The Triangle Shirtwaist Tragedy In America

America has been through many different tragedies in its lifetime. Three of the biggest disaster that occurred in early American history were the Triangle Shirtwaist Company fire, the sinking of the Titanic, and the flu epidemic. Many citizens have lost their lives for things like doing a job to make ends meet, being on a vacation, or even just living an everyday lifestyle, which is why these disasters had such a high impact on the American Population. It may seem like people don’t care about how many people lost their lives in only three tragedies, but it for sure will never be forgotten.
1911 New York Fire On the night of March 25, 1911, the top three floors of the Triangle Shirtwaist Company erupted in flames without any warning. The …show more content…
in 1912. Over a thousand innocent people died that dark night and there has been many explanations as to why it happened. On April 14, 1912, a ship called the Titanic from the White Star ocean liner hit an iceberg that seemed small at first and sank near Newfoundland (“Titanic Sinking”). Passenger ships normally travel in what’s called the “summer route” from January 15 to August 14. It is further than the winter route which should’ve been safer, but the winter was unusually mild, causing ice to drift further south than usual. Although there were many different factors that played a role into the sinking of the Titanic, the weather played a huge role into it. It was clear with no moon, and the sea was completely calm, making it hard to tell if any danger was ahead (Cummins). After the Titanic had hit the iceberg, only one ship answered its distress signals; the Carpathia, but it unfortunately came when too many people had died and the crew members on the ship were only able to rescue 700 survivors (“Titanic Sinking”). Many people died that horrific night, but it the outcome of deaths would’ve been smaller if the ship would have had enough lifeboats for all of the passengers on board. There wasn’t enough lifeboats on the ship because the company that the Titanic came from; the White Star Line did not want to clutter the deck of the first class (Schama). Not enough lifeboats for …show more content…
In the Triangle Shirtwaist Company fire, the owners, Blanck and Harris paid very little attention to the safety standards in place, making it seem like they didn't care if something bad happened to the girls that worked for them. Once the fire struck in the Asch Building, no sprinklers turned on and the fire hose valve was rusted shut. Just moments before the fire had started, the guard locked one of the doors leading to a staircase on the ninth floor Washington Place stairwell (Lindenmeyer). Was it by accident or did someone start the fire on purpose? No one really knows the questions to the conspiracies of the Triangle Shirtwaist Company fire, and there are still many open questions on the topic. On the Titanic, the officers do their rounds on the bridge to take turns looking out for danger approaching, but none of the officers left the binoculars on the bridge, leaving no one to be able to see if the ship was approaching and iceberg or not. Before the Titanic had struck the iceberg, two important messages warning the captain of the approaching icebergs never made it to him. After the ship had hit the iceberg, the majority of the lifeboats were lowered half empty because the officers were never informed about their maximum capacity (Cummins). The passengers on