The Sinking of the Titanic

Kelly Ross

Reading — Intermediate Level
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Activity

Read the article and select the correct answer to the questions below

The sinking of the Titanic occurred on April 15, 1912 in the North Atlantic Ocean, four days into the ship's maiden voyage from Southampton to New York City. The largest passenger liner in service at the time, Titanic had an estimated 2,224 people on board when she hit an iceberg. The sinking took two hours and forty minutes and resulted in the deaths of more than 1,500 people. This made it one of the deadliest maritime disasters in history.

Titanic received six warnings of sea ice on April 14th but was traveling near her maximum speed when her lookouts saw the iceberg. Unable to turn quickly enough, the ship suffered a blow on the right side. The crew used distress flares and radio messages to attract help. Passengers were put into lifeboats, however, evacuation efforts were poorly managed and many lifeboats were launched before they were totally full. Almost all those who jumped or fell into the water drowned within minutes due to the effects of hypothermia.

Titanic sank with over a thousand passengers and crew still on board. Another ship, the Carpathia, arrived on the scene about an hour and a half after the sinking and helped rescuing survivors.

The disaster caused widespread outrage over the lack of lifeboats, lax regulations, and the unequal treatment of the three passenger classes during the evacuation.

Accident investigators recommended extensive changes to maritime regulations, leading to the establishment in 1914 of the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, which still governs maritime safety today.
  1. What body of water was the Titanic crossing?
  2. How many people were aboard?
  3. What did the crew do to avoid the collision with the iceberg?
  4. Why were people outraged at the disaster?
  5. What did other passengers die of who didn't drown or sink with the ship?
  6. What did the sinking of the titanic ultimately lead to?
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Discussion

Practice your writing skills by discussing the questions below

  1. What do you know about the Titatnic's story?
  2. Have you ever been on a big ship? Describe your experience. If you haven't, would you like to go on one? Why or why not?
  3. What other big accidents or disasters have you heard about? Explained what happened
  4. What is the longest trip you've taken? Would you do it again? Why?
    Kelly Ross

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