Remembering the Titanic, 100 Years Later
Loading the Titanic’s lifeboats was not simple or completely safe. Many passengers suffered injuries. Anna McGowan jumped from the ship into a lifeboat. The fall left her with injured limbs and problems with her eyesight and hearing. Anna Sjoblom was thrown into a lifeboat and a crewman landed on her head when he jumped into the boat. This left her with head and spinal injuries.
Explore more records from the Titanic found at the National Archives at New York.
Remembering the Titanic, 100 Years Later
While Titanic had 4 more lifeboats than required by law, it still only had enough room for half of the passengers and crew onboard—and only if they were at full capacity. Some of the first lifeboats launched were 1/2 empty.
Explore more records from the Titanic found at the National Archives at New York.
Remembering the Titanic, 100 Years Later
This United States Hydrographic Office memorandum summarizes conditions in the North Atlantic for the first half of April 1912. Paragraph five records the Titanic’s collision with an iceberg on April 14. In the initial report on the Titanic’s collision with an iceberg, the magnitude of the damage was still unknown.
Explore more records from the Titanic found at the National Archives at New York »
Titanic at the National Archives — 100 Years
Our colleagues from the National Archives at New York share some of their favorite records from admiralty case files related to Titanic. Among the documents are depositions of surviving passengers, blueprints of the ship, claims of loss and photographs. Often in the first person, they tell the story of the sinking in dramatic detail.
You can explore more records from the Titanic found at the National Archives at New York »
Or — go on a Titanic Tagging Mission »
Remembering the Titanic, 100 Years Later
In the court case In the Matter of the Petition of the Oceanic Steam Ship Company, Limited, for Limitation of its Liability as owner of the steamship TITANIC, evidence was provided to prove that the Titanic’s sinking was not an “inevitable accident.” In her testimony, shown here on page 5,Titanic passenger Emily Ryerson recalled Bruce Ismay holding a message and stating to her that “We are in among the icebergs.” Despite this, he told her that they would be starting up extra boilers that evening to surprise everyone with an early arrival.
Coming up tomorrow - Bruce Ismay’s Deposition. Would you be surprised if his account differed from that of Emily Ryerson’s?
Explore more records from the Titanic found at the National Archives at New York.
Titanic Tag It Tuesday!
100 years later, people are still fascinated by stories about the Titanic and her crew and passengers, 1,514 of whom died on her ill-fated maiden voyage. Those stories are detailed in the records about the tragedy, some of which are in the holdings of the National Archives. This Tag It Tuesday, we invite you to embark on the Titanic tagging mission that is featured on the Citizen Archivist Dashboard »
Shown above is one of the images that is included in the mission:
Photograph of a Lifeboat Carrying Titanic Survivors, 05/14/1912 (NAI 278337)
Some possible tags that you can add are “Titanic,” “lifeboat,” “survivors,” “sinking,” “iceberg,” or “S.O.S.”
Or you might want to examine the manifest of alien passengers on board the R.M.S. Carpathia and tag the record with the names of passengers to help improve searchability.
Remembering the Titanic, 100 Years Later
This excess luggage ticket belonged to Lucy Ridsdale, a passenger aboard the Titanic. Traveling in 2nd Class, Lucy Ridsdale boarded the Titanic with all of her possessions intending to join her 3 sisters in the Midwest. She would survive the disaster aboard lifeboat 13. Among the items she lost—a $550 Gold Watch.
Explore more records from the Titanic found at the National Archives at New York.
