[00:00.99]Lesson 10
[00:02.83]The loss of the Titanic
[00:09.94]What'd have happened if only two of the 16 water-tight compartments had been flooded?
[00:18.68]The great ship,
[00:20.27] Titanic sailed for New York from Southampton on April 10th, 1912.
[00:27.09]She was carrying 1, 316 passengers and a crew of 891.
[00:35.28]Even by modern standards,
[00:37.06] the 46, 000 ton Titanic was a colossal ship.
[00:42.60]At that time, however, 
[00:44.21]she was not only the largest ship that had ever been built, 
[00:48.35]but was regarded as unsinkable,
[00:51.14] for she had sixteen water-tight compartments.
[00:55.66]Even if two of these were flooded, she would still be able to float.
[01:00.74]The tragic sinking of this great liner will always be remembered, 
[01:05.79]for she went down on her first voyage with heavy loss of life.
[01:11.74]Four days after setting out,
[01:13.79] while the Titanic was sailing across the icy waters of the North Atlantic,
[01:19.16]a huge iceberg was suddenly spotted by a lookout.
[01:23.78]After the alarm had been given, 
[01:25.67]the great ship turned sharply to avoid a direct collision.
[01:31.10]The Titanic turned just in time, 
[01:33.90]narrowly missing the immense wall of ice which rose over 100 feet out of the water beside her.
[01:42.47]Suddenly, there was a slight trembling sound from below,
[01:47.00]and the captain went down to see what had happened.
[01:51.67]The noise had been so faint that no one thought that the ship had been damaged.
[01:57.22]Below, the captain realized to his horror that the Titanic was sinking rapidly,
[02:03.85]for five of her sixteen watertight compartments had already been flooded!
[02:09.92]The order to abandon ship was given and hundreds of people plunged into the icy water.
[02:17.11]As there were not enough life-boats for everybody, 1, 500 lives were lost.