铁达尼号(Titanic)

英国豪华载客邮轮，1912年4月15日在从英国南安普敦驶往纽约市的处女航途中出事沈没。2,200名乘客中有1,500人丧生。这艘船是当时最大和最豪华的海上巨轮，其船体具双层底，分成十六个防水隔舱。其中即使有四个防水隔舱灌满了水也不致危及邮轮的浮力，所以认为它是不会沈没的。但在4月14日子夜将临时，该船在纽芬兰东南的雷斯角与一座冰山相撞；五个防水隔舱破裂，致使该船沈没。该事件导致新规定的产生，新规定要求每艘船上的救生艇必须能容纳船上所有的人员（「铁达尼号」上有2,224名乘客，救生艇却只能容纳1,178人）；每一次航行中都要进行救生艇训练；船上无线电报务员必须24小时值勤（一艘距「铁达尼号」32公里的船并没有收听到「铁达尼号」遇难时的求救讯号，就是因为没有人值班）；在北大西洋海运航线上建立国际冰情巡逻队，监控航运线上冰山的动态。1985年「铁达尼号」残体被发现，船体已分成两段，笔直地躺在深约4,000公尺的海底。这是在美、法科学家的指挥下，由一艘无人驾驶的潜水艇探测到的（参阅Ballard, Robert D〔uane〕）。

English version：

Titanic

British luxury passenger liner that sank on April 15, 1912, en route to New York from Southampton, England, on its maiden voyage. Over 1,500 of its 2,200 passengers were lost. The largest and most luxurious ship afloat, it had a double-bottomed hull divided into 16 watertight compartments. Because four of these could be flooded without endangering its buoyancy, it was considered unsinkable. Shortly before midnight on April 14, it collided with an iceberg southeast of Cape Race, Newfoundland; five compartments ruptured and the ship sank. As a result, new rules were drawn up requiring that the number of places in lifeboats equal the number of passengers (the Titanic had only 1,178 lifeboat places for 2,224 passengers) and that all ships maintain a 24-hour radio watch for distress signals (a ship less than 20 mi, or 32 km, away had not heard the Titanic's distress signal because no one had been on duty). The International Ice Patrol was established to monitor icebergs in shipping lanes. In 1985 the wreck was found lying upright in two pieces at a depth of 13,000 ft (4,000 m) and was explored by American and French scientists using an unmanned submersible (see Robert Ballard).