The Garden of Eaden: TITANIC SURVIVORS

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At 11.40pm on 14 April, 1912, the famously 'unsinkable' ocean liner, Titanic, struck an iceberg. Two hours and 40 minutes later she sank deep into the freezing Atlantic waters. Less than a third of the people on board survived.

Over the years, the BBC has heard from some of the men and women who lived through that 'night to remember'. Their memories, and internal BBC documents about the controversies that followed, are now gathered together to tell the true story of the disaster.

Commander Lightoller was the second mate on board the RMS Titanic, and the most senior officer to survive the disaster.

Lightoller was decorated for gallantry as a naval officer in the First World War and later, in retirement, further distinguished himself in the Second World War by providing and sailing one of the "little ships" during the perilous Dunkirk evacuation.

In this film 'The Titanic Disaster' Lightoller gives his version of events on the fateful night in April 1912. He lays great weight on the fact that a warning message about the amount of ice in the area was never delivered to the bridge, seeming to imply that if this news had been received, the accident could have been avoided.

The memories of Eva Hart

The sinking of theTitanic

This terrible tragedy occurred on April 15, 1912, and resulted in the deaths of 1,517 people. This shipwreck also turned out to be one of the deadliest peacetime maritime disasters in history. Why? Well, it was party due to the shiping regulations of the time as the ship carried lifeboats for only 1,178 people. Even so, a disproportionate number of men died due to the "women and children first" protocol that was enforced by the ship's crew. This procedure meant that many of the life boats ended up only being half filled. This was a tragedy in itself as since the sea was calm, it would have been safe to fill all boats to capacity and thereby rescue an additional 500 persons! Furthermore, only a few passangers were picked up from the water after the sinking out of fear of the boats being overfilled or capsizing.

However, incredible photographic evidence from Father Frank Browne has helped to bring this disaster to life and so the world is able to learn the story of the Titanic from his personal perspective.

A student of theology who later was to be ordained a Roman Catholic priest, Father Browne had been sent a ticket for the first leg of the maiden voyage of the Titanic, which went from Southampton to Cherbourg, France, to Queenstown, Ireland.

During this leg of the voyage, an American millionaire offered to pay for Father Browne's passage for the rest of the trip to New York! Luckily for him, upon being apprised of this offer, Browne's Jesuit superior cabled Queenstown saying - succinctly, "Get off that ship -- Provincial."

Browne's great collection of photographic negatives of the Titanic - and other subjects - lay forgotten for 25 years after his death. In 1986, the Rev. E.E. O'Donnell, another Jesuit, accidentally discovered it in a large metal trunk. He brought the negatives to the attention of the features editor of the London Sunday Times who called them:

"the photographic equivalent to the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls."

Luckily for Father Frank Browne, he didn't get to experience the horrors of what happened next!

The sinking of the Titanic - minute by minute.

At 11.40 pm (ship's time), lookout Frederick Fleet spotted an iceberg immediately ahead of Titanic and alerted the bridge. First Officer William Murdoch ordered the ship to be steered around the obstacle and the engines to be put in reverse, but it was too late. The starboard side of Titanic struck the iceberg, creating a series of holes below the waterline. Unbelieveably, five of the ship's watertight compartments were breached, and it soon became clear that the ship was doomed. Why? Because she could not survive more than four compartments being flooded. The Titanic began to sink - bow-first, with water spilling from compartment to compartment as her angle in the water became steeper.

Those aboard Titanic were poorly-prepared for such a terrible emergency. There was only enough space in the lifeboats for a third of her maximum number of passengers and crew, and worse still, the crew had not been trained adequately in carrying out an evacuation. Furthermore, the officers did not know how many they could safely put aboard the lifeboats and launched many of them barely half-full. As the nightmare progressed, third-class passengers were largely left to fend for themselves, causing many of them to become trapped below decks as the ship filled with water. A "women and children first" protocol was put in place and generally followed for the loading of the lifeboats and most of the male passengers and crew were left aboard.

Two hours and forty minutes after Titanic struck the iceberg, her rate of sinking suddenly increased as her forward deck dipped underwater and the sea poured in through open hatches and grates. As her unsupported stern rose out of the water the propellers became exposed. After this, the ship split apart between the third and fourth funnels due to the immense strain on the keel.

The severed bow section headed for the sea bed, while the stern remained afloat for a few minutes longer, rising to a nearly vertical angle with hundreds of people still clinging to it

At 2.20 am, the stern sank, pitching the remaining passengers and crew into lethally cold water with a temperature of only 28 °F (−2 °C). Almost all of those in the water died of hypothermia or cardiac arrest within minutes. Increadibly, only 13 of them were helped into the lifeboats though these had room for almost 500 more occupants.

Distress signals were sent by wireless, rockets and lamp, but none of the ships that responded were near enough to reach her before she sank.

A nearby ship, the Californian, which was the last to have been in contact with her before the collision, saw her flares but failed to assist.

Around 4 am, RMS Carpathia arrived on the scene in response to Titanic's earlier distress calls. 710 people survived the disaster and were conveyed by Carpathia to New York, Titanic's original destination.

Another 1,517 people were lost, either drowning inside the sinking ship or freezing to death on the surface (kept from drowning by their lifebelts).

What happened next?

Carpathia took three days to reach New York after leaving the scene of the disaster. It should have been much sooner but the journey was slowed by pack ice, fog, thunderstorms and rough seas. However, the Carpathia was able to pass news to the outside world by wireless about what had happened. Unfortunately the initial reports were confused, leading the American press to mistakenly report on the 15th April that Titanic was being towed to port by the SS Virginian.

Later that day, confirmation arrived that Titanic had been lost and that most of her passengers and crew had died. This terrible news attracted crowds of people to the White Star Line's offices in London, New York, Southampton, Liverpool and Belfast.

It hit hardest in Southampton, whose people suffered the greatest losses from the sinking. According to the Hampshire Chronicle on 20 April 1912, almost 1,000 local families were directly affected. Furthermore, almost every street in the Chapel district of the town lost more than one resident and over 500 households lost a member.

The British Army's newspaper, The War Cry, reported that:

'...none but a heart of stone would be unmoved in the presence of such anguish. Night and day that crowd of pale, anxious faces had been waiting patiently for the news that did not come. Nearly every one in the crowd had lost a relative...'