Line want that tittle, but with their best and newest ship.

The media attention and hype for the Titanic and her two sisters were somewhat like a Led Zeppelin reunion tour to today's standards.

The finest of the finest of passengers were on board, White Star Line's senior and most publicly known Captain was at her command and she was built to withstand anything the high seas could offer.  Unfortunately, a good Irish ship was not built to withstand an inadequate English crew and on her maiden voyage, ignoring many warnings, she went for her speed record through a known ice burg field and did what no one thought could happen.  She went down bringing with her over 1500 souls.

It's all the hype and irony that made the story of the Titanic so popular.  But not without reason.  It is a fascinating story.

Answer 9

The Titanic was largest ship ever at the time it sank.

The entire concept of the ship was that it was unsinkable.

Making the fact that it sank on it's maiden voyage more tragic than it would have been under other circumstances.

And then they made a movie about it and everyone cared a lot more.

Mostly because it's a very tragic love story.

Answer 10

Not only was the Titanic "unsinkable" and people were proclaiming "God himself could not sink this ship"(a 1910 White Star Line brochure advertised the fact that it was designed to be unsinkable), but also don't forget the book that was written that mirrors the Titanic: the Titan. The book is called "Futility, or the Wreck of the Titan", written in 1898 by Morgan Robertson. While the Titanic was called unsinkable, the Titan was called "indestructable". Both ships also launched in April, had the same number of propellers and masts, struck an iceburg, had half the number of lifeboats needed, and sank.

In her time, the Titanic surpassed all rivals of luxury and opulance. Some of the most prominent people of the world sailed on that ill-fated voyage. These included millionaire John Jacob Astor and his wife Madeleine Force Astor; industrialist Benjamin Guggenheim; Macy's owner Isidor Straus and his wife Ida; Denver millionairess Margaret "Molly" Brown; Sir Cosmo Duff Gordon and his wife couturiere Lady Lucille Duff-Gordon; George Elkins Widener and his wife Eleanor; John Borland Thayer, his wife Marian and their seventeen-year-old son, Jack; journalist William Thomas Stead; the Countess of Rothes; U.S. presidential aide Archibald Butt; author and socialite Helen Churchill Candee; author Jacques Futrelle, his wife May, and their friends, Broadway producers Henry and Irene Harris; silent film actress Dorothy Gibson; and others. Also travelling in first–class were White Star Line's managing director J. Bruce Ismay who came up with the idea for Titanic and the ship's builder Thomas Andrews, who was on board to observe any problems and assess the general performance of the new ship.

The ship was carrying only half the amount of lifeboats needed. The first lifeboat launched was lowered with 28 people on board out of a capacity of 65. The Titanic carried 20 lifeboats with a total capacity of 1,178 persons. While not nearly enough to hold all of the passengers and crew, the Titanic carried more boats than was required by the British Board of Regulations. At the time, the number of lifeboats required was determined by a ship's gross register tonnage, rather than her human capacity. Because the Titanic showed no outward signs of being in imminent danger, the passengers were reluctant to leave the apparent safety of the ship to board small lifeboats. As a result, most of the boats were launched partially empty; one boat meant to hold 40 people left the Titanic with only 12 people on board.  As the ship's list increased people started to become nervous, and some lifeboats began leaving fully loaded. By 2:05 AM, the entire bow was under water, and all the lifeboats, save for two, had been launched.

Because of the sinking of the "unsinkable" Titanic, an investigation was launched. The investigations found that many safety rules were simply out of date, and new laws were recommended. Numerous safety improvements for ocean-going vessels were implemented, including improved hull and bulkhead design, access throughout the ship for egress of passengers, lifeboat requirements, improved life-vest design, the holding of safety drills, better passenger notification, radio communications laws, etc. The investigators also learned that the Titanic had sufficient lifeboat space for all first-class passengers, but not for the lower classes. In fact, most third-class, or steerage, passengers had no idea where the lifeboats were, much less any way of getting up to the higher decks where the lifeboats were stowed. The sinking of Titanic changed the way passenger ships were designed. Many existing ships, such as the Olympic, were refitted for increased safety. Besides increasing the number of lifeboats on board, improvements included reinforcing the hull and increasing the height of the watertight bulkheads. The bulkheads on Titanic extended 10 feet (3 ;m) above the waterline; after Titanic sank, the bulkheads on other ships were extended higher to make compartments fully watertight. While Titanic had a double bottom, she did not have a double hull; after her sinking, new ships were designed with double hulls; also, the double bottoms of other ships, including the Olympic,[15] were extended up the sides of their hulls, above their waterlines, to give them double hulls.

And finally, they've made a bunch of movies and a musical about the Titanic. There are tons of urban legends about it too. Everything from a mummy in the hull to a cursed shipyard number that when read backwards, supposedly read "no pope".

Answer 11

It was the first one that sank where so many were "lost" but didn't have to be - lifeboat situation = caused all passenger ships to have enough lifeboat space for ALL people after that

A lot of the other answers are good also

Answer 12

Popular imagination loves the idea of the smug rich bitiing the waves.

Answer 13

ya i agree with paul. i think its the fact that it was supposed to be unsinkable. that and how they didnt have enough life boats. so someone had to play god pretty much.

in this case god hates poor people.

Answer 14

Mostly because of all the rich and famous people of the time who chose to show off their wealth and influence on the Titanic's maiden voyage.

Basically they keep retelling it because like every other stories, there are as many ways to tell it as there are people who talk about it.