BETWEEN 17th and 18th September this year, Tanzania joined other nations in the world to celebrate the World Maritime Day, the occasion was celebrated under the theme titled “one hundred years after the Titanic”. The occasion had its major significance in terms of ensuring marine safety and regulations and the most practical legacies which were first introduced immediately after the accident of the luxurious marine passenger vessel, the Royal Mail Ship or ‘RSM Titanic’ which sunk in the deep sea waters of the Atlantic Ocean on its maiden voyage to New York one hundred years ago. The accident which occurred at night on the eve of April 14th 1912 after the ship struck an iceberg, is described to be the worst marine accident to have ever happened in the world since the technology of the marine vehicles came into being even before the birth of Jesus Christ. The disaster raised so many questions that alerted stakeholders about the safety standards in force after more than 1,500 passengers and crew on board died, an aspect that forced the United Kingdom Government who owned the ship to propose holding a conference to develop international safety regulations. The Conference, which was attended by representatives of 13 countries most of which from Europe, introduced new international requirements dealing with safety of navigation for all merchant ships in maritime safety since that disaster and to examine which areas of ship safety should be given priority in the years to come. The outcome of the conference saw the need to introduce safety regulations in order to provide lifeboats and other lifesaving appliances for all on board and this led to the developments in the design of lifeboats, life rafts and the means of launching them under all conditions. The regulations also encompassed international requirements which deal with safe navigation, watertight and fire resistant bulkheads, fire protection and fire fighting appliances. The conference also saw the need to introduce safety exercises which are now mandatory for all new passengers joining a passenger or cruise ship and for the crew to undertake lifeboat launching and evacuation exercises before the ship leaves the harbour. Legislation was prepared under the international adoption on Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) convention following the investigation of the sinking. Sadly this initiative was interrupted by the 1914/18 world war and was never ratified. The SOLAS convention had been updated and came into force in 1929, based on that of 1914 to reflect developments in technical design, scientific knowledge and seaborne trade. Today it provides the key international regulations governing maritime safety. It has always been recognized that the best way of improving safety at sea is by developing international regulations that are followed by all shipping nations and from the mid-19th century onwards a number of such treaties were adopted. Several countries proposed that a permanent international body should be established to promote maritime safety more effectively, but it was not until the establishment of the United Nations itself that these hopes were realized. In 1948 an international conference in Geneva adopted a convention formally establishing International Marine Organization (IMO). The original name was the Inter-Governmental Maritime Consultative Organization (IMCO), but the name was changed in 1982 to IMO Following the adoption of the international marine conventions from IMO, Tanzania has been striving hard to cope with the marine disasters’ international regulations but seemingly lack of seriousness over the matter coupled by insufficient knowledge, the two have been a drawback to the development of the sector, says the Minister for Transport Dr. Harison Mwakyembe. According to him, the government through the Ministry of Infrastructure is underway to propose a bill which will work as a guideline policy for rescue operational activities for marine accidents. The bill will ensure together with other things marine accidents are attended promptly.
Titanic as it looked like. It was 270 meter long and 75 meter width.
