RMS Titanic sank over 103 years ago, and a new discovery is adding an interesting twist to the well-known story of the sinking of the ship. A newly discovered distress telegram that was sent from the Titanic is helping to shed some light on it's final hours, and it provides some controversy to the ship owner's story.
The Titanic left from Southampton on April 10, 1912 and was headed to New York. The ship hit an iceberg at 11:40PM on the night of April 14. During the frantic time after the ship hit the iceberg and before it sank, a series of messages (about 15 telegrams) were sent out by operators on the ship. Operators also notified the United States Postal Service and British Royal Mail to warn that the mail the liner was carrying would not be delivered.
One of these 15 telegrams includes a message sent to Philip Franklin, the boss of shipping company White Star Line (and thus the owner of The Titanic).
The telegram read as follows:
“To Mr. P.A. Franklin, White Star Steamship Co. 9 Broadway, NYC. CQD, CQD SOS SOS= From MGY (RMS Titanic)= We Have Struck Iceberg= Sinking Fast= Come to our Assistance= Position: Lat 41.46 N.= Lon 50.14 W. MGY.
The problem is, Franklin testified and swore on oath that he did not receive any word from the ship after it sank. The telegram was found at an auction in Texas. The telegram was examined and all characteristics are ‘right’, including type of paper, method of printing, aging of the paper and look of the typed message.
Do you think Franklin received the telegram but didn't tell anyone about it? Or do you believe that he really didn't receive it? Why?
I can see both sides of this story. If Franklin did receive the message he was probably overwhelmed with the situation and didn't know what to do. Then, after the ship sank, he wanted cover for himself so he didn't get in trouble. However, that night was very frantic and it is very possible that the telegram wasn't received.
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Replies
Interesting story and well done!
I think both he could have received it or didn't received it at all because no one know until it happened and if he did get it a lot of lives might have been saved
I' can also see both sides of the story. I mean if I got the news that the unsinkable ship was sinking I would be freaking out and wouldn't know what to do. If he didn't get the message he was probably busy doing other work.
I can kind of see both sides. Franklin could have very well received the telegram and been too scared to admit to anyone that he had not done anything about it. On the other hand, that night was very frantic and frightening. The telegram could have gotten lost along the way.
I agree with you! I can definitely see both sides of the story- they are both believable!
I can see both sides. The ship was sinking so the telegram could have failed. Then again he could have gotten it and never told anyone, because this ship was supposed to be the best. He could have been trying to push the issue away.
Both sides are very believable, I just don't know which is more likely!
I can see that he might not have gotten it, or he just didn't tell anyone about it. I think that the message could have gotten lost before he got it or he lost it in his house. I also believe that he could have read it and just ignored it because he didn't want to deal with the issue.
Those are very good points. I definitely think that it's more likely that the telegram wasn't received, compared to the other story.
I don't think he received it. I don't think he would purposely sabotage the ship. Either that or he was so scared that he didn't know what to do.
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