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The Titanic, the world͛s largest ocean liner at the time of her launch, was considered to be
͚unsinkable͛. The ship had been built at the ship builder͛s dry dock in Ireland and had taken
three years to build.

She was launched for her maiden voyage at Southampton on April 10th 1912. Many
dignitaries were on board and thousands of well wishers at the dockside saw her off, little
were they to know the fate that lay in store for her.

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Having watched the film, Titanic, the history channel documentary about the Titanic and
read the Daily Mirror report of the Titanic, I feel the source that gets closest to the truth
about the sinking of the Titanic is the History channel documentary.

OÊ The Newspaper Article

The newspaper gives us a very brief account of the Titanic hitting an iceberg, but managing
to continue its journey with help of a tow by a liner called the Virginian, eventually arriving
in Canada with all passengers on board safe.

What it fails to tell us is that the Titanic sunk as the result of colliding with an iceberg, and
lost many passengers.

The news paper story was created by the Daily Mirror on the 16 th April 1912 with
information received through telegrams from the Reuters news agency.

The information may be unreliable because telegrams are very brief messages sent by
electrical pulses. A person sending a telegram and receiving a telegram is called a
telegrapher. A telegrapher sending the messages regarding the Titanic may have made a
mistake when sending it and similarly the person receiving the message may have made a
mistake when reading it. That could be one of the reasons that the newspaper article was so
wrong.

There were no telegram messages being sent from the Titanic, so it is possible that sailors
on other ships in the area may have thought that the Titanic was OK. It would be natural to
assume that if the ship was sinking there would have been messages for help being sent out.

OÊ The Hollywood Film

The Hollywood film tells us what had basically happened to the Titanic . For example, how
the iceberg ripped down the side of the ship, creating a large hole in its side that let sea
water in, leading to the eventual sinking of the Titanic. A lot of First Class passengers were
allowed onto the lifeboats but lower classes were not. Also, how a lot of the passengers had
frozen to death in the water. It also told the love story of Jack and Rose, and how she
survived but he didn͛t. However, the fact that a lady was saved from the water by a life boat
is believed to be true. A woman called Rosa Abbott was saved in such a way.

The film did not tell us that fourteen people were pulled from the water after the ship sunk,
but seven of them later died. Of the seven survivors, Rosa was the only woman and only
passenger. The film did not tell us that some stowaways managed to get onto the lifeboats
and survived.

The Hollywood film was made by James Cameron who held an interest in the Titanic, having
gone to see it in a submarine. I think this may have affected the reliability of the film as
Cameron wants the story to be glamorous and entertaining.

Films cost a lot of money to make and one of the reasons the film was made was to make
money. The film therefore has to make a lot of money from people paying to see it at the
cinema or buying it on DVD when it gets released. Cameron therefore exaggerated and
dramatised scenes, such as the Jack and Rose story, to attract customers. I think that for this
reason things are not portrayed exactly as they happened.

OÊ The Documentary

The documentary tells us that the iceberg͛s centre of gravity had tipped so the ice above the
water, normally white in colour, was clear. This may explain why the ship lookouts failed to
see the iceberg that the Titanic collided with.

It also tells us that the man in control of the binoculars had taken the key to the binoculars
case off the ship; consequently the crow͛s nest man was unabl e to get the binoculars out of
the box. He wasn͛t able to keep a look out properly.

However it does not tell us that the White Star Line were trying to break a record of the
fastest time to cross the Atlantic, so they may not have been able to avoid the iceberg in any
case.

The documentary was made by Greystone Productions.

I think that the reliability of the documentary was not affected by this. The main purpose of
Greystone Productions is to educate people about whatever subject they chose to make a
documentary about.
The documentary was made to educate people about the circumstances surrounding the
sinking of the Titanic. I don͛t think the reliability of the documentary is affected.

OÊ Conclusion

I think that the most reliable and true account of the sin king of the Titanic is the
documentary. I believe this to be the case for a couple of reasons. The first is because the
newspaper article is totally wrong.

The second reason is that the film has been glamorised for entertainment purposes, and the
facts have been exaggerated and altered.

The documentary is the truest source about the Titanic because it has been made to
educate people for schools and collages etc. For this reason I believe it to be more factual
and hasn͛t been glamorized to attract an audienc e.

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