he move by the government has come barely after Dr. Mwakyembe discovered there is a great discrepancy on marine policies which is important to be used as a guidance of all marine disasters in the country, in view of this, his office is currently preparing a bill that would help curb with the situation. The bill would be tabled in parliamentary sessions scheduled in February 2013. He came to realize the need of having this policy after having studied what had transpired in the recent two worst marine disasters along the Indian Ocean which involved MV Spice Islander which occurred in September 2011 and MV Skagit in mid of June 2012 respectively. The two recent worst marine disasters caused losses of hundreds of lives of innocent Tanzanians. Dr. Mwakyembe who is a professional lawyer has come up with the idea after having realized that little knowledge is being applied of the general idea of rescue operations due to lack of proper understanding on the whole issue. This is coupled by lack of modern rescue operational facilities that Tanzania is still faced with as a great challenge. However he noted that his office is currently working with a team of local experts on important elements from both inland and marine transport sector in the country to ensure that, a comprehensive policy on rescue operations is drafted and a law is passed to make if more effective. This year's World Maritime Day provided an opportunity to take stock of the developments of various marine policies and regulations which have been adopted by member countries in the world as important legacies not only to ensure marine safety, but also to defend the rights of workers on board. The tragic story of the sinking of the Titanic vessel as an example reveals that, all the engineers on board were lost through staying at their posts busy trying to maintain the ship’s services and putting repairs on the damaged hull for as long as they could without success. Following this, in 1912 the UK newspaper, the Daily Chronicle, initiated the Titanic Engineering Staff Memorial Benevolent Fund to assist the widows, orphans and dependents of the engineers who died so heroically at their posts below decks on that fateful night. The Titanic was not the first or the last passenger ship to sink, so what was so special about this tragedy whose memory has been kept in many ways notably books, films, documentaries and websites?
This is a newspaper cutting of a tragic story of the sunken Titanic which was carried by the New York Times by then. The designer splashed the story on the front page of the newspaper the same way as it was carried during that time in the newspaper when Milvina Dean died in June 2009.
Critics have challenged the matter as saying that it was so luxurious, boasting of many features unheard of in ocean going liners as it was considered unsinkable. Most probable the main reasons might be linked to its famous outlook so as to let the incoming generations come to know and understand her final days at sea. However, it wasn’t until 1985, when Dr. Robert Ballard, using state of the art technology, finally discovered the final resting spot of this once proud luxury liner. During the incoming expeditions conducted in a series of years in 1987, 1993, 1994 and 1996, RMS Titanic, Inc. the divers have recovered more than 5,000 artifacts from the wreck site. These artifacts were carefully preserved and have been put on display for the public in several locations in UK. There is some controversy raging over the recovery of these artifacts as some say that the Titanic is a graveyard and a memorial to all those who died on the evening of April 15, 1912. By disturbing the site and removing artifacts, they feel that the sanctity and dignity of the Titanic is being compromised. Others maintains that, the wreck is an artifact of history and the pieces recovered only help to further educate others about the Titanic. They also maintain that the sea is slowing destroying these artifacts and that left in place, over time they will vanish forever. They also feel their efforts to salvage these artifacts will help to preserve the Titanic and its memory forever. Regardless of their position on this, the story of the Titanic is a compelling one. Today, with the release of the hugely successful movie and Broadway musical, Titanic fever has gripped the public like never before. Living as we do in an age of rapidly progressing technology, it is hard for us to imagine a time when there were no radios, internet or television services. Had the Titanic tragedy happened today, we could all have been aware of the ship’s pilot Edward Smith’s initial distress signals within few minutes. Long range helicopters which were sent out from newfound land could have reached to drop inflatable life rats. The final agony of her foundering would have been witnessed on TV screens around the world. But it’s very unfortunate as the only two ways by which news was spread were by word of mouth and the daily newspapers. The Titanic then the world’s largest marine vessel was designed in England and had 883 feet long (270 meters away), 92 feet wide and weighing 52,310 tons. It was 175 feet high from the knee to the top of the four stacks or funnels almost 35 feet of which was below the water line. The ship could be seen higher above the water than most urban buildings of the time. There were three real smoke stacks with the