The Breakdown Of The Titanic In The 1900's

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Silence was heard about the sea. Twenty lifeboats floated around in the quiet, moonless night. The Titanic had sunk. This was a tragic turn of events, for the RMS Titanic was the height of advancement and technology in the 1900s. Not only was she the largest ship in the world, but “she was safe. The Titanic, as everyone knew, was practically unsinkable” (Hopkinson 2). White Star Lines assured people that there was no ship safer than her. Such technology certainly could not be defeated by the sea’s obstacles. This is what the public believed then. 70 years later, an oceanologist named Robert Ballard found the Titanic’s wreck. He believed that “[The Titanic Disaster] is a tribute to Man’s arrogance.” This statement shows truth, for people put …show more content…
There were 2,208 on board” (Hopkinson xi). Not everyone fit into the lifeboats because of the limited supply. In the 1900s, the number of lifeboats was determined by the weight of the boat. The Titanic could have held more than twenty lifeboats, but White Star Lines did not see the need for more than twenty. After all, she was said to be “unsinkable”. This proves the words of Robert Ballard. People were arrogant and didn’t take into account the fact that so many lives on board could not fit on those twenty boats. The book, Titanic: Voices from the Disaster by Deborah Hopkinson, thoroughly explains the Titanic and its sinking. It contains stories from people aboard the ship, and what they experienced. All said one thing: “The RMS Titanic is unsinkable”. People did not decide to think about the bad things that might happen. By completely ignoring this fact, people kept telling everyone that this ship was “unsinkable”. Saying that she was “unsinkable”, did not mean that she …show more content…
God himself could not sink this ship”(Mikkelson, David. “The Unsinkable Titanic.” Snopes.com, 6 Nov. 2017, www.snopes.com/history/titanic/unsinkable.asp). People believed that they could defy the forces of nature by making an “unsinkable” ship. They went above and beyond by saying that even God could not sink it. Passengers, crew members, and people who built the ship were arrogant in believing that they had created an object out of the reach of God's hands. It is important to believe in things you do, but putting too much trust into a machine was one part of the equation to the Titanic’s sinking. Overconfidence was shown, but was different from arrogance. “There is a difference between being arrogant and being confident. Arrogance is of ego while confidence is of soul”(unknown). When Ismay jumped into that lifeboat, that showed not only cowardness, but also arrogance. He let his ego of being the director of White Star Lines send many to the bottom of the ocean. Even though we should be confident in things we do, we can’t let arrogance take over. For if we do, the outcome might not be

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