Madrid Spain.- This April 14 marks the 110th anniversary of the RMS Titanic, the largest ocean liner built at the time, hitting an iceberg in the North Atlantic, causing it to sink and with it the death of 1,500 people, the 2,223 that were on board.
The Titanic had departed on her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, and was scheduled to make a 7-day voyage to New York, United States.
The ship, owned by the White Star Line company, was directed by Captain Edward John Smith, a respected English sailor with 40 years of experience.
According to later investigations, different ships had warned about the presence of icebergs in the area, but they were dismissed by the crew, who did not change course or slow down; probably taking into account that, according to its builders, the ship was “virtually unsinkable”.
Shortly before December 15, they spotted an iceberg in front of the ship, and a maneuver to avoid it caused it to collide with another. When the water began to enter the cabins, the captain ordered the boats to be prepared to evacuate the passengers, but the number of boats was not enough for everyone.
After seeing the distress flares, the Carpathia, an ocean liner that was nearby, headed to the scene. Almost three hours after hitting the iceberg, the Titanic broke in two and was completely submerged, causing one of the greatest tragedies of the 20th century.
The event has been made into a movie on numerous occasions, with the American feature film titanica, the most famous film production.
Titanics, directed by James Cameron and starring Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio, premiered at the Tokyo International Film Festival on November 1, 1997, and a few days later worldwide.
Although the protagonists and the fundamental love story in the film are fictitious, the film recreates what happened, and some of the characters such as margaret brown (first class passenger), thomas andrews (boat designer) and Edward John Smith (captain of the ship), they do correspond to the tragedy.
The film was a box office success and among the many awards it received were 11 Oscar and 4 Golden Globes.
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