Titanic Times Belfast 1910s

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Titanic Times : Belfast in the 1910s

TAKEN FROM BELFAST NEWSLETTER, 16 APRIL 1912

The maiden voyage of the new White Star liner Titanic ended in disaster yesterday morning, the giant vessel sinking, with about 1,500 of those on board, off the coast of Newfoundland, after collision with an iceberg.

The news of the collision was received on the night of the 14th inst. in Montreal by wireless telegraphy, and several Atlantic liners also picked up the Titanic's messages calling forNewsletter immediate assistance.

The Virginian, Parisian, Baltic, Olympic, and other vessels proceeded at full speed to the damaged liner, and over 600 of the passengers were subsequently transferred without mishap. It is officially stated that many lives have been lost.

The passengers are being conveyed to Halifax, Nova Scotia, where they are due to arrive tomorrow, and preparations are being made for their conveyance to New York.

Late last night the White Star liner Titanic, on her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York, collided with an iceberg in latitude 41.46 degrees north, longitude 50.14 degrees west. This is the season of the year at which the southward drift of the icebergs call for incessant watchfulness on the part of mariners traversing the North Atlantic, and the vessel's position shows that she was following the southerly route. The circumstances in which the disaster happened have yet to be narrated The space annihilating speed of wireless telegraphy alone made it possible for news of what had occurred to be known ashore within lossan hour or so, and since then, as may be readily understood, such messages as have come through, have been brief and confined to statements as to the actual state of affairs at the time of despatch. The Titanic carried altogether some 3,359 souls of whom over 1, 400 were passengers. Her wireless signals picked up along the Atlantic shipping lines brought several big liners to the rescue, and all the passengers appear to have been safely removed. When they reach land at Halifax of elsewhere the world will hear the full story of the misfortune which has overtaken its largest ship.

Wireless messages received at Halifax early this afternoon stated that the condition of the Titanic was dangerous, and that the lives of those who still remained on board were in some peril. Great excitement prevails in the vicinity of the disaster, and in a maze of wireless messages from various steamers it is difficult to get any connected story. The Government tug Lady Laurier is going from Halifax to render assistance.

GIANT LINER SINKS

Only 675 saved.

The Titanic sank at 2.30 this morning.
White Star officials now admit many lives have been lost.
The following despatch has been received here from Cape Race - The steamer Olympic reports that the steamer Carpathia reached the Titanic's position at daybreak, but found boats and wreckage only. She reports that the Titanic foundered about 2.20am in lat. 41 degs. 16 mins., long. 50 degs. 14 mins. All the Titanic boats are accounted for. About 675 souls have been saved of the crew and passengers, the latter nearly all women and children. The Leyland liner California is searching the vicinity of the disaster.

THE NEWS IN NEW YORK

Dramatic Midnight Call for Aid

The news of the disaster reached New York in the small hours of the morning by way of Montreal, whither it had been transmitted by wireless telegraphy from the Allan liner Virginian, eastward bound. The Virginian herself in common with other liners whose names are household words in two Continents, had picked up in the night the wireless signals for assistance, sent broadcast by the maimed liner; and at the same moment that she was passing them on to the shore was steaming the fastest to the rescue. The excitement and dismay which the tidings aroused here may easily be imagined: New York was preparing to give the Titanic a big welcome on the same lines as that extended last year to her sister ship, the Olympic, and among her passengers, it was known, there were many distinguished American citizens, concerning whose fate the earlier messages said nothing. Most of these, after fulfilling business and other engagements in Europe, had waited in order to enjoy the thrill of making the homeward journey in the world's greatest liner, the "millionaire's ship", on board which they might almost be pardoned for considering themselves as safe as their hotels on shore.

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