The Unsinkable Titanic 

You know what's going to happen, but you still hope that they'll miss the iceberg.

Titanic didn't "sink quickly." The designer of the ship gave her one hour to sink, but it took 2hrs & 40mins. The Lusitania sank in 18 minutes. That's sinking quickly. Modern ships are designed to last around 3 hrs if damaged. That's only 20 mins longer than Titanic, and Titanic happened 110 years ago. It lasted much longer than expected.

so far i've probably watched a hundred titanic documentaries... i never get tired of learning new things about Titanic

I have always been fascinated with the Titanic. In 1993, a set of Titanic whistles was recovered from the ocean floor. Then in February 1999, I had the honor of being present when that set of Titanic’s whistles was blown for the first time and the last time publicly at the St. Paul, Minnesota Titanic exhibit. The voice of Titanic was heard once again after 87 years. They said that they would never blow them ever again because they were too valuable and delicate. That was my once-in-a-lifetime experience. All the artifacts and the “Big Piece” was fascinating to look at but also so sad. They expected 2 thousand would be present, but it is estimated that the crowd which was standing room only was over 10 thousand.

Documentaries like these really shows that tragedies don't just hapen. They happen after a chain of events that all line up ''perfectly'' for it to happen.

If anyone is interested to see a completely different side to this tragedy I suggest watching a docudrama called "Saving the Titanic". Without giving too much away it shows what the coal stokers and electrical engineers did to keep the ship from sinking quicker than it should have.

People forget that the ice field ‘Titanic’ entered contained dozens of icebergs in various sizes, it wasn’t just a lone berg that they happened to cross paths with in the middle of the ocean. The passengers in the ‘Carpathia’ were astounded in the morning when they saw they were surrounded by them.

“In 2 hours she’ll be at the bottom of the ocean” gosh that must of been hard to imagine at that moment

When you think of all the rare events that had to come together for this historic tragedy to occur, it’s mind-blowing.

not matter how you put it, Titanic hit an iceberg and sank taking with it over 1500 souls. Titanic however, clung on for 2-hrs, something many modern ships that have sunk have not done since.

Ship building lesson #1: If it can float, it can sink. I recall a great interview with the would be captain and project manager of the ill fated Titanic II project in Australia. The reporter asks, after hearing their presentation about the design considerations making it much safer, "So would you say it's unsinkable?" Sharp as a razor, he the captain replies "Oh no, I would never say that about an ocean liner. If she floats, she'll sink... For the record, I have said the ship is definitely sinkable." He wasn't letting that press conference come back to haunt him 😅 Shame the man funding the project wasn't quite as level headed and it never materialised beyond the design phase.

After all the years I've followed anything Titanic, each documentary I watch is just as educational, captivating and heartbreaking as if hearing about it for the first time. And each time, one can only hope, THIS time they will miss the iceberg. All those people....... and a domino effect of events that led to this horrible tragedy. 😥🕊🌹🙏👼

I am a massive fan about the history of the Titanic. My heart goes out to all those on the ship that night, those who died and those who had to live with the memory. But I always feel so sad for the ship herself. Whenever I see an image of her, back in 1912 or her wreakage now, my heart just breaks a little. All that blood sweat and tears put into her design and making, and each rivet. All that craftsmanship put into the interiors, everyone setting each room so perfectly, each bed sheet, each cup, each knife and fork in it's place for that Maiden voyage. All that beauty. To be gone so quickly, to never see sunlight ever again, to sit and rot on the bottom of the ocean. It's just such a waste...... Titanic you were a beautiful elegant ship and so many more deserved to see and ride in you, but you will never be forgotten!

I have always been fascinated with the story of the Titanic since I was very young probably about seven years old. I am now at 68. The thing that holds the most terrifying thought about the tragedy the description of all the people who were left in the water and how they described the horrifying screams for help until by one they died out until it was complete silence.

I love how the Iceberg is also a main character in this story!

I love how detailed this documentary is.

i honestly cannot fathom or even imagine the sheer horror those poor people went through that night... the image of a giant ship sinking in the the middle of a freezing cold ocean at the dead of night keeps haunting me!

