Titanic Post #5

108 years ago tonight, Titanic entered a region of the North Atlantic known for icebergs. Throughout the day, Titanic had received messages from other ships warning of ice along their route. Not all of these messages were delivered to those commanding the ship and those that were didn't seem warrant a change of course.

Around 11:40 PM, an iceberg was spotted directly in Titanic's path. The alarm was sounded; the ship began to turn, but it was too late. Titanic sideswiped the iceberg, rupturing several of its watertight compartments. The clock started ticking; Titanic has just 2 hours and 40 minutes to live...

Passenger Snapshot #5

Name: William Carter and Family
From: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Destination: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

William boarded the Titanic as a first-class passenger along with his wife and two children from Southampton, England on April 10th. They had previously planned to travel back to the United States on the RMS Olympic (a Titanic sister ship), but altered their plans to travel on Titanic. The Carters were also traveling with a maid, manservant, and chauffeur, who were residing in second-class.

During the sinking, William roused his wife and children and told them to run to the deck where they boarded a lifeboat. William managed to reach where collapsible lifeboat C was being loaded; the same boat contained Aminah Mubarik and her children (Passenger Snapshot #1). William was allowed to board when no other women or children could be found.

As he was boarding, another man climbed into the lifeboat, J. Bruce Ismay, chairman of the White Star Line (the company that owned Titanic). Ismay would be the highest ranking White Star official to survive. In contrast, Titanic's captain, Edward Smith, and its chief designer, Thomas Andrews, chose to go down with the ship.

The Carter family was later picked up by the rescue ship Carpathia. The family lost two dogs in the sinking along with William’s motorcar that was in Titanic’s hold. Also included in the fatalities, was the manservant and chauffeur.

After the disaster, both William and Ismay received criticism for escaping the ship while women and children were still on board.

Information Retrieved From:

Encyclopedia Titanica (2018). William Ernest Carter (ref:#55, last updated: 17th September 2018, accessed 14th April 2020). URL: https://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/t…/william-carter.html

Tikkan, A. (2019). Titanic. In Encyclopedia Britannica dictionary. Retrieved April 9, 2020. https://www.britannica.com/
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