Guest Author - Violette DeSantis

Over the years there have been many news stories about the Titanic. The year 2009 is no different as it closes out another chapter. Millvina Dean, the last survivor of the RMS Titanic that sank in 1912 died at the age of 97 years old in Southampton, England.

Millvina Dean’s life would have been very different if the Titanic had made it to its destination in America. When she was two months old her family set off to America. Her father sold his business and had plans to open a new business in Kansas City, Missouri where Millvina’s mom had family living.

Millvina Dean did not remember a thing about the sinking of the Titanic in 1912. Being only two months old, the tales she told were of stories she heard when older. She thought it better that she did not remember anything that happened that night when she was wrapped warmly and put in a lifeboat with her mom and then 2 year old brother. Her mom shared the story with her when she was eight years old.

Construction on the Titanic began 100 years ago on March 31, 1909. By the time the Titanic’s hull was launched on May 31, 1911, it was one of the largest man-made objects ever moved along with the Olympic. The Olympic was the Titanic’s sister ship. A sister ship is a ship that was built of the same design with a different name.

The Olympic was kind of like the older sister. She was ready to go before the Titanic. Her maiden voyage (maiden voyage means first trip), was in June 1911. The Titanic had another nine months to go before her maiden voyage. The Titanic’s first trip was to begin on March 20, 1912 but it was moved after the Olympic was damaged. Her new travel date became April 10, 1912.

The time leading up to the maiden voyage of the Titanic were days of finishing up the final touches. Lifeboats were added and tested. They swung them out and lowered them and hoisted the boats back into place on the Titanic. After adding some more rooms to the Titanic she became heavier than her sister ship the Olympic making her the largest ship in the world.

Being the largest ship in the world and being known as unsinkable before she even sailed could not stop that fatal night on April 15, 1912 when she struck an iceberg and sank. It was that night that the family and plans of Millvina Dean changed.