Page 16 - National Geographic - How We Found Titanic

HE GRAND first-class had been loaded and launched. Our photograph of the same entrance hall and stair- The photographs opposite area (right) confirms the total case (belaw right) col- call to mind Titanic's most destruction of the wing bridge, lapsed under the massive famous passenger, one whose as detailed in the diagram at strains suffered by portions of enormous wealth proved no lower right. AII three bulk- the hull. The camera looks advantage. Refused space in a heads of the bridge have been past twisted steel bulkheads Iifeboat with his wife, U. S. wrenched apart and flattened (boftom)into the gaping hole millionaire John Jacob Astor as though by a giant steam- once covered by the ornate is said to have made his way roller, yet by some fluke the glass dome. We saw no evi- to the starboard wing bridge, overhead light remains at- dence of the elaborate stairway identical to one (opposite, tached to the roof. No human panel and clock, described at lower left) aboard T i tani c's sis- could have survived such a the time as representing "Hon- ter ship, Olympic. There, ac- cataclysm, and in fact Astor's or and Glory crowning Time." cording to survivors, Astor was body was found afloat but Titanic was not only the standing when the forward fun- horribly mangled a week after largest ship of her day-882 nel smashed across the bridge. the sinking. feet 9 inches in length and 66, 000 tons displacement-she was also the most expensive. One-way passage in the finest of her first-class suites cost $4,350, the equivalent of near- ll'$50,000 in today's funds. Unfortunately, when disas- ter struck, wealth sometimes made the difference between survival and death. First-class passengers were generally housed amidships nearest the Iifeboats, while third class was quartered forward or aft far below. In some cases ship's personnel prevented third- class passengers from climbing topside until most of the boats