This documentary illustrates brilliantly how many disasters are a combination of multiple factors, not just one. Often, and perhaps partly by media, big tragedies even today are connected by the many, to one reason (or at least a main reason) above other factors. Here in the UK I think especially of the Hillsborough stadium disaster and the more recent Grenfell Tower fire. A catalogue of errors which allowed such incidents to happen, or a 'perfect storm'. At least when they happen, like the Titanic sinking, we learnt from them, safety changes are made. To not learn from past mistakes would be a tragedy for humans on a whole different scale.

I think it was mainly the Captain fault. Titanic was clearly sailing too fast ( over 20 knots ) in the middle of a moonless night. The 1958 movie A NIGHT TO REMEMBER was, in my opinion, the best Titanic film 🚢

I live on Maui in Hawaii. Right outside my front door I see Mount Haleakala. That volcanic mountain is 10,023 ft above sea level. Add another 2477 ft to Haleakala’s summit and my mind still is in awe as to how deep that submersible was. May GOD Bless those who died and also their families. 🙏💕

My uncle lives in Newfoundland, and never realized for years that the Titanic was practically right there resting in front of him, hundreds of feet below him. That was obviously before 1985, the year when it was discovered but I could imagine that feeling as well because I lived in Halifax for a short time (now back in Toronto where I was born). It gets ever so cold at the shores in the winter and I would sit outside and watch the waters and picture a scene of Titanic approaching in the distance, passing by as it made its way to NY. It's a haunting thought yet very calming. I like to think of it as the ghost of the Titanic with all its victims completing their journey. I really do hope everyone, survivors and victims found peace and can rest easy. The Titanic will forever be a piece of history I can never get enough of.

In 1969, my 7th grade history teacher discussed the New York Times offer of a front page reproduction of specific moments in history. I chose the Titanic sinking headline. 53 years later, I still have it!

Putting everything aside, arrogance was the biggest factor for the Titanic sinking. How could a mere vessel on the vast ocean be unsinkable?

Titanic's story is like final destination. all the wrong things happening at the right times to bring everything together for a tragic end. it's just all crazy to think how many things went wrong for this to happen. if only one thing had gone differently there may have been a chance

15:16 "Blair was asked to leave the ship" the greatest demotion in his life, literally saved his life by being told to leave. life can be so fickle if not mercurial at times sometimes things we take as an insult can also be the very thing that keeps us breathing.....

You have to really respect the captain for staying on the ship. He could've easily got on a boat with his authority. But he would've had to live with that shame and everyone thinking he was a coward

i really appreciate this one mentioning the carpathia. even though it doesnt go into great detail, she did amazing that night and the people that survived wouldnt have made it without her. had she done even slightly less, no one would have made it

The fact that they did not have life boats for everyone on that boat, and that the ones they had were never filled to their max makes me mad

Given the level of risk, the measures taken appeared sufficient. 1) Smith changed course further south, to avoid the ice field. 2)Philips and Bride had already informed the bridge about the ice. More warnings seemed redundant. 3)Lightoller believed the lookouts could spot growlers at 2 miles distance. Binoculars weren't necessary. 4) The ship was "unsinkable". Lifeboats were necessary only to transfer passengers in case of mechanical failure, not to save them. 5) The hull plating was considered sufficiently thick. Most of the rivets were steel. A few lower-grade iron rivets wouldn't make a difference. 6) The chances of hitting an iceberg were low. Ice hadn't come that far south in 50 years. The last modern ship to hit one had survived, 35 years before. At every point, the decisions people took were based on assessments that seemed reasonable at the time.

I have crossed The Atlantic on The Queen Mary 2 , 3 times and the captain mentions what time we are going to go over The Titanic's grave , it is usually around 1 am .

According to this documentary, they could not have done a better job sinking that ship even if they tried.

This is by far one of the best if not the best documentary that tracks every minute detail that lead to this tragedy

After decades of being an ardent Titanic buff, a fresh new look with more photos! Great job and thank you!

I cannot imagine what those two hours were like for all those people. Terrible tragedy. It must have been horrifying for everyone.

