Timeline Article: Titanic Strikes the Ocean Bottom

Monday, April 15, 1912
2:25am

After a two and a half mile descent, the broken halves of Titanic strike the ocean bottom on the edge of an undersea valley southeast of the Grand Banks. The stern and bow sections land ½ mile apart from each other, separated by a large debris field that covers one square mile.

The bow section dug it's way 60 feet into the ocean bottom. The the bow points to the northeast and is relatively recognizable. This being because the bow was fully flooded when it hit the bottom and therefore retained its overall shape.

The stern section however, is completely destroyed and bears little resemblance to a ship. The stern dug it's way into the ocean bottom rudder first and then imploded upon impact.

2010 3D scan of Titanic's
bow on the sea floor.

2010 3D scan of Titanic's stern
on the sea floor.

Timeline Article: Titanic's Stern Stands Nearly Vertical

Monday, April 15, 1912
2:18am

Titanic's broken stern section is resting flat on the surface of the Atlantic. Passengers in the lifeboats watch on as the events unfold. Even after seeing the ship break in two, some consider that the stern section may stay afloat. After all, it is an unsinkable ship!

Then Titanic's rudder and propellers began to rise out from the water. What is unseen beneath the surface is that Titanic's bow is still attached to the stern by only the ship's double bottom keel. The weight of the bow pulls the stern's broken end downward into the sea. Titanic's stern rapidly rises higher and higher into the air to a near vertical position. The bow section finally breaks away, leaving the stern section alone on the surface, all while holding it's position assisted by the weight of the engines and continued flooding.

The people still aboard would have been in a state of fear and confusion to what was happening around them.

"Her deck was turned slightly toward us. We could see groups of nearly fifteen hundred people still aboard. Clinging in clusters on bunches. Like swarming bees. Only to fall in masses, pairs, or singly. As the great after part of the ship, two hundred fifty feet of it, rose into the sky."

First Class Passenger
Jack Thayer

The stern floats for about a minute, a minute that would seem like an eternal nightmare for those still aboard. Then as the flooding continues, Titanic's stern begins to sink.

Timeline Article: Titanic Breaks In Two

The main purpose of a ship is to float. That is what they are designed and built to do. Titanic was not designed to sink. As the bow was pulled under, the stern was lifted causing extreme stresses to form on the hull. Fourteen survivors would later testify to Titanic's stern rising high out of the water and then the ship breaking in two before she sank...

Painting By: Ken Marschall

Monday, April 15, 1912
2:17am

The 700 passengers in the lifeboats floating nearby, are watching helplessly as Titanic's final moments take place. Then suddenly Titanic's lights go out, come back on, and then disappear permanently.

At this point, Titanic is being observed by starlight only. 1/4 mile away in lifeboat 1, Lookout George Symons is watching Titanic as she sinks. This is what he had to say before the British Wreck Commission that took place after the sinking:

"I stood and watched it till I heard two sharp explosions in the ship. What they were I could not say. Then she suddenly took a top cant, her stern came well out of the water then... She took a heavy cant and her bow went down clear... Head down, and that is the time when I saw her lights go out, all her lights. The next thing I saw was her poop. As she went down like that so her poop righted itself and I thought to myself, 'The poop is going to float.' "

Asked to explain this further, Symons went on to say:

"Her head was going well down... Her stern was well out of the water... It righted itself without the bow; in my estimation she must have broken in half."

Lookout
George Symons

After Titanic breaks and the stern rights itself upon the surface of the water, the keel is all that is holding the two sections of the ship together. As the bow section sinks it pulls the stern section back up to a near vertical position. Then the bow section breaks loose leaving the stern section alone on the surface.

Still shot from "Titanic" (1997)
The first film to depict Titanic breaking in two.

Timeline Article: The Terrible Beauty of Titanic

Painting By: Ken Marschall

Monday, April 15, 1912
2:15am

As Titanic sinks by the bow, her stern rises out of the water. The passengers in the lifeboats witness this horrific event from a distance. Titanic is tilted at such an angle that her propellers are visible.



Titanic was a beautiful sight at night with all of her decks and cabins lit. For many passengers it was their first time to see the ship at night. Seeing her lights and watching them disappear beneath the water was a memory that some survivors will never forget.

"I shall never forget the terrible beauty of the Titanic. She was tilted forward. Head down. To me, she looked like an enormous glow worm.  Electric lights blazing in every cabin, lights on all her decks, lights to her mast head. I could make out groups of men standing with arms crossed upon their chests and lowered heads. I'm sure that they were in prayer. In the midst of them a man stood above the rest, his hand stretched out as if he were pronouncing a blessing. I think it must have been Father Byles."

2nd Class Passenger
Charlotte Collyer

Watch this testimony from Titanic survivor

Ruth Becker-Blanchard

Video Provided By: Titanic- Breaking Ground (1998)