The Titanic, in Cherbourg in April 1912

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A little history

The Titanic, in Cherbourg

	in April 1912

The naval port

The Wreck of the Alabama

The liberation of Cherbourg

The torpedoing of the Léopoldville

Marguerite and Julien de Ravalet

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The Titanic, in Cherbourg in April 1912

The famous liner called at Cherbourg before sinking during the night of the 14th, 1912. The immigration to the New World was very important at that time and the great history of the transatlantic liners, those giants of the sea, merged into the past of our town.

The new palace of the White Star Line left Southampton on April, Wednesday 10th 1912 at noon and arrived in Cherbourg at 6:30 p.m. That call was significant for the company since it enabled to embark 274 extra passengers.

W.J.PIRRIE, the engineer of the shipbuilding company and Bruce Ismay the manager of the Company White Starline considered constructing several liners of the same type in order to compete with the Cunard Line. These ships were The Olympic, The Titanic and then The Britanic.

The Olympic went on its first trip on June 1911.

The Titanic was launched on May 31^st, 1911 and was to sea on April 2^nd, 1912 with success.

On April 10^th, in Southampton Edward J. Smith was in command instead of Bartlett before retiring at the end of the maiden voyage.

The Titanic left Southampton on April 10^th, 1912 at noon for a twenty-four mile trip towards Cherbourg.

Coming from Paris, the train-liner arrived at the harbour station at about 4 p.m. with the passengers for the Titanic.

The liner was late. At 5:30 p.m., the fret was loaded on the transporter bridge traffic. The giant topped by four huge funnels arrived at 6:30 p.m. In the big breakwater, the two transporter bridges waited for her with the passengers, luggage and the mail.

The White Star had those two transport bridges built to operate the route of its passengers in Cherbourg.

22 passengers landed. Then, 102 third-class passengers crushed into the ship. The crew loaded the luggage and the mail. The embarkment of the first and second-class passengers from the Nomadic to the Titanic was different, given that the price of the crossing to America was very expensive.

At 9:30a.m., a small number of second-class passengers also embarked. At 11p.m., 142 first-class people could be counted.

As soon as they got on board, they were escorted by stewards to the splendid cabins.

Among them, there was Mr. and Mrs. John Jacob Aster - the owners of the Waldorf Astoria hotels, Mr. Benjamin Guggenheim - the American steel plants tycoon.

At midday, the Titanic cast off.

An incident happened when the ship moved away from the wharf. On account of the violent backwashes due to the huge liner, The New York nearly capsized. Maneuvers had to be done to avoid the collision.

At 8:10 p.m., the Titanic left France for her last trip, the worst disaster in the world maritime history.

On May 31^st in 1911 the Titanic has been launched. On Wednesday, April 10th in 1912 the ship started her maiden voyage: Southampton - Cherbourg - Queenstown.

1496 from 2208 Passengers and crew members didn´t reach New York.

The story of the Titanic began in 1867, when the 31 years old Thomas Henry Ismay founded the White Star Line.

The second ship of this young company, the Atlantic, went down in 1873, many people drowned.

However, in the following decades the White Star Line grew up to a wealthy shipping company.

The US-steamers became bigger and bigger, so the British shipbuilders tried to beat them in size and comfort.

Building the Olympic Class in Belfast three large steamers were constructed: Starting with the Olympic in 1909 and followed by the two other liners Titanic and Britannic.

The White Star in Cherbourg in 1907

That company appreciated the transit in Cherbourg because of a considerable increase in the clientele.

That one rapidly developed thanks to the Olympic in 1911, then the Titanic in 1912.

The number of passengers who embarked in Cherbourg rapidly increased.

The White Star tender boats Traffic and Nomadic in the harbor of Cherbourg.

On April 10^th they bring 274 passengers to the Titanic

The Train Transatlantique reaches at 3.40 p.m. the station Gare Maritime in Cherbourg.

Two hours later the passengers will take the tender boats for boarding the Titanic.

The Nomadic transferred the 172 passengers of the first and second class to the Titanic. This steamer is the last still existing ship of the famous White Star Line. Her last job was serving as a restaurant on the river Seine in Paris.