When Character Sinks

One hundred years ago today, the RMS Titanic sank. In April, 1912, the largest and most luxurious vessel ever built set forth on it’s maiden voyage. The opulent, 900-foot British cruise Titanic was over four city blocks long and had a double-bottomed hull, divided into sixteen watertight compartments. Because as many of four of these could be completely flooded without dangering the ship’s bouancy, the Titanic was considered unsinkable. Yet on the fateful night of April 14th, 1912, shortly before midnight, the great liner steamed full ahead through the foggy North Atlantic when it collided with an enormous iceberg. A series of small gashes was ripped in the ship’s right side, rupturing five of its watertight compartments. No one planned on losing their life that night. But a series of misjudgments caused the Titanic to sink into the icy depths of the North Atlantic in the early hours of April 15, 1912, taking with it 1,523 lives.