On April 27, 1865, a steamboat named the Sultana exploded and sank while transporting Union soldiers up the Mississippi. An estimated 1800 people died, making this the most tragic maritime disaster in US history. More people died in this incident than at the sinking of the Titanic, yet few people know of its history.

just when I think I've seen everything there is to see on Titanic, this little gem shows up. Very well done documentary!

After all these years I still feel sorry for everyone: those who died and those who survived and yet lost everything. But I also feel sorry for Captain Smith: the weight on his shoulders when he realized what is about to happen to all those people still aboard. It musst have been a terrible feeling to be held responsible for the catastrophe. May they all Rest In Peace

"From very the day she was designed she was almost doomed" Bull. Titanic's design was fundamentally sound, and modern ships are still built to similar specifications when it comes to controlling flooding. The bulkhead height was perfectly adequate in the midship section, assuming you didn't hit an iceberg at full speed hundreds of miles from shore, which nobody at the time had any reason to believe was a serious possibility. The fault was in how she was operated, not in how she was designed. Her sister ship Olympic survived several collisions over the years, including with a U-boat in WW1, and one that punctured two adjacent compartments. From a structural and material-science standpoint, Olympic was essentially more or less identical to Titanic. And no hull design would have been able to handle the sort of forces the iceberg imposed on Titanic's hull, including modern welded hulls. The berg was essentially as hard as rock, and as we saw with the Costa Concordia, a rock will rip even a modern ship open like a tin opener.

1:02:38 - Titanic’s last survivor who was a baby at the time: “WE did not know there was not enough lifeboats”… Frankly, I don’t believe she could even comprehend she was on a ship! At least until she grew up and learned she had been on one, let alone knowing about the sufficient number of lifeboats when she was a few months old

It’s crazy how such a competent well known captain with such a record would have so many missteps and careless mistakes happen on his ship. Yes, he made mistakes, but we are all human. It was not all his responsibility. . RIP captain.

I actually saw this documentary back when it was released. It opened my eyes to a lot I thought I knew about Titanic, there's few truly well put together titanic documentaries like this one

Dropping wreathes to the place where the Titanic was, thank you for honoring the ones who passed. May their souls rest in peace. p.s The narrator's voice reminds me of Joseph Morgan's voice. Is it him?

Some interesting tidbits of information: the wireless actually stopped working on the Saturday and Phillips and Bride spent the day fixing it and it was good to go again by Sunday. This was why there was a backlog of passenger messages. Also, this wasn’t the Marconi company’s policy; the policy was to wait until they got to port and an engineer would fix it then. Had Phillips and Bride stuck to policy then many more would have died, and no one would have known what was going on. Also Phillips was not so nice in his message to the Californian. What he actually said was “shut up! I’m working Cape Race”. It was effective… Fleet suffered from “survivor guilt”, a form of PTSD, and it was only his wife who made his life better, after she died he decided he had nothing worth living for and ended his own life. Some years ago someone, in a sick joke, laid a pair of binoculars at his grave with a note that said “sorry they’re late”. Also a little niggling thing about this particular portrayal of Lightoller; he sounds American at times…Lightoller was from the North of England…and he was the most sarky bugger God ever put breath in! No way would he have sounded in anyway close to a US accent and no way would he have cow-towed to the way the Lords asked their questions…especially when the British Board of Trade was ultimately responsible for the lack of lifeboats. Also Murdoch was Scottish but here they’ve got him in a posh English accent…which is really jarring to me as a Scot…

The Titanic isn't on the bottom of the ocean because of bad rivets or poor safety features on the ship itself. It lays on the ocean floor because of bad seamanship. The captain decided to plow, full steam ahead through several iceberg warnings/fields. That's why she sunk.

Wow, I had no idea so many factors were in play for this to happen. The sequence of events is really interesting too and well described in this documentary...

I have seen / read I don't know how many Titanic videos / documentaries / books / etc. but this one was REALLY EXCELLENT. Thank you.

There is so many connections between the Titan and the Titanic. There were both one of a kind, innovative in some ways, they both had massive questionable mechanical decisions, there were many safety precautions that were avoided or disregarded, and the leadership was extremely arrogant.

