READING: "TITANIC"

INTO THE LIFEBOATS

The Titanic had twenty lifeboats and these boats could carry 1,178 people.  The problem was that there were 2,207 people on the ship. So for almost half of the people there was no lifeboat and the worst thing of all was that  there were no lifeboats for the third class passengers because all the boats were near the first and second class passengers.

The Titanic's officers decided that women and children could go in the lifeboats and men should stay on the ship. At first the women didn't want to go and leave their husbands or boyfriends but at last they accepted. 
Although most of the people in the boats were 1st and 2nd class passengers, at last some third class passengers got into the boats, too.
As there were only 20 lifeboats, it was impossible to save everybody and people were ready to die! As the front of the ship went down, the back of the ship went up into the air.  For two minutes the back of The Titanic stayed high in the air, then faster and faster, the ship went under the water.  At 2.20 a.m., it wasn't there!  The biggest ship in the world was under the sea! Incredible!
There were more than a thousand people in the water and the sea water was as cold as ice! Many more people died because of that, they couldn't survive for a long time.

When The Carpathia arrived at the place where the Titanic was, there was no Titanic any more! They saw hundreds of icebergs and some of the Titanic lifeboats.  The last boat came to the Carpathia at 8.30.  The Carpathia's sailors and Captain gave the survivors coats and hot drinks.  Finally , the Carpathia came to New York with 675 people from the Titanic.  1,503 people died!

People asked the next questions:
*Why did all these people die?
*What went wrong?

They died because the iceberg hit five of the Titanic's compartments.
They died because the Titanic didn't have enough lifeboats for all the passengers.
They died because the Californican's radio officer went to bed at 11.30 p.m.

Today, because of the Titanic, ships listen to the radio ALL THE TIME, night and day.
Ships have lifeboats for ALL their passengers.
Aeroplanes watch the ice and tell ships about the ICEBERGS.