Titanic

Episode 1

Part 1

Sun, Nov 17, 199686 mins

The saga of the R.M.S. Titanic is one "If only the designers, builders and owners hadn't bought into the myth of her being unsinkable. If only the chairman of the White Star Line hadn't decided to break the trans-Atlantic crossing record by increasing the Titanic's speed to a dangerous 22-plus knots. If only the Titanic had been adequately supplied with lifeboats." In fact, there were places for only 1,200 people, although 2,228 passengers and crew were aboard. What makes the Titanic saga so compelling, are the private stories of those who embarked on the fateful crossing: John Jacob Astor and his beautiful wife Madeleine. Astor is America's richest man; Madeleine, his second and much younger wife, is afraid she will be an outcast when the couple returns to New York. Isabella Paradine: a strikingly attractive young married woman who is traveling alone. Aboard the Titanic, she discovers her dashing former lover, Wynn Park. Jaime Perse: a young, desperate Englishman, a pickpocket who literally steals his way aboard the Titanic. Molly Brown: the infamous Unsinkable Molly Brown, immortalized in song and verse. The insufferably snobbish Mrs. Hazel Foley. Bruce Ismay: chairman of the White Star Line, owner of the Titanic who turns out to be a sniveling coward. Captain Edward J. Smith: commanding the Titanic on this crossing was his final assignment before retirement. A brave leader of his 900-man crew, he probably knew in his heart that no ship, even the Titanic is truly unsinkable. In the end, the facts are simple and grim. The Titanic struck the iceberg at 11:39 pm on April 14, 1912. At 2:40 am, three hours and one minute later, the Titanic literally broke in half and slid under the surface of the Atlantic. 705 people were rescued, many of them plucked barely alive from the frigid sea. 1,523 people perished and most of their bodies were never recovered. To this day, it is a tragedy that grips the imagination.