Many want to point out negligence but a huge part of the issue was the rude arrogance by radio communicator. Imagine a fellow sea crew providing you critical information and you shrug it off as if the lives of other don’t depend on it. Too often I’ve seen that same very arrogance in the work place.

No matter what the number if lifeboats was, it wouldn't have helped much. The last lifeboats only left the ship moments before the bridge went under and either way most passengers were fleeing for the stern. So although the ship wasn't properly equipped the argument that she could have saved dozens more life's isn't correct. But it's a very impressive feet that the crew managed to get most the life boats of the ship.

A 96 year old that retained memories from when she was 10 weeks old, I don't think so.

Titanic: I got taken out by an iceberg by ramming into it Olympic: I took out a German U-Boat by ramming into it.

Captain made lots of unforgivable mistakes but respect for going down with his ship

This was a complete sad event but, it has saved many lives in the present. Anything that can learnt from this is tragedies don't just happen due to 1 mistake, they are a multitude of mistakes that happen at the same time. Any 1 mistake not happening or been dealt with would of meant more people surviving or the event not happening.

Only three small dogs, two Pomeranians and a Pekingese, survived the Titanic disaster cradled in their owners' arms as they climbed into lifeboats. The rest went down with the ship. There was one dog owner who wouldn’t board the lifeboats without her dog. She stayed on the Titanic with her beloved dog. As a dog owner, I totally get it.

I need every life event told with this dedication to a reenactment, this narrator, this cinematography and this script style at the VERY least. Such an over told story but still captivating all the same

On 9 October 1912 White Star withdrew Olympic from service and returned her to her builders at Belfast to be refitted to incorporate lessons learned from the Titanic disaster 6 months prior, and improve safety. The number of lifeboats carried by Olympic was increased from twenty to sixty four (per Carlisle's original number), and extra davits were installed along the boat deck to accommodate them. Also, an inner watertight skin was constructed in the boiler and engine rooms, to create a double hull. Five of the watertight bulkheads were extended up to B-Deck, extending to the entire height of the hull. This corrected a flaw in the original design, in which the bulkheads only rose up as far as E or D-Deck, a short distance above the waterline. This flaw had been exposed during Titanic's sinking, where water spilled over the top of the bulkheads as the ship sank and flooded subsequent compartments. In addition, an extra bulkhead was added to subdivide the electrical dynamo room, bringing the total number of watertight compartments to seventeen. Improvements were also made to the ship's pumping apparatus. These modifications meant that Olympic could survive a collision similar to that of Titanic, in that her first six compartments could be breached and the ship could remain afloat. At the same time, Olympic's B-Deck underwent a refit, which necessitated eliminating her B-Deck promenades - one of the few features that separated her from her sister ship. The refit included extra cabins (the parlour suites which proved popular on the Titanic were added to the Olympic), more cabins were fitted with private bathing facilities, and a Cafe Parisian (another addition that had proved popular on the Titanic) was added, offering another dining option to first class passengers. With these changes, "Olympic's" gross tonnage rose to 46,359 tons, 31 tons more than Titanic's. In March 1913, "Olympic" returned to service and briefly regained the title of largest ocean liner in the world, until the German liner SS Imperator entered passenger service in June 1913. Following her refit, Olympic was marketed as the "new" Olympic and her improved safety features were featured prominently in advertisements. !!!

I too was very touched that they pay tribute each year to the fallen. Ever since the movie came out in the 90s and I saw it in high school, I’ve been absolutely fascinated with this story. I’m of the opinion like a lot of people on here, that it wasn’t just one thing that led to this tragic disaster. I think it was a series of events decisions made by human people and none of us are perfect and that kind of thing. Unfortunately, it took a tragic disaster like this, to implement standards. For example, today it is required that the life boat drill is mandatory, that there be a lifeboat or room for every person on board. And that kind of thing. I’ve never been on a cruise but, would like to go someday. Also, we are not using ships to carry passengers back-and-forth from Europe to the United States that has been mainly replaced by flight. Not that a tragedy like this can’t happen again and I pray that it doesn’t. But, things have changed. Lastly, even though things have changed it still can be just as dangerous for those shipping lanes in the icebergs. But, I do take comfort and the fact that we do have modern technology like GPS and radio communication.