fourth dummy stacks added to increase the impression of its size and power to vent smoke from the ship’s numerous galleys. The ship was also designed to be a symbol of modern safety technology, it had a double hull of one inch thick steel plates and a 16 water tight compartments sealed by massive doors that could be instantly triggered by a single electric switch on the bridge, or even automatically by electric water sensors. Even though the Titanic was capable of carrying over 3,500 passengers and crew, it had more than 2,200 passengers on board by then. The ship’s much publicized voyage lured British nobility, members of American society and industrialists as well as many poor immigrants hoping to begin a new life in America. The journey began at Southampton, England at noon on April 10th 1912 by nightfall, the Titanic had stopped in Cherbourg, France to pick up additional passengers. That evening it sailed for Queensland, Ireland and at 1:30pm on 11th the ship headed into the Atlantic Ocean towards New York City. Seasonal Trans Atlantic passengers were impressed by the new ship. It was so massive that they barely felt the moment of the sea at all. The huge engines produced almost none of the vibrations common on the steamers as the ship travelled comfortably at about 25 miles per hour. The weather was clear and pleasant and the water temperature was about 55 degrees Fahrenheit. The winter of 1912 had been unusually mild and unprecedented amounts of ice had broken loose from the arctic region. Titanic was equipped by Marconi’s new wireless telegraph system and the two Marconi operators kept the wireless room running 24 hours a day. On Sunday April 14, 1912 the fifth day at sea, the Titanic received five different ice-warnings but Captain Edward Smith was not overly concerned. A wireless Operator who was on duty in the fateful day, Jack Phillip was busy sending passengers’ messages to Cape Race, New found land whereupon he received the sixth ice-warning that might, but didn’t realize how close Titanic was to the position of the warning point and put the message under paper weight at his elbow. He never reached Captain Smith or the officer on the bridge. The ocean was usually calm and flat like glass according to many survivors. Lack of waves made it even more difficult to spot any ice-berg since there was no telltale white weather breaking at the edge of the iceberg. At 11:40pm, “lookout” shouted one ship officer who spotted a mass of iceberg dead ahead. He notified the crew concerned and the first officer William Murdock ordered the ship turned hard to port. He afterwards signaled the engine room to reverse direction. The ship turned slightly, but it was too large to move as fast as it was expected and the iceberg was too close.
The late Millvina Dean as he looked like one year before her death at the age of 97 years old in 2009.
Just within seconds later it hit a huge mass of iceberg and split into two before it sunk. Statistics made available shows that 711 lives most of whom were women and children were saved by few available life boats from the scene, but about 1,513 were lost due mainly to lack of enough lifeboats. The greatest maritime disaster in the history began unfolding. What really happened to unsinkable Titanic remained a great mystery until September 1985 when the ship was found some 13 miles east of its last reported position. The discovery of Titanic was helped by a joint French-American efforts which began earlier in the 1985 with a cruise aboard the French research vessel known as Lesuroit which was designed by Dr. Robert Ballard a leader of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Deep submergence laboratory based in France. Its wreckage lies in two sections in more than 12,460 feet of water (about 4km deep). The bow section is upright partly buried in the bottom sand in relatively good condition spot. According to the latest reports issued by British mainstream media in early June 2009, said that, the last survivor of the total saved 711 passengers died at the age of 97. Millvina Dean, who as an infant passenger aboard the Titanic was lowered into a lifeboat in a canvas mail sack and lived to become the ship’s last survivor. She died at a nursing home in Southampton, the English port from which the Titanic embarked on its fateful voyage. The youngest of the ship’s 711 survivors, Ms. Dean was only 9 weeks old when the Titanic hit an iceberg in waters off Newfoundland on the night of April 14, 1912, setting off what was then considered the greatest maritime disaster in history. He died while having no any idea about the tragedy young as she was during the time of rescue She survived with her mother, Georgetta, and 2-year-old brother when they, like many other survivors, were picked up by the liner Carpathia and taken to New York. Her father, Bertram Dean, was among more than 1,500 passengers and crew members who died in the sinking, a fact that Ms. Dean, in an interview at the Southampton nursing home few months before her death, attributed partly to the fact that the Dean family was traveling in third class, or steerage, as the cheapest form of passage was known. She was born on 2nd Feb 1912. Millvina Dean never married and had no children. Dean's mother died on 16 September 1975, aged 96; and her brother Bertram Vere died, aged 81, on 14 April 1992.
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