首页
登录
职称英语
A disaster of Titanic proportions At 11.39 p.m. on the e
A disaster of Titanic proportions At 11.39 p.m. on the e
游客
2024-01-09
41
管理
问题
A disaster of Titanic proportions
At 11.39 p.m. on the evening of Sunday 14 April 1912, lookouts Frederick Fleet and Reginald Lee on the forward mast of the Titanic sighted an eerie, black mass coming into view directly in front of the ship. Fleet picked up the phone to the helm, waited for Sixth Officer Moody to answer, and yelled “Iceberg, right ahead! ” The greatest disaster in maritime history was about to be set in motion.
Thirty-seven seconds later, despite the efforts of officers in the bridge and engine room to steer around the iceberg, the Titanic struck a piece of submerged ice, bursting rivets in the ship’s hull and flooding the first five watertight compartments. The ship’s designer, Thomas Andrews, carried out a visual inspection of the ship’s damage and informed Captain Smith at midnight that the ship would sink in less than two hours. By 12.30 a.m., the lifeboats were being filled with women and children, after Smith had given the command for them to be uncovered and swung out 15 minutes earlier. The first lifeboat was successfully lowered 15 minutes later, with only 28 of its 65 seats occupied. By 1.15 a.m., the waterline was beginning to reach the Titanic’s name on the ship’s bow, and over the next hour every lifeboat would be released as officers struggled to maintain order amongst the growing panic on board.
The closing moments of the Titanic’s sinking began shortly after 2 a.m., as the last lifeboat was lowered and the ship’s propellers lifted out of the water, leaving the 1,500 passengers still on board to surge towards the stern. At 2.17 a.m., Harold Bride and Jack Philips tapped out their last wireless message after being relieved of duty as the ship’s wireless operators, and the ship’s band stopped playing. Less than a minute later, occupants of the lifeboats witnessed the ship’s lights flash once, then go black, and a huge roar signaled the Titanic’s contents plunging towards the bow, causing the front half of the ship to break off and go under. The Titanic’s stern bobbed up momentarily, and at 2.20 a.m., the ship finally disappeared beneath the frigid waters.
What or who was responsible for the scale of this catastrophe? Explanations abound, some that focus on very small details. Due to a last minute change in the ship’s officer line-up, iceberg lookouts Frederick Fleet and Reginald Lee were making do without a pair of binoculars that an officer transferred off the ship in Southampton had left in a cupboard onboard, unbeknownst to any of the ship’s crew. Fleet, who survived the sinking, insisted at a subsequent inquiry that he could have identified the iceberg in time to avert disaster if he had been in possession of the binoculars.
Less than an hour before the Titanic struck the iceberg, wireless operator Cyril Evans on the Californian, located just 20 miles to the north, tried to contact operator Jack Philips on the Titanic to warn him of pack ice in the area. "Shut up, shut up, you’re jamming my signal", Philips replied. "I’m busy." The Titanic’s wireless system had broken down for several hours earlier that day, and Philips was clearing a backlog of personal messages that passengers had requested to be sent to family and friends in the USA. Nevertheless, Captain Smith had maintained the ship’s speed of 22 knots despite multiple earlier warnings of ice ahead. It has been suggested that Smith was under pressure to make headlines by arriving early in New York, but maritime historians such as Richard Howell have countered this perception, noting that Smith was simply following common procedure at the time, and not behaving recklessly.
One of the strongest explanations for the severe loss of life has been the fact that the Titanic did not carry enough lifeboats for everyone on board. Maritime regulations at the time tied lifeboat capacity to ship size, not to the number of passengers on board. This meant that the Titanic, with room for 1,178 of its 2,222 passengers, actually surpassed the Board of Trade’s requirement that it carry lifeboats for 1,060 of its passengers. Nevertheless, with lifeboats being lowered less than half full in many cases, and only 712 passengers surviving despite a two and a half hour window of opportunity, more lifeboats would not have guaranteed more survivors in the absence of better training and preparation. Many passengers were confused about where to go after the order to launch lifeboats was given; a lifeboat drill scheduled for earlier on the same clay that the Titanic struck the iceberg was cancelled by Captain Smith, in order to allow passengers to attend church.
Questions 1-6
Complete the table below.
Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the text for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 1-6 on your answer sheet.
[br]
选项
答案
Lookout
解析
转载请注明原文地址:https://tihaiku.com/zcyy/3346531.html
相关试题推荐
Ifbigsumsaretobespentoncleaningupenvironmentaldisasters,itisbetter
How’sthetrafficinyourcity? Oh.Atotaldisasterduringrushhoursandfest
Thechartsbelowshowthedisproportionsinemploymentandprojectionsinco
AdisasterofTitanicproportionsAt11.39p.m.onthee
AdisasterofTitanicproportionsAt11.39p.m.onthee
AdisasterofTitanicproportionsAt11.39p.m.onthee
AdisasterofTitanicproportionsAt11.39p.m.onthee
AdisasterofTitanicproportionsAt11.39p.m.onthee
AdisasterofTitanicproportionsAt11.39p.m.onthee
TacomaNarrowsBridgeDisasterStrikesWhentheTacomaNarrows
随机试题
Thefamilyisasocialinstitution.Theimportanceofthefamilyinanindiv
Whenthesuffix______isaddedtoaverb,itchangesthisverbintoanadjective.
ThestudywaswrittenandresearchedbyBritain’sNationalConsumerCouncil(
脑血管病变的患者基本肢体协同动作所表现的不是A.完全固定的形式 B.不能有不同
如图所示,一个装有水的杯子中悬浮着一个小球,杯子放在斜面上,该小球受到的浮力方向
在建设项目(),应开列主要设备清单,含设备名称、主要技术性能数量、单价和总价,
管道元件及材料的产品合格证包括的内容有()。A.制造厂名称及制造日期 B
女性,33岁,1个月来出现乏力、食欲减退、咳嗽,近1周低热、盗汗,胸片示右肺上叶
男,68岁,2周来反复胸痛,发作与劳累及情绪有关,休息可以缓解。3小时前出现持续
根据《标准化法》,关于团体标准的说法,正确的是()。A.仅供本团体成员约定采用
最新回复
(
0
)