That is the saddest & .ost unbearable thing to watch, I can't imagine drowning much less being in that freezing water in the darkness but what I truly can never even begin to imagine is having to see or knowing my child was gonna die, there's no words to at all in the vocabulary to describe that horrific thought. RIP to all the ones that lost their lives & God be with the ones that survived

God said, trust no man and that is our life now. We trust man rather than God.

Anybody watching because of the missing submarine incident?

I love anything that deals with the Titanic this was very interesting and informative too, Rest In Peace for the men, woman and children that lost their lives on that frightful night. They will not be forgotten

Back in 1912, this ship was a luxury in every sense of the word, But too many bad omens conspired to spoil her maiden voyage, Some say it was mans arrogance in calling her practically unsinkable, Well whatever the many theories and falsehoods there may have been, 1500 people lost their lives that morning, and even in 1912, that could easily have been avoided, If she had stopped her engines and rested for the night, like some other vessels did, God bless each and every one of those victims who lost their lives that morning.

All those years i was thinking, what would have happened ive they just keep going forward and hit the iceberg straight ahead. And now in this documentary they finally gave me the answer!

man: "this ship is unsinkable!" Neptune: "hold my trident" man: "this submersible is indestructible!" Neptune: "hold my trident"

Titanic wasn't built with poor quality iron. Compared to the iron made today, yes, it's poor quality. In 1910, when Titanic was built, the iron used was of the highest quality available at the time.

While ALL deaths are beyond sad…what do you think would’ve been the most terrible way to go? Personally I think the people who were in the boat while it started to submerge. The thought of being in absolute darkness and feeling/hearing destruction all around you and pressure building up on your body is just terrifying.

So many small factors that when combined led to such a big disaster. 1 iron rivets 2 full speed 3 no binoculars for the crows nest 4 not all ice warnings received by the captain 5 moonless night, 6 California shut off equipment for the night 7 not enough life boats 8 no life boat drill. Anything else??

The Titanic tragedy is NOT the greatest maritime loss in modern history; It's just the most well-known.

I think its so respectful that they drop wreaths at the site every year.

2:16 omg, I never knew they STILL dropped wreathes in remembrance of the titanic casualties! 😔😢🙏

Absolutetly blown away by the quality of this video, really enjoyed the animation and the narration, very informative!

It's 2023, and Titanic is still claiming lives.😢

In an eerie coincidence both the captain of the Titanic and the Edmundfitzgerald were on the last voyage before retiring.

Liked the first half of it until it started saying that the titanic sank quickly. First, no, the binoculars wouldn’t have made a difference. They were trained not to depended on binoculars; many officers at the time said it was detrimental because they would be focus on one area and that would limit the field of view. Second, yes the titanic could’ve survived if it struck head on, however, no one would think to do that. They were trained to sail away from pontential sinking, not hit straight on. And third, the steel rivets wouldn’t have made a different with the speed the titanic was heading.

Titanic is not just a movie. It's an experience

Perhaps one of the most fascinating sinkings of all time, have watched all documentaries and movie's/ videos of Titanic and never gets old

Blaming wrought iron rivets?🤦‍♂️ The Titanic was a fully loaded 46,000 ton liner during the collision. Even steel rivets would break upon such impact.

i’ve seen a lot of titanic documentaries, it’s been a life long fascination but this is hands down the best!! thank you for uploading

fascinating how small details seemingly insignificant can make such a huge difference.

There was so many things going against them that night that it was unavoidable in my opinion. Seems like their fate was sealed for sometime… even creepier that a “fictional” book was written about the fate of a ship referred to as “Titan” that sunk after striking an iceberg. The book was written 12-14 years (if I remember correctly) before the Titanic tragedy occurred…

Really thorough documentary. Right at the end when they summarise the main unfortunate sequence of events which together collectively led to the disaster, I wish a little extra time had been spent mentioning factors like the moonless night, completely calm motionless sea surface. All of these things played a huge part and unfortunately some were skipped over at the end.

