Titanic Diary

The Tragedy of the Titanic

April 8th, 1912 www.encyclopedia-titanica
Dear Journal,
The time is quarter past nine. It’s been years since I
left home. It will just be a matter of days until I
depart from Southampton, and return to New York.
However, living with all this wealth from real estate
and having just published my book, “The Truth about
Chickamauga”, it’s time to relax. So I decided to
travel the world and take a trip to Southampton on
the Oceanic. Soon, I will be travelling on the
“unsinkable” and majestic Titanic! My dear friend,
Herbert Pitman, will be a captain on this ship, what
an honor for him. Looking back, it’s been years since
graduating St. Paul's Academy in Concord, New
Hampshire and West Point Military Academy in
New York, and even decades since my father died
when I was five. I hope when I reach America, I
will be able to reach the Gracie Estate/Mansion. The
loneliness is overbearing. I hope the souls of my
deceased daughters will be at rest.

Colonel Archibald Gracie

Dear Mr Viktor Sandomirsky, Ap i 12t 1912 Viktor Sandomirsky
The Titanic has set sail! When I reached the port, I was 123 Row Ave East Patch,
completely taken by surprise at the sheer size of the ship.
The name “Titanic’” seemed like an understatement for the NY 456789
ship. Atop the ship, four large boilers were tilted at a
certain degree, giving off an intimidating aura. The
polished wooden floors would give one the sense of
satisfaction. Inside the smoke room, lavish couches and
chairs decorated the room. The intricate grand stairway
was absolutely stunning. The decor and carvings never
failed to amaze me. When I left for the outside, the
Promenade Deck greeted me. After taking a breather, I
returned to my room. Inside my room, there are
beautifully furnished walls, along with a private bathroom,
and a wardrobe. I had my own private drawing room as
well. My room was decorated to that of the Queen Anne
periodic style, but some rooms, such as my dear friend
Doctor Dodge, were designed to that of the French Louis
XV style. There were also several accomadies that were
included. This included Turkish Baths, pools, and a gym.
Your dear friend,
Colonel Archibald Gracie

New York Daily News: Titanic Tragedy 75 Cents
New York, Sunday, April 19th

Many Lives Lost! Who’s Fault Is It? Su vivors aboard
Just a few weeks ago, a tragedy shook the world. the Carpathia
Many lives are lost. Due to the unforeseen So many lives were lost just a week ago. But what
problems, the “unsinkable” Titanic was doomed to caused such a tragedy? What happened could be Chronicleherold.com
fall to a deep abyss, taking many with its sinking. A blamed on many reasons. For one, the Titanic had a
telegraph received had said that the Titanic had shortage of lifeboats and rafts. Clearly not enough
lost all contact at around 12:00 a.m and had lifeboats were at hand. And not only that, the first
broken into two pieces at around 2:20 a.m. Many lifeboat that could hold up to 65 people, left with
dead bodies were dragged down by the boat. A only 27 passengers on board. Along with that, the
calamity of this size, left many families wondering mailroom and telegraph room were overflowed
what of their loved ones. What’s left of the with the amount of messages being sent and
passengers, is a measly amount compared to the received that the ice warning was noticed too
2208 passengers including the crew. Among the late.
lifeboats, a majority were women and children
with few men. Only 866 passengers are rescued. If you are missing a family
Around 1,250 are missing or have perished. This Membe that was on the
horror will forever haunt humanity. Only a week Titanic, please contact you
later, the remaining survivors were received into local box office.
warm hands at the docks of New York.

The Tragedy

Sleeping peacefully,
Awoken at the bewitching hour.
Fear crawling through my heart
Hey, take this ice home as a souvenir

We are sinking!
Save the women and children! Hurry!

Ma’am, please get on the lifeboat
Hurry, there is no time

Captain, sir, how much time is left
Two hours at most

Panic override, sweeping the crowd.
Jump, they told me

Freezing water encasing me
Swimming blindly, reaching a collapsible

Stand! Do not knock us all over
Help! Death is on board
Lights flashing in front
Saved! We will be saved
No time to waste!

Warmth inviting all of us onboard.
We are safe!

