{"id":17483,"date":"2022-08-23T14:02:35","date_gmt":"2022-08-23T12:02:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/?p=214261"},"modified":"2022-08-23T14:21:14","modified_gmt":"2022-08-23T12:21:14","slug":"from-terror-to-titanic-7-famous-shipwrecks","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistory\/rss_feed\/from-terror-to-titanic-7-famous-shipwrecks\/","title":{"rendered":"From Terror to Titanic: 7 famous shipwrecks"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Rachel Dinning\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Tuesday, 23 August 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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1<\/span>

RMS Titanic<\/em><\/h3>\n<\/div>

\u201cThere is no danger that\u00a0Titanic<\/em><\/a>\u00a0will sink. The\u00a0boat\u00a0is\u00a0unsinkable\u00a0and nothing but inconvenience will be suffered by the passengers.\u201d These infamous words \u2013 said by Philip Franklin, vice-president of the International Mercantile Marine Company, in 1912 \u2013 have gone down in history for just how grossly inaccurate they proved to be. Franklin was speaking at a press event after hearing about the ship hitting an iceberg via wireless messages. He was presumably hoping to alleviate the fears of the concerned friends and relatives of those involved, but he was also speaking what he thought to be an absolute truth; the luxury passenger liner \u2013 at the time one of the largest and most opulent of its kind \u2013 had been repeatedly advertised as \u201cpractically unsinkable\u201d<\/a> ahead of its maiden voyage from Southampton to New York. Even considering its 20 lifeboats (which could hold half the people on board) and advanced safety features, it was an assertion that seemed destined to tempt fate \u2013\u00a0and tempt fate it did: RMS Titanic<\/em> sank in the early hours of 15 April 1912 after colliding with an iceberg.<\/p>\n

\"""\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
RMS Titanic embarking on its ill-fated maiden voyage. (Photo by Getty Images)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n
The sinking of Titanic remains one of the deadliest peacetime sinkings in history <\/blockquote> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n<\/div>

The sinking of Titanic<\/em> is today one of the most well-known maritime disasters in the world. This is thanks in part to James Cameron\u2019s Oscar-winning 1997 film<\/a> of the same name, but also because the event was \u2013 and remains to this day \u2013 one of the deadliest peacetime sinkings in history. The tragedy claimed more than 1,500 lives, although the precise number of fatalities is disputed. Among the dead were some of the most notable names of the time, including John Jacob Astor IV, one of the richest men in the world, and Isidor Straus, co-owner of Macy\u2019s department store.<\/p>\n