Echoes of Titanic - Do modern sea accidents compare?

Collision of the Costs Concordia
Photo: Rvongher

On January 13, 2012, the MS Costa Concordia took an unscheduled pass very close to Giglio Island in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the western coast of Italy. The ship ran onto a reef that gashed the side of the ship, flooding and partially sinking the ship which drifted at sea until it ran aground. Thirty of the 4252 passengers and crew were confirmed dead with two still missing.

Titanic's Tragedy - How did we try to prevent a repeat?

Photographic Print of the Iceberg
Believed to have Sunk the Titanic

The Titanic disaster inspired an unprecedented number of safety regulations and organizations to help minimize future losses.

Titanic Sets Sail - What went wrong?

Lifeboats Recovered from the Titanic
From 'The Pageant of the Century'
Published by Odhams Press Limited 1912

On April 10, 1912, the Titanic set sail from Southampton, England, for her maiden voyage. On April 15, the Titanic sank.  With her, 1,517 people perished.  She was one of the the largest, most lavish, and safest ships on the seas.  How could this have happened? 

• On Sunday, the day of the crash, the ship's lifeboat drill was cancelled for unknown reasons.  During the evacuation, the lifeboats were not filled to capacity, and many believe this is due to the crew and passengers' lack of familiarity with the equipment and procedures.

One Day Without Shoes

On Tuesday, April 10, join others worldwide for One Day Without Shoes, an event that promotes awareness that millions of children worldwide risk injury and disease because they don't have even one pair of shoes to protect their feet.  Most of us enjoy blessings that keep more than one pair (...more than five? ... more than ten?) of shoes in a pile by our front door, in our closets, under our beds.  And you and I also have the means to bless others with our time, energy and finances.

The Facts:

• Some children are not allowed to attend school because shoes are required and they do not own a pair.

Titanic Tweets

The tragic sinking of the Titanic ocean liner triggered many enduring changes to the fields of safety management, disaster response, and maritime regulation.  We'll be sharing our thoughts on those subjects in the coming weeks, as we remember the 100th anniversary of the ship's calamity on April 15. In the mean time, you might enjoy exploring these two offerings from the UK's largest history publisher.

The History Press is currently telling the Titanic's story through a Twitter account, @TitanicRealTime. They will be chronicling the Titanic disaster as it occurred in real time with tweets from the captain, crew and passengers telling the story of this star-crossed voyage. (You can view the Twitter stream without an account.)

Here's a sample tweet:
TitanicVoyage ‏ @TitanicRealTime                                10 Mar

#captain Exactly a month now before Titanic’s journey begins, I cannot 

wait to see her completed and on the ocean!

The same publisher also released an iPad app on March 15, Titanic: Her Journey. According to the website, the app “collates the knowledge of the world’s foremost Titanic experts in the most interactive way to date”. It includes rare archive footage, archive photographs of its construction, detailed ship plans and survivor accounts.