Ep 2. TheTitanic - The Complete Miniseries Part 2

The saga of H.M.S. Titanic is one of "if only..."If only the designers, builders & 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 & 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 & his beautiful wife Madeleine. Astor is America's richest man; Madeleine, his second & much younger wife, is afraid she'll 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 a dashing former lover, Wynn Park. Jaime Perse: a young, desperate Englishman, a pickpocket who literally steals his way aboard the Titanic. Molly Brown: the famous, 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 & grim. The Titanic struck the iceberg at 11:39 on April 14, 1912. At 2:40 a.m., three hours and one minute later, the Titanic literally broke in half & 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 & most of bodies were never recovered. To this day, it is a tragedy that grips the imagination.