I didn’t know that they paid respect for Titanic makes my heart happy

I have goosebumps watching the entire documentary and I felt so sad that a similar tragedy happened to Titan, a submersible by OceanGate suffered an awful fate linked to Titanic itself. Both tragic moments have the same story of negligence. Both ignoring the quality of materials used in creating the vessel. Now 5 more deaths were added on the tally.

By far the best titanic documentary I’ve ever seen EVER!

We take it for granted nowadays but it's amazing to think there was a time when ships actually went sailing the oceans without enough lifeboats for all onboard. Titanic wasn't even full for this voyage either!

Seen a lot of these Titanic docs, movies and stories. This one was very well done, researched, informative, well acted and produced at a nice watchable time of just one hour.

This documentary is awe inspiring

“From the very day she was designed, she was almost doomed” - because they thought iron rivets were “strong enough” - despite knowing that steel was stronger…. This sounds eerily identical to the Titan’s carbon fiber pressure chamber that Stockton Rush thought was strong enough when he and everyone else knew a solid titanium sphere was stronger… Very sad and very ironic for both the TITAN and the RMS TITANic.

For me, the fact that there were a couple priests on board at the end was comforting because those of faith were able to have the spiritual assistance they really needed at that horrible time before a certain death. Also, on another note, I understand the third priest who'd boarded originally and had gotten off the ship at the last stop before they sailed onward, took all the wonderful photos of the ship/ people that we have now. May those who perished rest in peace.

Got to remember at first no-one on the titanic said it was unsinkable. It was the media who deemed the titanic unsinkable x

It was a reporter who said the ship was unsinkable, I think his words were "even god himself could not sink this ship", everyone who is, or was in the maritime industry knows there is no ship that is unsinkable. I know a bit of which I speak having been in the industry for almost 50 years ( 1963- 2012).

Watching this after the sub imploded. Mental.

I think what makes this so fascinating for me is that it's the point in between my objective 'there is no such thing as fate, only coincidence and consequences' mind and my subjective 'some things are just destined to happen' mind. Looking at all the things that had to come together in order for Titanic to sink, it's hard to think it was just coincidence. If they'd seen the iceberg 30 seconds earlier, they'd have avoided it. Thirty seconds later and they'd have rammed it head-on, causing only minor damage to the bow. That plus the wrought iron rivets + the lowering of the bulkheads + no binoculars + freakishly calm weather + the Californian turning off its wireless + not responding to the rockets + the impact opening up exactly five compartments (just enough to sink the ship) is collectively hard to pass off as anything other than fate. It's an awful lot of coincides, any of which not happening would have averted the disaster. Other sinkings are easier to accept - hitting a mine, being torpedoed, being swamped by a freak wave, running aground on a reef or rock, a fire or explosion on board. It's this one, where so many otherwise unrelated factors had to come together, that makes it so eternally intriguing.

When you call something "unsinkable" or "indestructible" or the like, disasters have a way of happening.

This video should be called "how many titanic myths can we repeat in one documentary"

“Not even GOD himself could sink this ship” *GOD* : “are you sure about that?”

So many iceberg warnings they've received and still that wonderful ship had to sink.This was a desaster that could have been avoided,no question.Human neglicence.The Titanic was perfect!

A fascinating documentary that [places rare emphasis on the subsequent enquiry into the sinking. However, I am forced to question the assertion made regarding that better iron rivets would've saved hundreds of lives. Given the splitting of the seams for a considerable distance along the hull, it would stand to reason that seams secured with steel rivets also popped. Even if higher quality wrought iron rivets were used, the impact and sheering loads applied to those rivets may still have popped them, only fractions of a second later. So, it is by no means anything but conjecture that better quality iron rivets would've made a huge difference to the loss of life. Of course, this may have been a factor, but we may never know for sure, so making such assertions as if it's established fact may be incorrect.

Many ships have been sunk in history, but the Titanic is something else.

According to James Cameron..who timed lowering the lifeboats with replicas..there wasn't enough time to lower any more boats if they had them..he said it was amazing they could lower what they had.