Col. Archibald Gracie

Inqui y of Joseph G. Boxhall

I was just working, and looking at the course set for the Titanic. I was informed of the ice ahead and head set up several markers on the
course sheet. The markers indicated the region of the ice. It conveyed to my mind that the ship would shortly be in the region of the
ice. After my watch from 4 to 6 in the evening, I went back on the deck for my 8 to 12 watch. I was inside the chart room working up
stellar observations from 8 o'clock. It was a perfectly cold and clear night. Then later that night, I heard the bells ringing, and then only
a moment or two after that I felt a shock. Then, I heard the first officer give the order Hard-a-starboard. I was already almost on the
bridge, so I rushed up there and the Captain just beside me. I saw Mr. Murdoch closing them then, pulling the lever. I heard Captain ask
him what we had struck. The first Officer said, "An iceberg, Sir. I hard-a-starboard and reversed the engines, and I was going to
hard-a-port round it but she was too close. I could not do any more. I have closed the watertight doors." He had also rung the
warning bells. I ran down a stairway to the F deck, and noticed no damage aside from a few pieces of ice. But when I went to the
mailroom, there were already several feet of water closing in on Deck G. I met one of the mail clerks, a man of the name of Smith. He
had told me that he was going to tell the captain that the mailroom was filling. I hurried to the starboard and saw some officers from my
watch already starting to unlace the covers of the lifeboats. I hurried over to the port. I was unlacing covers on the port side myself
and I saw a lot of men come along. Then I saw the two masthead lights of a steamer. I came in contact with Captain, and I told him the
I would fire help signals. Rockets to be precise. I had fired between half a dozen and a dozen, I should say, as near as I could tell.
While the Titanic sank, I was forcefully sent away in the emergency boat No. 2. While I was being lowered into the boat, I had just
noticed that there were still people on deck. While being lowered, I saw that they were filling No. 4 boat. Once I had been lowered, the
boat had stayed around 100 meters of the ship. Then I heard somebody singing out from the ship, I do not know who it was, with a
megaphone, for some of the boats to come back again, and to the best of my recollection they said "Come round the starboard
side,". I rowed to the starboard side of the ship with difficulty. There was only one other seaman aboard. His name was Osman or
Osram, or something like that.

Obituary

Colonel Archibald Gracie IV, was born 17th of January, 1959. He Colonel Archibald Gracie had lived an eventful life. He
survived the Titanic Ordeal at the age of 53. However, just about 8 was the third survivor to die after the Titanic.
months later on the 4th of December, 1912 he died at the age of 54.
He was only 5 when his father died. Colonel Archibald Gracie IV, had
also graduated from St. Paul's Academy in Concord, New Hampshire
and of West Point Military Academy. He also was the colonel of the
Seventh Regiment, United States Army. HIs father, had also served as
a leader in the U.S army. Gracie’s father had fought in the Battle of
Chickamauga, one of the bloodiest battles during the United States civil
war. Aside from the military, Gracie was independently wealthy,
active in the real estate business and an amateur military historian.
He had gone through a lot before he went on the Titanic. He had four
daughters, and two of which had died while just infants. (One had died
in an elevator accident) The daughter that made it past infancy had
died just after marriage. His eldest, Edith had managed to survive, and
married a wealthy man. However, she died only a year after her
marriage. He had just spent 7 years writing his own book, “The Truth
About Chickamauga". After the publication of his book in 1912, he
decide to take a break. He went all the way to Europe, and planned to
return aboard the Titanic. Being a gentleman, he offered his services to
three “unprotected ladies” (three sisters who had come from a sad
funeral) aboard the Titanic.

Argumentative paragraph Argumentative paragraph

More people could have been saved during the tragedy of The amount of lifeboats on the ship did not have
the Titanic. The mistakes made in this incident, should never be anything with amount of people that had survived and died. In
repeated. One of the more obvious mistakes, would be the fact that fact, one of the officers thought that with a smaller amount of
there were never even enough lifeboats to save anyone. There were lifeboats, they would have actually been filled full before being
only 20 lifeboats. Only enough to save ⅓ of the passengers and crew. lowered. Therefore, more lives may have been saved. Not just
The Titanic had enough davits, or life supports, to fit 64 lifeboats the shortage of boats were to blame. Captain Smith cancelled a
aboard. However, the designer, Thomas Andrews, thought that lifeboat drill. Many historians believe that if the drill had not
having too many lifeboats would make to deck look extremely been cancelled, many people would have been calmer, and the
cluttered. There was also the notion, that the amount of lifeboats process would’ve have gone much smoother. Many of the
aboard would make the passengers start to doubt the Titanic’s safety. lifeboats that had left, were only half filled. Another reason may
Among the 20 lifeboats, there were also a few collapsible lifeboats, have been, the ship supposed to be closest, California (five miles
labeled A through D. However, two of these lifeboats were left on away), could have actually been 10 miles away. The iceberg
top of the roof the the officer’s quarter room. If all four boats were actually may have caused a mirror image, appearing much closer.
ready to go, approximately 100 people might of been saved. The Additionally, changes in the density of the air caused distant
fault for the loss of lives, has to blamed on the lack of lifeboats. Not lights to flicker and may have scrambled Morse lamp messages.
only were there enough spaces to fit more than enough boats, some
weren’t even opened or used. Sources- www.nytimes.com www.historyofthetitanic.org

Sources- www.nytimes.com www.historyofthetitanic.org